A Foreign Affair (1948)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Charles Brackett (screenplay)
Richard L. Breen (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 August 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

It would make a cigar store Indian laugh ...

Plot:

In occupied Berlin, an army captain is torn between an ex-Nazi cafe singer and the U.S. congresswoman investigating her.

Plot Keywords:

Congresswoman | Singer | Birthday Cake | Post War | Military

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Jean Arthur	...	Congresswoman Phoebe Frost
Marlene Dietrich	...	Erika Von Schluetow
John Lund	...	Captain John Pringle
Millard Mitchell	...	Col. Rufus J. Plummer
Peter von Zerneck	...	Hans Otto Birgel
Stanley Prager	...	Mike
William Murphy	...	Joe (as Bill Murphy)
Raymond Bond	...	Congressman Pennecot
Boyd Davis	...	Congressman Giffin
Robert Malcolm	...	Congressman Kramer
Charles Meredith	...	Congressman Yandell
Michael Raffetto	...	Congressman Salvatore
Damian O'Flynn	...	Lieutenant Colonel
Frank Fenton	...	Major Mathews
James Larmore	...	Lieutenant Hornby

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Hungary:14 | Australia:G | Germany:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #12791)

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Cameo: ['Frederick Hollander']Erika's piano player in the cabaret.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Though the character played by Jean Arthur is an 'unmarried' American Congresswoman, the actress's real life wedding ring is visible in many scenes especially close-ups during the latter part of the film.

Quotes:

Erika von Schluetow: We've all become animals with exactly one instinct left. Self-preservation. Now take me, Miss Frost. Bombed out a dozen times, everything caved in and pulled out from under me. My country, my possessions, my beliefs... yet somehow I kept going. Months and months in air raid shelters, crammed in with five thousand other people. I kept going. What do you think it was like to be a woman in this town when the Russians first swept in? I kept going.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Billy Wilder Speaks (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

BLACK MARKET

Incredible

Billy, just how did you do it?

This is a superb film on post-war Germany, and an amazing take on Berlin in the late 40s. Wilder combines his poetical eye for the comic with a very subtle analysis of morality. And, on top of that, Marlene Dietrich sings and sums it all up. This film is a classic, make no mistake about that, and you definitely want to see it. Plus, it's history.

Billy Wilder had a special relationship with Berlin, and, to be sure, with Germany, and his movies show how deep this understanding ran: "One,Two, Three" and "A Foreign Affair" are among the best films made on Berlin. Full stop.