A Foreign Affair (1948)

A Foreign Affair (1948) is a post-war light-hearted romantic comedy Trümmerfilm combining political commentary and goofy-style humour-infused look at the rebuilding of Berlin and the construction of Western narratives around the destruction and villainy of the World War of the 1940s. 

A Foreign Affair is a genuine American Trümmerfilm and cinematic exploration of life in post-World War II Berlin, occupied by the Allies during the early stages of the Cold War. Featuring an ensemble cast led by Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, and John Lund, the film is set against the complex backdrop of a city still reeling from the aftermath of the war. 

It follows the story of a United States Army captain caught in a moral dilemma between a former Nazi cafe singer and an American congresswoman investigating her. While the film incorporates elements of comedy, it also bears a serious, cynical political tone that reflects both Wilder's perspective and the broader American fascination with the legacies of Berlin. 

The film blends romance, humor, and sharp political commentary to present a nuanced view of post-war Germany, the complexities of occupation, and human nature in times of moral ambiguity.

Trümmerfilm

The narrative of A Foreign Affair begins in 1947, with Phoebe Frost, a no-nonsense congresswoman from Iowa, arriving in the American-occupied sector of Berlin. Frost is part of a congressional committee sent to investigate the morale of the American occupation troops, who are reportedly infected by a "moral malaria." 

This term points to the rampant corruption among the soldiers, who take advantage of the post-war situation to profit from supply shortages and engage in exploitative relationships with local women. The military, however, defends the behavior of the soldiers, calling it a natural response to the harsh conditions of occupation.

Phoebe arrives with a birthday cake intended for a constituent’s boyfriend, Captain John Pringle. Pringle, however, exchanges the cake on the black market for a mattress for his lover, Erika von Schlütow, a German woman with a murky past. Erika had been ordered to a labor camp but is instead working at a nightclub, enjoying the protection of her relationship with Pringle. When military police arrive to question Erika, Pringle sends them away, using his influence to shield her from the authorities.

As Phoebe embarks on her investigation of American soldiers fraternizing with local women, she unknowingly crosses paths with Erika. Phoebe is mistaken for a local, and in an effort to blend in, she pretends to speak broken English, ultimately accompanying two soldiers to the Club Lorelei. 

Early moments of American Europe relations in A Foreign Affair (1948)

Here, she encounters Erika, who is rumored to have been the former mistress of high-ranking Nazi officials, including Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels. Intrigued and suspicious, Phoebe seeks the assistance of Captain Pringle to investigate Erika’s past, unaware that Pringle is romantically involved with her.

The plot thickens when Phoebe discovers a newsreel of Erika with Adolf Hitler, leading her to demand that Pringle help her retrieve Erika's official military file. In a bid to distract Phoebe from her investigation, Pringle woos her, and although she initially resists, Phoebe eventually succumbs to his charms. Meanwhile, Erika becomes aware of the growing tension in her relationship with Pringle, especially as his disillusionment with her Nazi past deepens.

It's a lady! A Foreign Affair (1948)

As the investigation unfolds, Pringle is ordered to continue seeing Erika to serve as bait for Hans Otto Birgel, a former Gestapo agent believed to be hiding in the American occupation zone. 

Birgel has sent a letter threatening to kill Erika, and the authorities hope to capture him through her connections. However, during a raid at the club, both Erika and Phoebe are arrested. In an attempt to avoid scandal, Erika claims Phoebe is her cousin, and Phoebe’s true identity remains concealed.

Phoebe, now disillusioned with her mission, plans to abandon her investigation, feeling ethically compromised. However, Colonel Plummer reveals that Pringle has been following orders all along and that his feelings for Phoebe have complicated matters. The situation reaches its climax when Birgel attempts to kill Pringle but is shot by American soldiers instead. Erika, implicated in Birgel's plot, is arrested, and Phoebe and John are finally reunited.

American Trümmerfilm — A Foreign Affair (1948)

While A Foreign Affair primarily functions as a romantic comedy, it is also steeped in a political context that highlights the complexities of post-war Berlin. Wilder's direction, coupled with the film's screenplay, cleverly juxtaposes lighthearted romance with a cynical view of the political situation. 

The film critiques the moral compromises and hypocrisy present in the American occupation of Germany, particularly in relation to the treatment of German civilians and the behavior of American soldiers.

The portrayal of Berlin as a city in ruins is a constant reminder of the destruction caused by the war, and the German civilians, particularly the women, are depicted as survivors in an environment where basic necessities are scarce. 

The film’s exploration of morality in this context is poignant: the women, including Erika, are shown as resorting to desperate measures to obtain the resources they need, blurring the lines between survival and collaboration. While this may be seen as a dark commentary on the human condition, it also serves as a sobering reflection on the consequences of war and the fragility of moral boundaries.

Why don't I choke you? Break you in two? Light a fire beneath you, you blonde witch.

The film’s treatment of Erika as a former Nazi sympathizer adds a layer of complexity to the narrative, as it confronts the issue of wartime collaboration and the difficulty of distinguishing between perpetrators and victims in a post-war society. 

Wilder presents Erika not as a one-dimensional villain but as a woman trapped in a difficult situation, forced to navigate a world that no longer offers her any clear moral direction. This nuanced portrayal of German characters is in stark contrast to many other films of the time, which often depicted Germans simply as enemies.

The film's examination of the American military’s behavior is equally critical, revealing the moral compromises that occur in a war-torn society. The soldiers’ relationships with German women are shown as transactional and exploitative, driven by both necessity and desire. Through this lens, A Foreign Affair comments on the broader theme of human nature and the ways in which individuals, caught in the chaos of war, often act in ways that contradict their national or ideological allegiances.

The production of A Foreign Affair was shaped by the political and historical context in which it was made. Billy Wilder, who had served with the U.S. Army in Germany during World War II, drew from his experiences to create an authentic portrayal of post-war Berlin. Much of the filming took place in the actual ruins of the city, lending the film a gritty realism that adds to its historical significance.

Wilder’s choice of Marlene Dietrich for the role of Erika von Schlütow was integral to the film’s success. Dietrich, a German-American actress, was a symbol of wartime collaboration due to her efforts to entertain American troops during the war. 

Her performance in A Foreign Affair is a sharp commentary on the intersection of personal and political allegiances, as she portrays a woman who, despite her past, is struggling to survive in a world that no longer recognizes her value.

The film also features Jean Arthur, who came out of retirement to play Phoebe Frost. Arthur’s portrayal of the uptight, morally rigid congresswoman adds a layer of humor and absurdity to the narrative. Her awkwardness and eventual surrender to Pringle's charm offer a striking contrast to Dietrich’s more sultry and cynical character, highlighting the clash of values between American and German characters in the post-war landscape.

Upon its release, A Foreign Affair was well-received by critics, who praised its ability to balance humor with serious political commentary. The film's witty dialogue and sharp critique of the American occupation of Germany were appreciated by audiences and critics alike.

Despite being a light-hearted romantic comedy on the surface, the film’s exploration of morality, survival, and the complexities of post-war relationships gives it a depth that continues to resonate with viewers today.

Billy Wilder's films, often seen as reflections of his own ambivalence toward his national identity, provide insightful commentary on both American and European cultures, as well as the complexities of the postwar world. As an outsider to the American experience—despite his long tenure in Hollywood—Wilder’s work remains intrinsically linked to his European origins, particularly as he moves between the two continents in his films. 

Wilder’s exploration of American culture reveals a deep-seated tension between his critical perspective on the nation’s capitalist-driven society and his occasional engagement with the allure of American modernity. His films do not merely observe American life; they dissect it, often revealing the dark undercurrents lurking beneath the surface.

Wilder's ability to present a nuanced and multifaceted view of culture is evident in his portrayal of contemporary American society, where he frequently critiques the ideals of conformity, consumerism, and moral apathy. 

In The Apartment (1960), for example, the character of C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) epitomizes the excesses of postwar corporate culture with his passive acceptance of moral compromise. Baxter’s detachment from the world around him, encapsulated in his famous line, “That’s the way it crumbles, cookie-wise,” becomes a symbol of the dehumanizing effect of corporate America. I

n Double Indemnity (1944), Wilder exposes the seductive nature of crime, as Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray’s characters plot a murder amidst the shelves of Jerry’s Market, underscoring the moral rot that runs through American society.

However, it is not simply the critique of American culture that defines Wilder’s work. His films also reveal a strong engagement with the contrasting world of Europe, particularly the cities of Vienna and Berlin. In The Emperor Waltz (1948) and A Foreign Affair (1948), Wilder transports his American characters to European cities still reeling from the devastation of World War II.

These films highlight the tensions between old-world European sensibilities and the emerging American postwar identity. While Wilder does not idealize either culture, his films draw out the complexities within both, urging audiences to confront the moral ambiguities of these conflicting worlds.

Central to Wilder’s cinematic approach is his focus on characters who embody these cultural tensions. His characters are often caught between competing national identities and personal desires, navigating fluid cultural, political, and individual landscapes. 

Wilder’s storytelling reveals the complexity of human nature, exploring the choices that individuals make without resorting to simplistic moral judgments. His films are less about cynicism than they are about a frank and often painful realism about the human condition.

Wilder’s ability to portray such complex characters is exemplified in A Foreign Affair, in which Marlene Dietrich plays Erika von Schlütow, a nightclub singer and ex-mistress of a Nazi officer. 

Erika’s postwar existence in Berlin, amid the occupying American forces, reflects Wilder’s ability to humanize even those who are deeply entangled in the morally fraught realities of the war. Despite Erika’s past affiliations, Wilder presents her as a complex figure, neither wholly villainous nor innocent, but rather a product of the times and her circumstances.

Dietrich’s star image—the sophisticated, yet morally ambiguous femme fatale—adds an additional layer of complexity to the character, allowing Wilder to address both the moral failings of the Nazi regime and the postwar complicity of those who lived through it.

Wilder’s treatment of European characters is not limited to Germans. In The Emperor Waltz, Wilder injects humor into the portrayal of Italy’s collaboration with Nazi Germany, turning the otherwise menacing Fascist Italians into a source of comic relief. Through the character of General Sebastiano (Fortunio Bonanova), Wilder critiques the Italian military’s role in World War II, but he also uses the character as a vehicle for satire, poking fun at the absurdity of Italy’s position in the war. 

Sebastiano’s lament about Italy’s fate—“getting the short end of the stick that stinks, as they say in Milano”—offers a sharp but humorous commentary on the contradictions and hypocrisies of wartime alliances.

Wilder’s films often blur the lines between cultural and political identities, drawing attention to the fluidity of national character and the complexities of morality in postwar Europe. 

In A Foreign Affair, Dietrich’s character, Erika, embodies this fluidity, as she navigates the shifting moral landscapes of postwar Berlin. Her affair with Captain John Pringle (John Lund) is a reflection of the compromised realities of postwar Europe, where the lines between enemy and ally are often murky, and survival becomes a key motivating force. 

At the same time, the film critiques the naïve idealism of Phoebe Frost (Jean Arthur), an American congresswoman who arrives in Berlin to investigate the morality of the American troops stationed there. Phoebe’s mission, intended to expose the moral decay of the soldiers, is exposed as flawed when she witnesses the complex and contradictory dynamics at play in Berlin.

In A Foreign Affair, Wilder uses Dietrich’s star image to underscore the complexities of the Europe-America dynamic. Dietrich, whose wartime propaganda efforts for the United States made her a symbol of patriotism in America and a controversial figure in Germany, brings an added layer of ambiguity to her role. 

Her character, Erika, is both a product of her past and a symbol of postwar Europe’s struggle to redefine itself. Wilder uses Dietrich’s persona not only to deepen the character’s complexity but also to interrogate the role of the U.S. in shaping postwar Europe. By casting Dietrich in this role, Wilder emphasizes the contradictions inherent in the U.S.’s postwar moral authority, suggesting that both the Americans and the Europeans are complicit in the moral and political ambiguities of the period.

The relationship between Europe and America in Wilder’s films is not simply a backdrop for political critique but also a narrative device that allows him to explore deeper questions of identity, morality, and survival. In A Foreign Affair, Wilder’s portrayal of postwar Berlin, with its occupied American forces and its lingering Nazi past, offers a complex vision of a Europe trying to rebuild itself while grappling with the consequences of its recent history. 

At the same time, the film’s exploration of the American presence in Berlin highlights the contradictions in the U.S.’s self-image as a moral and political leader, while its soldiers engage in morally questionable behavior.

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.

Erika von Schluetow: Let's go up to my apartment. It's only a few ruins away from here.

Phoebe Frost: Really, Colonel Plummer... you should have your brakes relined!

Captain John Pringle: How is good old Iowa?

Phoebe Frost: Sixty-two percent Republican, thank you.

Captain John Pringle: You dressed for me and to me you look good.

Phoebe Frost: John, where did you learn so much about women's clothes?

Captain John Pringle: My mother wore women's clothes.

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: Morale! Maybe someday we can send a little committee of our own investigating morale in Washington D.C.

Phoebe Frost: There. Now we're getting someplace. I wonder what holds up that dress...

Captain John Pringle: Must be that German willpower.

 

Captain John Pringle: There's a little unfinished business here, you know. Now that we've won the war, we mustn't lose the peace!

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: Here's the Reich Chancellery where the Führer fixed up a little duplex. As it turned out, one part got to be a great big padded cell and the other a mortuary. Underneath there's a concrete basement. That's where he married Eva Braun and that's where they killed themselves. A lot of people say it was a perfect honeymoon.

Congressman Pennecot: If you give a hungry man a loaf of bread, that's democracy, if you leave the wrapper on, that's imperialism.

Captain John Pringle: Don't tell me it's subversive to kiss a Republican!

Erika von Schluetow: So you fly off back home. Wash your hands. Wash your lips. You've got so much soap in the United States.

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] Want to buy some illusions? Slightly used, just like new. Such romantic illusions, and they're all about you. I sell them all for a penny, they make pretty souvenirs. Take my lovely illusions, some for laughs, some for tears.

Phoebe Frost: We'll go there right now!

Captain John Pringle: Where?

Phoebe Frost: To the files!

Captain John Pringle: In the middle of the night? Shouldn't we get permission?

Phoebe Frost: Did we get permission to land in Normandy? Let's go!

Phoebe Frost: How do you know so much about women's clothing?

Captain John Pringle: My mother wears women's clothing.

Erika von Schluetow: Want to buy an illusion?

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: Well, men, once more it is our honor and privilege to welcome a visiting committee. Lately they seem to be coming as regularly as the electric bill. This time its not just VIPs. This time we're gettin' VIPIs: Very Important Persons In deed. Some congressional committee to investigate our morale. Seems back home they've got an idea this here is one great big picnic. That all we do is swing in hammocks with blonde frauleins, swap cigarettes for castles on the Rhine and soak our feet in sparkling Mosel. Well, let's not kid ourselves. Some of you do go overboard once in awhile. Maybe some of you are working to hard to enlighten the civilian population. And maybe some of you PX millionaires have found out you can parlay a pack of cigarettes into something more than 20 smokes. After all, this isn't a boy scout camp. We've got a tough job on our hands and by and large I think we're handling it darn well. For my dough, we're on the ball. Most of us, anyway. Most of the time. But, what they've got to realize is, you can't pin Sergeant stripes on an archangel.

Erika von Schluetow: [Knock at the door] Who's that?

Captain John Pringle: With my luck, it's Eisenhower.

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] Black Market, Eggs for statuettes, Smiles for cigarettes, Got some broken down ideals? Like wedding rings?

WAC Technical Sergeant: Captain Pringle is wanted in 112.

Captain John Pringle: Who's that?

WAC Technical Sergeant: That Congress dame - whatever her name is.

Captain John Pringle: She wants to see me?

WAC Technical Sergeant: Yes sir.

Captain John Pringle: Now?

WAC Technical Sergeant: Now, sir. She's clucking like a hen. You better get there before she lays an egg!

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] Amidst the ruins of Berlin, Trees are in bloom as they have never been. Sometimes at night you feel in all your sorrow, A perfume as of a sweet tomorrow! That's when you realize at last. They won't return - the phantoms of the past. A brand new spring is to begin, Out of the ruins of Berlin!

Captain John Pringle: Sorry. I guess this is where the funny man says, "Shall we dance?"

Phoebe Frost: You are not a funny man, Captain Pringle. But you are quite a dancer. What a waltz we had. Good night.

[walks out]

Captain John Pringle: There must have been a mistake at the laundry. We got a crazy old laundress. You know what happened with Lt. Frankovich? He sent out his shorts and got back a girdle.

Erika von Schluetow: Johnny, for 15 years we haven't slept in Germany. First it was Hitler screaming on the radio. Then, the war of nerves. Then, the victory celebrations. And the bombing. All the furniture burnt.

Erika von Schluetow: Give me that mattress.

Captain John Pringle: No mattress will help you sleep. What you Germans need is a better conscience.

Erika von Schluetow: I have a good conscience! I have a new Führer now. You! Heil Johnny.

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: One family has already christened a kid DiMaggio Schultz. That's when I started believin' we'd really won the war.

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] I'll trade you for your candy, Some gorgeous merchandise, My camera - it's a dandy! Six by nine - just your size. You want my porcelain figure? A watch? A submarine? A Rembrandt? Salami? Black lingerie from Wien?

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] Black Market. Laces for the misses. Chewing gum for kisses! Black Market. Cuckoo clocks and bangles! Thousand little angles!

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] Come, and see my little musicbox today! Price? Only six cartons! Want to hear it play?

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] Black Market. Milk and microscope for liverwurst and soap. Browse around! I've got so many toys! Don't be bashful. Step up, boys!

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] I'm selling out! Take all I've got! Ambitions! Convictions! The works! Why not? Enjoy these goods. For boy, these goods, Are hot!

Captain John Pringle: Baseball and a little less heel clicking is what he needs.

Captain John Pringle: Who wants perfume? Give me the fresh wet smell of Iowa corn, right after it rains.

Captain John Pringle: You don't want to go to that sewer?

Phoebe Frost: Yes, I do. I want it dark and gay and with music.

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] Want to buy some illusions, Slightly used, second hand? They were lovely illusions, Reaching high, built on sand.

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: Its a great big mess we're trying to clean up here. There's a lot of rubble. Rubble of all kinds: vegetable, mineral, and animal. You walk around on it, you're apt to stumble or get conked on the head by a loose brick.

Phoebe Frost: [Addressing her fellow committee members, as she and a Congressional committee are in a plane on the approach to Berlin] Perhaps I should remind you why we were sent to Berlin... We're here to investigate the morale of American occupation troops, nothing else. 12,000 of our boys are policing that pest hole down below and according to reports, they are being infected by a kind of moral malaria. It is our duty to their wives, their mothers, their sisters, to find the facts. And if these reports are true, to fumigate that place with all the insecticides at our disposal.

Captain John Pringle: [after Erika's been spotted in German newsreels, associating with high-ranking members of the Nazi Party] Having your hand kissed by Hitler. I hope you had it sterilized. Looked as if he had rat poison in that moustache.

Erika von Schluetow: Don't talk like that.

Captain John Pringle: Why not? How much of a Nazi were you, anyway?

Erika von Schluetow: Johnny, what does it matter, a woman's politics? Women pick out whatever's in fashion and change it like a spring hat.

Captain John Pringle: Yeah. Last year it was a little number with a swastika on it. This year it's ostrich feathers, red, white and blue. Next year a hammer, maybe, and a sickle.

Erika von Schluetow: Oh, Johnny, we must not say mean words to each other.

Erika von Schluetow: When you say you are engaged, that is only until her plane leaves, huh?

Captain John Pringle: What else?

Erika von Schluetow: I love you so very much.

Captain John Pringle: You do?

 

 

Erika von Schluetow: You're the only man I ever wanted to marry.

Captain John Pringle: That's mighty white of you.

Erika von Schluetow: I want to go with you to America. I want to climb up the Statue of Liberty.

Captain John Pringle: You want to get down that basement at Fort Knox.

Erika von Schluetow: I want to be where you are.

Captain John Pringle: Yeah, I can just imagine you in Iowa in blue jeans, going on a hay ride to the old mill.

Erika von Schluetow: I would love that.

 

Phoebe Frost: Colonel Plummer, in your eloquent speech, which I'm sure you've made 50 times, you used the phrase "Some of our boys may get out of line sometimes." That, gentlemen, is a masterpiece of understatement.

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: What are you driving at, Miss Frost?

Phoebe Frost: In your admirable effort to civilize this country, our boys are rapidly becoming barbarians themselves.

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: I explained on that tour...

Phoebe Frost: Yes, I know all about those tours. You put blinkers on us. You maneuver us around. You make sure we only see what you want us to see. Then you give us pamphlets, statistics, and a rousing speech and ship us back a little more bamboozled than when we came. We could have stayed at home and learned as much from Reader's Digest.

Giffin: Miss Frost. Congresswoman Frost?

Phoebe Frost: Present.

Giffin: We're flyin' over Berlin.

Phoebe Frost: Fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.

Giffin: Well, don't you want to see it?

Phoebe Frost: One thing at a time.

Giffin: You got quite a sight comin'. Looks like chicken and its fryin' time.

Phoebe Frost: Considering the amount of taxpayers money that was poured on it, I don't expect it to look like a lace valentine.

Erika von Schluetow: You're hurting me Johnny! You're always hurting me. Why are you so mean to me?

Captain John Pringle: [Playfully] You heil me once more and I'll knock your teeth in.

Erika von Schluetow: I'll bruise your lips.

Captain John Pringle: Why don't I choke you a little. Break you in two. Build a fire under you - you blonde witch.

Captain John Pringle: Paperwork! Thats what's wrong with the Army. Thats why we're always fouled up when a war starts. It takes us six months to clear off the paperwork in the last one!

 

Captain John Pringle: [to Erika] Aw, you gorgeous booby trap!

Mike: You know, you're a nice little strudel!

Joe: Hey, hands off! I saw her first.

Phoebe Frost: Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

Mike: How do you like these prices? We better write Congress to boost our PX ration.

Joe: Fat chance! All them schmooze think about is coal strikes, blood control, United Nations.

Mike: So what's Congress? A bunch of salesmen that's got their foot in the right door.

Joe: Boy, that's strudel! Strudel a la mode! That's the kind of pastry that make you drool on your bib.

Mike: You know what they say? They say she was right up there with them big Nazis. Right in the major league! That's what they say. She was Goebbels' girl. Or, Göring's. One of 'em, any way.

Joe: How did she get away with it?

Mike: How did she get away with it? Just look at her! She's hooked herself some big brass.

Phoebe Frost: Are there any other sewers like this in Berlin?

Captain John Pringle: Three or four, maybe. But, this is the best sewer.

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: What I want to point out is, that its a tough, thankless, lonely job. We're trying to lick it as well as we can.

Phoebe Frost: Col. Plummer, I didn't go for the blinkers. Now, don't try a muzzle! The last time someone wanted to gag me, he tried it with a mink coat.

Phoebe Frost: I suppose I trust you because we're both Iowans.

Captain John Pringle: Right back at you, Miss Frost!

Phoebe Frost: They certainly fiddled big while Berlin burned.

Phoebe Frost: [Looking at an old Nazi newsreel with Erika, in strapless gown, at the Opera] I wonder what holds up that dress?

Captain John Pringle: Must be that - German will power.

 

Erika von Schluetow: [Referring to Miss Frost] I see you do not believe in lipstick. And what a curious way to to do your hair or rather not to do it.

Captain John Pringle: Now, wait a minute! Do you know who you're talking to?

Erika von Schluetow: An American woman. And I'm a little disappointed, to tell you the truth. We apparently have a false idea about the chic American woman. Oh, I suppose that's publicity in Hollywood.

 

Phoebe Frost: I suppose I do look awful without makeup.

Captain John Pringle: No, you don't!

Phoebe Frost: We were only allowed 60 pounds of luggage. We had to eliminate unessentials.

Captain John Pringle: Never listen to another woman, if you want to know how you look. Ask a man!

 

Phoebe Frost: I loved him, insanely. I loved the southern syrup in his voice, his mint julep manners, the way he'd look at me through his long, thick eyelashes.

Captain John Pringle: Now, Congresswoman, may I have the floor?

Phoebe Frost: You are entirely out of order.

Captain John Pringle: Objection overruled.

[Kiss]

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: I want every MP to memorize this puss.

 

Erika von Schluetow: [singing] They had a touch of paradise, A spell you can't explain: For in this crazy paradise, You are in love with pain.

Phoebe Frost: I know he's not pretty, but he's beautiful.

Erika von Schluetow: It's give and take if we are to survive.

Phoebe Frost: What have I to give? And what do you want to take?

Phoebe Frost: Exactly what is it you want from me Fräulein von Schluetow?

Erika von Schluetow: Let's go up to my apartment. It's only a few ruins away from here.

Erika von Schluetow: [Looking at a photograph] This how he looked when i met him first. He was a Lieutenant then. He sat at his desk, interrogating me. He had such a grime, business-like face. But, fortunately, I was wearing my last pair of silk stockings.

Col. Rufus J. Plummer: So, we followed her all day, until the five o'clock shadow showed. Sure enough, she was Hermann.

Erika von Schluetow: I have a paper which says I'm on the white list.

MP Lieutenant: Yeah and we know how you got it and it wasn't, if you'll pardon the non-Aryan expression, kosher.

You're not a Nazi. Don't tell me it's subversive to kiss a Republican?

Erika von Schluetow: Come on, boys. Has it stopped raining?

[Lifts her dress up above her knees]

Erika von Schluetow: If there are any puddles. You carry me. Won't you, boys?

Billy Wilder’s films, particularly A Foreign Affair and The Emperor Waltz, offer a nuanced examination of the cultural, political, and moral dynamics of postwar Europe and America. Wilder’s ability to navigate the complexities of both American and European identity, along with his keen eye for the moral ambiguities of postwar life, marks his work as a significant contribution to both popular and transnational cinema. 

By blending humor, satire, and a deep understanding of human nature, Wilder’s films remain timeless explorations of the complexities of the human experience in a world forever shaped by war and its aftermath.

Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair (1948) is yet a sharp and cynical romantic comedy set in post-WWII Berlin. The film follows a U.S. Congressional delegation that arrives in the divided city to investigate the morale of American troops stationed there. The plot shows Congresswoman Phoebe Frost, portrayed by Jean Arthur, who becomes embroiled in a web of deception and love as she investigates the moral decay among the occupying soldiers. 

Set against the devastation of a war-ravaged Berlin, the film deftly explores the complexities of survival, morality, and romance in the immediate aftermath of the war.

At the heart of the story is Captain John Pringle (John Lund), an American officer involved in a romantic relationship with Erika von Schlütow (Marlene Dietrich), a German nightclub singer with a murky past. Berlin at the time was a city of scarcity, where everyday goods were often traded or bartered. 

The opening scenes of the film show Pringle exchanging a birthday cake for a mattress, highlighting the desperate conditions of the city. Phoebe, a no-nonsense and detail-oriented congresswoman, crosses paths with Pringle and Erika when she visits the Lorelei nightclub, where Erika performs. As the investigation deepens, Phoebe becomes romantically involved with Pringle, against her better judgment, while also uncovering the layers of deception surrounding Erika’s ties to Nazi officials.

Wilder’s direction ensures that the film balances humor with sharp political commentary. Jean Arthur delivers an outstanding performance as Phoebe, capturing both her naivety and eventual vulnerability. Marlene Dietrich, in one of her most memorable roles, plays Erika as a survivor navigating the complexities of post-war Germany. 

The film also features striking moments, such as Phoebe performing the "Iowa Corn Song" at the club and Erika singing "Illusions" and "Ruins of Berlin," songs that deepen the emotional resonance of the film.

The cinematography by Charles Lang captures the devastation of Berlin, with dark, haunting imagery of the city's ruins. While the film is a romantic comedy at its core, it never shies away from the darker undercurrents of the time—corruption, the legacy of Nazi collaborators, and the exploitation of women.

A Foreign Affair remains one of Wilder's finer achievements, offering a witty and insightful exploration of a broken city and the complex human relationships that emerge in its aftermath.

A Foreign Affair stands as a remarkable example of how film can serve as both entertainment and social commentary. By combining romance, comedy, and political intrigue, Billy Wilder crafted a film that not only reflects the complexities of post-war Berlin but also explores the broader themes of human nature and morality. 

Through its compelling characters, sharp dialogue, and historical context, the film remains a significant work in the history of American cinema, offering both a humorous and sobering view of a world struggling to rebuild after the devastation of war.

A Foreign Affair (1948)

Directed by Billy Wilder

Genres - Comedy, Drama, Romance  |   Sub-Genres - Romantic Comedy  |   Release Date - Aug 20, 1948  |   Run Time - 116 min.  |  Wikipedia