One, Two, Three : 22-5-17

22-5-17

First of all - what a brilliant film! I watched this for the second time and the dialogue is so fast that I'm sure I'm missing jokes and references. The second time watching it I noted that James Cagney says that the code for the safe in the office was 22-5-17. I thought that this must be a reference to a date in the famous 1917 revolution, but I couldn't find anything significant that happened on May 22. Shoot! I guess I was overanalyzing. Any ideas?
Maybe it's just a random number, but knowing Billy WIlder, I'm sure it means something, and I was sure it must have been a reference to 1917, but if nothing important happened on that day, I guess I'm wrong....oh well....



Re: 22-5-17

Could it simply be that subtracting all the numbers 22-5-17 = 0? Meaning that there's nothing in the safe? It would fit right in with his sense of humour.

This is a really funny film, verging on a farce, but sadly not as well known as it ought to be. The cast are great with some terrific performances, and they're all given a very broad canvas to work on. The era when it was made had nervousness running right through it - Cuba was only a year or so away - and the film is a very good antidote to worry; if you laugh at something then it loses its power over you. And it's not often that someone nails their colours to the mast in the same way as Billy Wilder does in this film.

Re: 22-5-17

Most of Europe uses the date format "DD-MM-YY", and then 22-5-17 could be a date. Like someone's birthday, who would be 44 in 1961?

--
I never make mistakes. Once I thought I did, but I was wrong.

Re: 22-5-17

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Atlanta_fire_of_1917

Maybe a digit slipped. Atlanta the home of Coca-Cola and not MacNamara's favorite place ('Siberia with mint juleps').

"I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken."

Re: 22-5-17

U-m-m-m, the President of the United States? Only off by a week (which could just be a typo). It would make great sense.
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