A Foreign Affair

Berlin in 1948, in ruins. A delegation from the American Congress arrives to inspect the morale of the troops in the occupation zone. Phoebe Frost, one of its members, is a strict, rule bound congresswoman. In the city is a cabaret singer, Erika von Schlütow, who had high level connections under the Nazis and is now protected by an American officer. Phoebe wants to find that officer and asks Captain Pringle to help her. The man she is looking for is Pringle. Billy Wilder directs. Jean Arthur plays Phoebe, Marlene Dietrich plays Erika and John Lund plays Pringle. Part of it was shot in Berlin and the images of the ruined city are real; the film was made three years after the war. Wilder was a German born Jew who lost members of his family in the Holocaust and worked for the American information unit in postwar Germany. The distanced mockery in the film rests on that experience. The subject is morality and bargaining. The black market, the economy of occupation and how denazification actually worked are taken on directly; nobody comes out clean. Friedrich Hollaender composed the songs Dietrich sings and appears in the film as her pianist. It drew a reaction from the army in America; how the conduct of the soldiers was shown was argued over, and it was not shown in Germany for a period. Who it is for: viewers who like Billy Wilder's comedies and postwar narratives. Who it is not for: the humour is bitter, the romantic line is forced, and the film returns to formula at the end.