A Foreign Affair (1948)
1h 56m | PG-13
In occupied Berlin, a US Army Captain is torn between an ex-Nazi cafe singer and the US Congresswoman investigating her.
Director: Billy Wilder
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Video: 720p
Cast
Jean Arthur
as Congresswoman Phoebe Frost
Marlene Dietrich
as Erika Von Schlüetow
John Lund
as Captain John Pringle
Millard Mitchell
as Col. Rufus J. Plummer
Peter von Zerneck
as Hans Otto Birgel
Stanley Prager
as Mike
Reviews
Billy Wilder pulls together a great script and two engaging performances from Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich in this entertaining story of a US Congresswoman who visits post-war Berlin to check up on the morals of the American troops. She falls for one of them who just happens to be already spoken for. There ensues a bit of a tug-of-war between the two women over the rather charmless John Lund. Millard Mitchell is good value as the war-weary colonel; there are enough Dietrich songs to keep her fans content and we even get a twist at the end. There may well have been some murmurings Stateside once this film was released. It doesn't exactly show the Yanks in a great light as they party and black-market their way through a bomb wrecked Berlin but it does demonstrate the need for a "release" for so many from the years of war and deprivation with style and occasionally, some humour.