Comments on: 982 (114). One, Two, Three (1961, Billy Wilder)

By: Shooting Down Pictures » Blog Archive » 996 (131). Plácido (1961, Luis Garcia Berlanga)

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:03:46 +0000

[...] The online synopses I could find (most of them posted after the break) offer only cursory summaries of the plot, leaving much of what transpired onscreen lost to me. So much the better to appreciate the film’s cinematic qualities. As I mentioned, the film’s spitfire dialogue recalls the comedies of Capra and Hawks; some associate the film’s Christmas setting and main plot (a guy desperately trying to save his livelihood after the bank calls in his loan) to Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Others connect the film’s subplot about the rich townspeople’s bogus, self-serving acts of charity towards poor people during Christmas with that other great Spanish film of 1961, Bunuel’s Viridiana. But the film’s satirical depiction of people engaged in a manic farce while hosting out-of-town visitors had me thinking of another great comedy of the same year, Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three. [...]

By: alsolikelife

alsolikelife — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:07:08 +0000

Thanks for the heads up!

By: John Hanlon

John Hanlon — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:50:22 +0000

Turner Classic Movies is showing it this month, on 11/29/2009 at 6:00:00 PM. Well worth seeing…

By: alsolikelife

alsolikelife — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:01:05 +0000

Thanks – I was also thinking of this film over the weekend with all the news commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. In some ways the bilateral cynical jabs of Wilder's film has more lasting value than the euphoria of that moment.

By: christianne

christianne — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:48:00 +0000

I have personal reasons for loving this movie, so I can't possibly be objective about it. I think you're right that it's a fun movie to listen too. I think the choice of The Sabre Dance as the music for the film is a perfect compliment. My favorite gag in the film is the East German torture technique with the 45 of “Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” which, again, is a gag using sound.