Billy Wilder's making a farce out of this one which seems to have some jokes only he and the other writers understand. To me, the biggest value of this film is Col. Plummer's serious tour showing a lot of what bombed out Berlin was about in 1948. These parts of the film were done on location.
The plot, such as it is, has John Lund (Capt Pringle) romancing Erika (Dietrich) not knowing he is being set up a a target to bring her Nazi ex-boyfriend out of hiding. Strangely enough that does not happen until late in the movie. That is because of the early plot.
Congresswoman Phoebe (Jean Arthur) and a congressional group come to check out the morale of our American troops staying in Germany after the war. The investigation seems to indicate most of our troops are having affairs with German women. This makes little sense historically as the Russians had just raped most of the German women in Berlin in 1945, but because there is a shortage of German men after the war, I guess we can stretch with that.
Lund and Arthur really fall into love, but Pringle (Lund) has to stay on his mission with Dietrich (Erika). Most of the movie centers around this plot, and really is not all that amusing to modern viewers. This is a good way to view a more mature Dietrich who is way past her Blue Angel days but is still able to perform.
Wilder did better later as it appears his problem here is that while painting a picture of a shattered he tries to make poverty more amusing than it really is.
The plot, such as it is, has John Lund (Capt Pringle) romancing Erika (Dietrich) not knowing he is being set up a a target to bring her Nazi ex-boyfriend out of hiding. Strangely enough that does not happen until late in the movie. That is because of the early plot.
Congresswoman Phoebe (Jean Arthur) and a congressional group come to check out the morale of our American troops staying in Germany after the war. The investigation seems to indicate most of our troops are having affairs with German women. This makes little sense historically as the Russians had just raped most of the German women in Berlin in 1945, but because there is a shortage of German men after the war, I guess we can stretch with that.
Lund and Arthur really fall into love, but Pringle (Lund) has to stay on his mission with Dietrich (Erika). Most of the movie centers around this plot, and really is not all that amusing to modern viewers. This is a good way to view a more mature Dietrich who is way past her Blue Angel days but is still able to perform.
Wilder did better later as it appears his problem here is that while painting a picture of a shattered he tries to make poverty more amusing than it really is.