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Message from Dean - May 8th 2007
I am currently testing out a new version of the APF Bridge Component - If you notice any errors within this demo store please drop me a line.
List Price: $19.98Price: $3.78 You Save: $16.20 (81%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301971744
Format: Black & White, NTSC
ISBN: 6301971744
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageAnalogGermanOriginal LanguageAnalogRussianOriginal LanguageAnalog
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: March 02, 1994
Running Time: 115 minutes
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: December 15, 1961
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
Hardly ever mentioned in the category of lightning-paced comedies--the His Girl Friday and Preston Sturges kind--is this breathless cold war farce from the great Billy Wilder. Adapted from a one-act play by Ferenc Molnár, Wilder and collaborator I.A.L. Diamond's hilarious screenplay is a whirlwind collection of one-liners, gags, and double-entendres, anchored for the cameras by Jimmy Cagney's cagey and frenetic performance (one of his best), and, under Wilder's direction, executed with diamond-like precision. The gangster-movie icon plays a Coca-Cola executive in West Berlin (the film's 1961 release put it squarely in the middle of the world's laserlike focus on East vs. West tensions) who has parlayed expanding American consumerism into a chance to break through the Iron Curtain and sell "the pause that refreshes" to thirsty comrades. But when his Atlanta boss's visiting 17-year-old daughter (Pamela Tiffin), a boy-crazy Southern tornado, reveals that she has secretly married an American-hating German Commie (Horst Buchholz), Cagney's big-American-fish-in-a-European-pond lifestyle is threatened, especially once Daddy hops a plane to Germany. As the plot accelerates, the lines literally spit out of the cast's mouths--the title refers to Cagney's character's rapid-fire rattling off of lists of tasks--and Wilder's penchant for urbane nastiness is perfectly measured by the order of the whole crazy circus. This movie takes gleeful potshots at both sides of a conflict that terrified audiences in its day, but has aged beautifully to become a fascinating time capsule, an exhilarating litany of zingers and a potent blueprint for razor-sharp political satire. Cagney would retire after this movie for 20 years (returning for 1981's Ragtime), and it's hardly any wonder: he has the energy of 10 performances in this one film. --Robert Abele
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
If anyone needed more convincing that James Cagney is one of America's greatest actors, then this last movie before retirement should seal the deal. Talk about going out on top. A typical Billy Wilder comedy that shines a light on our prejudices and hypocrisies. Thank you Billy Wilder and James Cagney for making the world a more enjoyable place to be.
Rating: -
We watched this movie recently while in Berlin visiting friends. Neither of us had ever heard of it, but we just loved it. It is marvelously tongue in cheek. The humor has great subtlety. Overall, it is very well done and highly enjoyable. One of the first things we did upon returning home to the USA was to buy this movie. Great flick!
Rating: -
Leave it to Billy Wilder to come up with a great cast in this 1961 gem! James Cagney was at his best in what was his last movie until "Ragtime" some twenty years later. Cagney had all the energy going for him as the Coca-cola executive in West Berlin. Later in the movie we find out the daughter (Pamela Tiffin) who is visiting Berlin decides to go across to East Berlin to date a communist (Horst Buchholz) and the fireworks are flying in this comedy! Yes this is dated but still a great comedy from the early 60s. I enjoyed watching this and so will you. Oh when you have that popcorn beside you, make sure you are sipping your Coca-Cola! One Two Three...It's The Real Thing when it comes to Billy Wilder's comedy!!
Rating:  -
A memory from childhood that I was able to share with my son before he went to Germany, Poland, the Ukraine, and other countries formerly under the control of the Soviet Block. He caught the many nuances of the film's politics and enjoyed it greatly, as did I. fdd
Rating: -
James Cagney combined with Billy Wilder! Win-win. This may be a period piece, set in the days before the Berlin Wall, but its humour is timeless.
Just don't blink! Its that fast paced that if you close your eyes for just a second, you will have missed something... and it will be hilarious!
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