Redundant and unnecessary.

Really Surprised!

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It was a little like looking at a work of art that annoyed me; yet, I could not stop looking at it.I liked the film, although I gradually became weary with Cagney's hyperactive style of acting. It can be a lot to take when I am not in the mood for his intense, quick style. On the other hand, Cagney can be an engaging actor who keeps the pace of a film moving interestingly. Cagney was in good form in this film, proving that he still had it after all the years of typical, prime roles behind him. I could not help thinking that he was an anachronism; but then, I get a kick out of that sort of thing in films.Everything else about the film was as odd as films might be in that time period of film making.

I've just read the first half dozen or so reviews of this gem on IMDb of which every one is a rave and I can only endorse these sentiments. Not that it is surprising to find a movie co-written and directed by Billy Wilder to be anything less than outstanding. This was the second time he had satirized Germany in a movie set in Berlin, the first, of course, the equally unforgettable 'A Foreign Affair', also shot on location and there's a fetching symmetry between the two; in 1947 Berlin was largely rubble in the wake of World War Two and in 1961 the rubble was still in evidence every time the characters cross from West to East Berlin. In a script spilling over with brilliant moments Wilder throws in several referential moments, an uncredited Red Buttons does a Cagney impression right to Cagney's character, Cagney emulates his classic 'grapefruit in the kisser' scene not to Mae Clark (who got the full benefit in 'Public Enemy') but to Horst Bucholtz (who, by all accounts, deserved much more), Cagney's character parodies a fellow Warner Bros actor, Eddie Robinson, in the line 'Mother of God, is this the end of Rico' (from 'Little Caesar'), when Cagney and Lilo Pulver enter the hotel in East Berlin the band leader is Frederich Hollander (who wrote 'Falling In Love Again' and 'See What The Boys In The Back Room Will Have', both associated with Marlene Dietrich, one of the stars of 'A Foreign Affair') and they are playing 'Yes, We Have No Bananas', which Wilder had featured in his 'Sabrina' in 1954, and so on. Like a lot of Wilder movies the source was an obscure (in the West) play by Hungarian Ferenc Molnar - author of 'Liliom' which Rodgers and Hammerstein turned into 'Carousel' - though the chances are Wilder and Izzy Diamond reworked it considerably. The plot has been detailed in other reviews so suffice it to say that Cagney is superb, Arlene Francis a nose in front of the rest of a brilliant cast. One, two, three, four, FIVE stars.

If you don't like farce comedies like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Murder by Death, and The Pink Panther Strikes Again avoid this one because that is what it is. After reading most of these reviews I think people misunderstood this movie. If you compare it to a painting the cold war is just the canvas it is painted on. In reality it is about a person who just can't get things right in his career and hopefully this time around he can contain things and make it all work. Everybody else is trying to do the same thing. On the way they merge in so many references to other movies and one liners it could be considered a history of cinema. If you don't understand them the fast pace may make it difficult for you to keep up with it. But for the younger people today that get most of these references they will like its fast pace. Most movies from that time period move too slowly for them. Oh yes, I guess the McNamara curse does finally get done away with in the end. Or does it? You will have to see the end to decide that for yourself.

Billy Wilder is well-known of his comedies and his satire, which usually strikes to Soviet Union's communism, western capitalism, materialism.. And the only right ideology to Wilder is humanism, which he seems to be telling to us through many of his movies.First this movie became a flop, because it was banned until the Berlin Wall collapsed. And after that people didn't find the subject very amusing anymore. What I know is that this movie was banned in many countries for years. Reasons in the eastern Europe were mostly that it was too anti-soviet.And the reason what makes this movie so great, and most pictures by Wilder. Is that the movie has a great message, Wilder's satire is brilliant, good casting, good writing and the film's basis is strong.This movie is like a non-stop laughter. It just keeps going on and on. As someone already said here, there's just a great line after another. I also think this is James Cagney's best performance.I just can't tell how great this is by words; Delightful, funny, political, serious, crazy! Actually that's what this movie is, crazy, everything seems incredibly absurd in this picture and I think that's the way for Wilder to deal with this issue.Highly recommended to everyone!