History Trivia / OneTwoThree

* HostilityOnTheSet: Creator/JamesCagney named Horst Buchholz as the only actor he really hated working with because he was uncooperative and tried all kinds of scene-stealing moves, which Cagney depended on Creator/BillyWilder to correct.

-->I got riled at S.Z. Sakall [...] in ''Film/YankeeDoodleDandy'' for trying to steal a scene, but he was an incorrigible old ham who was quietly and respectfully put in his place by Creator/MichaelCurtiz. No harm in the old boy. But this Horst Buchholz character I truly loathed. Had he kept on with his little scene-stealing didoes, I would have been forced to knock him on his ass, which I would have very much enjoyed doing.

* ActorAllusion:
** Creator/RedButtons appears as an MP who does a "[[BeamMeUpScotty You dirty rat]]" impression to the face of CR [=MacNamara=]... played by Creator/JamesCagney.
** Cagney holds up a piece of fruit so it looks like his famous "grapefruit" scene from ''Film/ThePublicEnemy''.
** When [=MacNamara=] tells Otto he must give the couple a wedding present Scarlett claims that Otto's friends did not give them any gifts but instead sent the money to unemployed cotton pickers of Mississippi. Cagney was accused of being a communist sympathizer for sending money to striking cotton workers in the 1930s.
** To cause problems for Otto Piffl, [=MacNamara=] gives him a cuckoo clock that plays "Yankee Doodle," causing Buchholz to get arrested by the East Germany police. Cagney, of course, starred in ''Film/YankeeDoodleDandy''.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film ''literally'' became a period piece ''during'' shooting -- when the production started, the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall had not been erected yet, and shooting could happen at the Brandenburg Gate. However, as filming continued, and they needed to film a chase between [=MacNamara=] and his companions and some East German policemen that continued over the border between East and West Berlin, UsefulNotes/EastGermany very unobligingly decided to put up the Wall. An OpeningNarration was added to the film specifying that it takes place in the pre-Wall period.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film ''literally'' became a period piece ''during'' shooting -- when the production started, the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall had not been erected yet, and shooting could happen at the Brandenburg Gate. However, as filming continued, and they needed to film a chase between [=MacNamara=] and his companions and some East German policemen that continued over the border between East and West Berlin, UsefulNotes/EastGermany very unobligingly decided to put up the Wall. An OpeningNarration was added to the film specifying that it takes place in the pre-Wall period.

** Red Buttons appears as an MP who does a "[[BeamMeUpScotty You dirty rat]]" impression to the face of CR [=MacNamara=]... played by Creator/JamesCagney.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film ''literally'' became a period piece ''during'' shooting -- when the production started, the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall had not been erected yet, and shooting could happen at the Brandenburg Gate. However, as filming continued, and they needed to film a chase between [=MacNamara=] and his companions and some East German policemen that continued over the border between East and West Berlin, UsefulNotes/EastGermany very unobligingly decided to put up the Wall. An OpeningNarration was added to the film specifying that it takes place in the pre-Wall periot.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film ''literally'' became a period piece ''during'' shooting -- when the production started, the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall had not been erected yet, and shooting could happen at the Brandenburg Gate. However, as filming continued, and they needed to film a chase between [=MacNamara=] and his companions and some East German policemen that continued over the border between East and West Berlin, UsefulNotes/EastGermany very unobligingly decided to put up the Wall. The film is written and performed as if still in the pre-wall period.

* TooSoon: Especially the Germans weren't very fond of Creator/BillyWilder making fun of the Wall. The movie was VindicatedByHistory though - later, in [[TheEighties 1985]], and even became popular in former East Germany (because it parodied both sides of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar).

* CastIncest: The guard at the Brandenburg Gate who is handed a six-pack of Coca-Cola when [=MacNamara=], Fräulein Ingeborg and Schlemmer drive to East Berlin, is played by Helmut Schmid, Lilo Pulver's husband.
* FakeNationality: Apart from the German-speaking actors playing the Russians, Lilo Pulver, the actress playing Ingeborg, is actually Swiss.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film ''literally'' became a period piece ''during'' shooting -- when the production started, the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall had not been erected yet, and shooting could happen at the Brandenburg Gate. However, as filming continued, and they needed to film a chase between [=MacNamara=] and his companions and some East German policemen that continued over the border between East and West Berlin, EastGermany very unobligingly decided to put up the Wall. The film is written and performed as if still in the pre-wall period.

* TooSoon: Especially the Germans weren't very fond of Creator/BillyWilder making fun of the Wall. The movie was VindicatedByHistory though - later, in [[TheEighties 1985]], and even became popular in former East Germany (because it parodied both sides of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar).

* TooSoon: Especially the Germans weren't very fond of Creator/BillyWilder making fun of the Wall. The movie was VindicatedByHistory though - later, in [[TheEighties 1985]], and even became popular in former East Germany (because it parodied both sides of the ColdWar).

* TooSoon: Especially the Germans weren't very fond of Creator/BillyWilder making fun of the Wall. The movie was VindicatedByHistory though - later, in [[TheEighties 1985]].

** Red Buttons appears as an MP who does a "[[BeamMeUpScotty You dirty rat]]" impression to the face of CR [=MacNamara=]... played by James Cagney.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Borodenko is played by [[Film/TheTreasureOfSilverLake Sam Hawkens]].
* HeyItsThatVoice: Count von Droste-Schattenburg was dubbed into English by [[Film/ANightAtTheOpera Sig]] [[Film/{{Ninotchka}} Rumann]]. In the German version James Cagney is dubbed by Werner Lieven, who was the voice of Sig Rumann in his role as Gruppenführer Erhardt in the German dub of ''Film/ToBeOrNotToBe''.

** Cagney holds up a piece of fruit so it looks like his famous "grapefruit" scene from ''ThePublicEnemy''.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Count von Droste-Schattenburg was dubbed into English by [[Film/ANightAtTheOpera Sig]] [[Film/{{Ninotchka}} Rumann]]. In the German version James Cagney is dubbed by Werner Lieven, who was the voice of Sig Rumann in his role as Gruppeführer Erhardt in the German dub of ''Film/ToBeOrNotToBe''.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Count von Droste-Schattenburg was dubbed into English by [[Film/ANightAtTheOpera Sig]] [[Film/{{Ninotchka}} Rumann]].
* TooSoon: Especially the Germans weren't very fond of Creator/BillyWilder making fun of the wall. The movie was VindicatedByHistory though - later, in TheEighties.