Plot
Writer/director Billy Wilder (in collaboration with producer/writer Charles Brackett) earned his first critical condemnation with A Foreign Affair. Reviewers accused Wilder (as they would so often in the future) of moral bankruptcy, challenging him to prove what could possibly be funny about the Nazi war guilt, the bombed-out city of Berlin, the postwar European black market or attempted suicide. All of these elements are in Foreign Affair, and all are very funny. John Lund is an American army captain carrying on a casual affair with Berlin songstress Marlene Dietrich, who accepts Lund's attentions so long as there are contraband cigarettes and nylons added to the bargain. Iowa congresswoman Jean Arthur is sent as part of an American fact-finding delegation to Berlin, and Lund is compelled to clean up his act--or at least pretend to. Despite her initial shock at the corruption all around her, straitlaced Arthur eventually falls for Lund, but Dietrich has been at this game a lot longer. For an interesting cinematic and sociological exercise, A Foreign Affair should be shown in tandem with Wilder's 1961 Cold War comedy One, Two, Three. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
A cutting-edge comedy in the post-World War II era, A Foreign Affair remains a very funny film, but much of its richness came from the historical context of its satire. At the heart of the film is the observant wit of writer/director Billy Wilder, a Jewish German émigré with a sardonic view of life in post-war Berlin. The interplay among Marlene Dietrich, Jean Arthur, and John Lund gives the film much of its comic texture; the dialogue is sharp and the story is knowing. Charles Lang's cinematography is first-rate, and Edith Head's costume designs give the film much of its glamour. While not as well-known as other Wilder films, A Foreign Affair was a clear example of Wilder's increasing willingness to push the limits of what Hollywood would allow. While a film like A Foreign Affair would be the crowning achievement for many directors, Wilder had still more great films ahead of him, with such classics as Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Some Like it Hot (1959). ~ Richard Gilliam, RoviCast
- Jean Arthur - Phoebe Frost
- Marlene Dietrich - Erika von Schluetow
- John Lund - Capt. John Pringle
- Millard Mitchell - Col. Rufus J. Plummer
- Bill Murphy - Joe
- Peter Von Zerneck - Hans Otto Birgel
Credit
Hans Dreier - Art Director, Walter Tyler - Art Director, Edith Head - Costume Designer, Charles C. Coleman, Jr. - First Assistant Director, Billy Wilder - Director, Doane Harrison - Editor, Frederick Hollander - Composer (Music Score), Frederick Hollander - Musical Direction/Supervision, Wally Westmore - Makeup, Charles B. Lang - Cinematographer, Charles Brackett - Producer, Sam Comer - Set Designer, Ross Dowd - Set Designer, Gordon Jennings - Special Effects, Hugo Grenzbach - Sound/Sound Designer, Walter Oberst - Sound/Sound Designer, Charles Brackett - Screenwriter, Richard L. Breen - Screenwriter, Billy Wilder - Screenwriter, Robert Harari - Screenwriter, David Shaw - Short Story Author| A Ford Show Family Christmas (Film), A Force of One (1979 Film) | |
| A Foreign Field (1993 Film), A Forgotten Odyssey (2000 Film) |
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