A Foreign Affair (1948)

A Senate committee travels to post-war Berlin to investigate stories of lax attitudes and inappropriate behavior by US servicemen. Among them is the young Congresswoman Frost (Jean Arthur). She sees our boys buying goods on the black market and chasing German women, but when she learns that someone has been covering for a cabaret singer (Marlene Dietrich) with a Nazi link, she is determined to uncover the truth. She enlists the help of fellow Iowan Captain Pringle (John Lund). Will love bloom?

It’s not a spoiler to reveal that it’s Cap Pringle who’s been covering for singer Von Schluetow. And Cap makes for a pretty poor romantic lead. Our introduction to him is pretty rough and it doesn’t get better. But this is Billy Wilder and he knows how to spin a tale.

Squeaky little Jean Arthur took four years off from filmmaking, and would wait another five for her last film, Shane. She was very charming as the naive and uptight Senator. She and rival Dietrich were both pushing fifty, very unusual for a film of this time. Dietrich, true to form, didn’t think much of her co-stars. She referred to Lund as a piece of petrified wood and Arthur as “that ugly, ugly woman with that terrible American twang". She never did play nice.

So, did A Foreign Affair stick the landing? More or less, I would say. From a story and dialog perspective, it’s not top Wilder. But it’s not too bad either. Good performances (particularly if you like Dietrich’s singing) and the footage of bombed out Berlin were quite striking. AMRU 3.