The main impression left by "A Foreign Affair" is Billy Wilder's nobility toward German people. With authentic magnanimity, he chooses to represent Germans as a pitiful people struggling to survive, not a cruel enemy to hate. The movie has an intrinsic historical interest, since it was filmed in 1948 Berlin, completely destroyed by bombs. As usual in Wilder's works, the plot is beautifully constructed, the dialogue is witty and funny, irony, sarcasm and anti-rhetoric are spread along the movie. In the opening scenes we see army captain John Lund at the black-market, selling a cake, hand-made by his American sweetheart and coming from the States, to buy a gift for his Berliner lover Marlene Dietrich. By the way, Dietrich and most Berliner women seem to be on the verge of prostitution, just to get primary goods to survive in post-war disaster. Lund meets Jean Arthur, a US congresswoman committed in hunting nazi war criminals. As a matter of fact, we follow Lund's attempts to destroy evidence of Dietrich's nazi past: a behavior by the captain not exactly patriotic, nor ethic. The finale is deeper than it appears at a first sight: brutal tyranny, based on terror and slaughter, is doomed to be annihilated, buried under the rubble; pretty girls remain, helping us to spend our life on this unhappy earth.
78 Reviews
A little history is a useful thing
rhoda-911 November 2009
Though the plot of A Foreign Affair is lightweight and has seen service in many other movies (wholesome woman and sexy woman pursuing the same man; man pretends to fall for woman and then really does), the backdrop is deadly serious, compelling, and unusual. We are in the American Zone of Berlin after the war, a sector that, with the British and French zones, would soon become West Berlin, a magnet for many who would struggle to escape to this tiny outpost of the West in what would become Communist East Germany, many of them dying in the attempt. The Berlin Wall would be built to separate West from East Berlin. The Germans in the movie have had their world destroyed, don't know what is going on in the present, and can only wait with helpless terror for the future.
Though we are shown houses pulverised by Allied bombing and people living amongst the ruins, there is a lighthearted aspect to it all--the usual wartime stuff of GI's trading chocolate or stockings for kisses from pretty girls. In reality, however, it was more likely that they would be traded for sex from women desperate to feed themselves and their children, by soldiers reveling in a power they never had in civilian life and oblivious to the disgust and humiliation of the women. Marlene Dietrich says that, when the Russian troops invaded Berlin, "it was hard for the women." That's the understatement of the century! The Russians raped, and gang-raped, any women they could find--women died from being literally raped to death. It is understandable that Billy Wilder did not want to make the milieu too bleak in order to dampen the comedy, but keep in mind that matters were far more brutal and squalid than portrayed here.
It is a rather dark joke that Dietrich is cast in the role of a German woman who has had Nazi lovers and still feels loyal to Hitler. In fact, Dietrich became an American citizen in 1939 and extensively toured US military bases, sometimes at great danger, to entertain the troops. This aroused rage in Germany, and even decades after the war, as the result of protests by locals who called her a traitor, the government backed down and did not name a street in her honour. Can you beat that! An amusing footnote: When Dietrich tries her wiles on an officer, he says, Don't be silly, I've just become a grandfather. I don't know whether this was coincidence or intentional, but at the time the movie was made, Dietrich became a grandmother--an event that gave her a label that was very popular, but which she hated, "world's most glamorous grandmother."
Though we are shown houses pulverised by Allied bombing and people living amongst the ruins, there is a lighthearted aspect to it all--the usual wartime stuff of GI's trading chocolate or stockings for kisses from pretty girls. In reality, however, it was more likely that they would be traded for sex from women desperate to feed themselves and their children, by soldiers reveling in a power they never had in civilian life and oblivious to the disgust and humiliation of the women. Marlene Dietrich says that, when the Russian troops invaded Berlin, "it was hard for the women." That's the understatement of the century! The Russians raped, and gang-raped, any women they could find--women died from being literally raped to death. It is understandable that Billy Wilder did not want to make the milieu too bleak in order to dampen the comedy, but keep in mind that matters were far more brutal and squalid than portrayed here.
It is a rather dark joke that Dietrich is cast in the role of a German woman who has had Nazi lovers and still feels loyal to Hitler. In fact, Dietrich became an American citizen in 1939 and extensively toured US military bases, sometimes at great danger, to entertain the troops. This aroused rage in Germany, and even decades after the war, as the result of protests by locals who called her a traitor, the government backed down and did not name a street in her honour. Can you beat that! An amusing footnote: When Dietrich tries her wiles on an officer, he says, Don't be silly, I've just become a grandfather. I don't know whether this was coincidence or intentional, but at the time the movie was made, Dietrich became a grandmother--an event that gave her a label that was very popular, but which she hated, "world's most glamorous grandmother."
Surprisingly good natured...
sadie_thompson4 August 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I got this movie on video when the second half of the Marlene Dietrich collection came out. (Anybody remember VHS? Ah, the good old days.) A friend had recorded it for me, but the sound was all garbled. I enjoyed the parts I understood, and when it came out on video I had to have it.
There are so many enjoyable moments in this movie. Congresswoman Frost gets one of the best masquerading as "Gretchen Gesundheit," only to cause her newfound companions to gleefully remark "We're fraternizing with a sneeze!" Heck, she gets all the best moments. Jean Arthur, an actress I never cared for due to her high irritating factor ("Shane," anyone?), does wonders portraying an irritating person. Phoebe Frost is so stalwart and dull it's remarkable she even breathes. When she finally lets her hair down it's painfully funny. I refer of course to her performance of "The Iowa Song." Erika (Marlene, of course) forces her to perform the song in front of everyone at the cabaret, hoping to mortify her into leaving. Phoebe instead gives it the old college try, and to watch her at the end of the song is amazing. She's terrible, but she's completely forgotten that little fact. She looks so thrilled to be there, singing the praises of her native land, and everyone else is so thrilled they feel compelled to sing along. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. We're also treated to a quick cut to Marlene, who's clapping her hands and puffing her cigarette like a freight train. Another great scene is Phoebe displaying her new dress to Captain Pringle. She found it hanging on the handlebars of a bicycle and it looked devastating. On her it looks, as she aptly puts it, "like a circus tent in mourning for an elephant that has died." How someone so humorless as her can come up with things like that I'll never know. (Billy Wilder must have been a great lunch companion!) There is one strange thing about this movie, though, and here it is. Why would Marlene Dietrich and Jean Arthur fight over John Lund, and even more puzzling, how in the hell could Marlene lose? It's unbelievable! According to legend, Marlene had quite a bit of animosity towards Jean Arthur, and on screen she sure acts like it. Erika insults or mocks every little thing about Phoebe, down to the ribbons ("shoelaces") in her hair. She even says she has a face like "a kitchen floor." Erika might lower herself that far (having no dignity left), but Marlene? Never. Not to mention playing a Nazi sympathizer. Why, we even see her whispering into Hitler's ear! The look of horror and surprise on Captain Pringle's face when he sees that is priceless. He's talking about how she couldn't have been that important, and he looks up to see her chatting with the Fuhrer. I imagine if Marlene Dietrich had gotten that close to Hitler she would have killed him, and maybe gotten away with it.
In all fairness, Marlene gets some memorable moments as well, such as when she bitches about her springy mattress. Pointing out a spring, she mutters "That one is the worst." And who can ever forget her surprisingly tolerable rendition of "Black Market"? Better yet, who can forget how, during "Illusions," she reaches back and puts her cigarette in Frederick Hollander's mouth WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING AT HIM? I can just see some other less elegant actress gouging him in the eye with it.
I also admire this movie for showing what Germans must have actually been like after the war, instead of focusing on Nazi atrocities like other films are prone to doing. This movie says that the Nazi Party wasn't Germany, at least not all of it, and definitely seeing the Germans living in the ruins of their formal lives drives the point home.
There are so many enjoyable moments in this movie. Congresswoman Frost gets one of the best masquerading as "Gretchen Gesundheit," only to cause her newfound companions to gleefully remark "We're fraternizing with a sneeze!" Heck, she gets all the best moments. Jean Arthur, an actress I never cared for due to her high irritating factor ("Shane," anyone?), does wonders portraying an irritating person. Phoebe Frost is so stalwart and dull it's remarkable she even breathes. When she finally lets her hair down it's painfully funny. I refer of course to her performance of "The Iowa Song." Erika (Marlene, of course) forces her to perform the song in front of everyone at the cabaret, hoping to mortify her into leaving. Phoebe instead gives it the old college try, and to watch her at the end of the song is amazing. She's terrible, but she's completely forgotten that little fact. She looks so thrilled to be there, singing the praises of her native land, and everyone else is so thrilled they feel compelled to sing along. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. We're also treated to a quick cut to Marlene, who's clapping her hands and puffing her cigarette like a freight train. Another great scene is Phoebe displaying her new dress to Captain Pringle. She found it hanging on the handlebars of a bicycle and it looked devastating. On her it looks, as she aptly puts it, "like a circus tent in mourning for an elephant that has died." How someone so humorless as her can come up with things like that I'll never know. (Billy Wilder must have been a great lunch companion!) There is one strange thing about this movie, though, and here it is. Why would Marlene Dietrich and Jean Arthur fight over John Lund, and even more puzzling, how in the hell could Marlene lose? It's unbelievable! According to legend, Marlene had quite a bit of animosity towards Jean Arthur, and on screen she sure acts like it. Erika insults or mocks every little thing about Phoebe, down to the ribbons ("shoelaces") in her hair. She even says she has a face like "a kitchen floor." Erika might lower herself that far (having no dignity left), but Marlene? Never. Not to mention playing a Nazi sympathizer. Why, we even see her whispering into Hitler's ear! The look of horror and surprise on Captain Pringle's face when he sees that is priceless. He's talking about how she couldn't have been that important, and he looks up to see her chatting with the Fuhrer. I imagine if Marlene Dietrich had gotten that close to Hitler she would have killed him, and maybe gotten away with it.
In all fairness, Marlene gets some memorable moments as well, such as when she bitches about her springy mattress. Pointing out a spring, she mutters "That one is the worst." And who can ever forget her surprisingly tolerable rendition of "Black Market"? Better yet, who can forget how, during "Illusions," she reaches back and puts her cigarette in Frederick Hollander's mouth WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING AT HIM? I can just see some other less elegant actress gouging him in the eye with it.
I also admire this movie for showing what Germans must have actually been like after the war, instead of focusing on Nazi atrocities like other films are prone to doing. This movie says that the Nazi Party wasn't Germany, at least not all of it, and definitely seeing the Germans living in the ruins of their formal lives drives the point home.
A Moment in Cinema: Dietrich Sings "Black Market"
drednm20 February 2005
in this excellent and underrated Billy Wilder film. Dietrich plays a former Nazi trying to hide behind a post-war American boyfriend. Jean Arthur plays a spinster American congresswoman, and John Lund is the man they both fall for. The scenes of bombed-out Berlin are astonishing, and the 3 stars are wonderful in this sly comedy that gets better with every viewing. The highlights tho are Dietrich's musical numbers sung in a basement speakeasy. She sings the great "Black Market" with composer Frederick Hollander at the piano. She sings LIVE and it's electrifying. She also sings "The Ruins of Berlin" and "Lovely Illusions." Jean Arthur is also good in one of her last films. Millard Mitchell, Bill Murphy, Stanley Prager, and Gordon Jones co-star. A must!
An interesting little love triangle
davidmvining26 November 2019
There's a certain oddness to one of the central relationships in this film that lends itself to a certain reading that the movie never really follows through on, and the ending doesn't quite feel right. However, the rest of it is the same level of character, easy plotting, and great dialogue we have come to expect from Billy Wilder and his writing partner Charles Brackett.
It's post-war Berlin. The city is still a ruin. There's no industry anymore. The few residents left are living a barter existence through the black market. The US Army has taken complete police control over certain sections of the city, and one army captain is using his place of authority to protect and lord over an attractive German woman. The scene that introduces Captain Pringle and Erika von Schlutow is brimming with a dominant, submissive relationship. Pringle holds Erika's livelihood in his hands. He brings her a new mattress that he traded a cake from home for, and he threatens to not give it to her. He doesn't even ask for anything. He places his hands on her throat. It's an odd dynamic that the movie never really pursues, though there are easy implications for the nature of the relationship between an occupying force and the occupied.
The cake was brought by an Iowa congresswoman at the behest of one of her constituents, Pringle's old flame from back home. The congresswoman, Phoebe Frost, is part of a committee visit to ascertain the wellbeing of the American troops stationed in Berlin. She's essentially the polar opposite to Erika. Erika is a sexpot, singing in black market nightclubs in glitzy dresses with hair spilling out around her head. Phoebe where's business dresses, keeps her mouth small when she talks, and has tightly styled hair on her head. The irony is that Phoebe starts investigating Erika with Pringle, but Pringle is the one who forged Erika's paperwork to allow her to work. The problem is that Erika was the squeeze of a very powerful Nazi official and Pringle had no idea.
And that creates the central tension in the film. Pringle wants to defend Erika, but in order to do that he has to throw Phoebe off the track for the few days she's in Berlin, and the only way he can figure out to do that is to seduce Phoebe. They're both from Iowa, and Pringle is an attractive man giving a mousy woman attention. Seducing her isn't that hard. She's enamored with him very quickly, but Pringle himself can never quite disconnect from either.
The inherent conflict is most of the movie and it makes for an entertaining mix of light comical farce and drama. The ending, though, tries to combine both and I'm not sure it really works. Erika gets hauled off after her Nazi squeeze comes out of hiding for her and gets shot. Phoebe then is able to pursue Pringle in a wave of relief after she thought he had died instead. The visuals of her going after him evoke an earlier scene where he had gone after her initially. In the earlier seen, she was pulling out drawers to block his way, but Pringle simply closed them and kept after her. In the later scene, Pringle is throwing chairs between them and Phoebe is knocking them away. So, while there's a nice visual echo within the moment, the fact that it ends on a lighter note just doesn't feel right. The Pringle and Phoebe relationship was always a sham, and the idea that it ends happily somehow feels wrong.
Still, the movie as a whole is quite entertaining. I know some people rank this as one of Wilder's best movies, but I have to rank it lower. It's good, but doesn't come close to the heights of some of his other films.
It's post-war Berlin. The city is still a ruin. There's no industry anymore. The few residents left are living a barter existence through the black market. The US Army has taken complete police control over certain sections of the city, and one army captain is using his place of authority to protect and lord over an attractive German woman. The scene that introduces Captain Pringle and Erika von Schlutow is brimming with a dominant, submissive relationship. Pringle holds Erika's livelihood in his hands. He brings her a new mattress that he traded a cake from home for, and he threatens to not give it to her. He doesn't even ask for anything. He places his hands on her throat. It's an odd dynamic that the movie never really pursues, though there are easy implications for the nature of the relationship between an occupying force and the occupied.
The cake was brought by an Iowa congresswoman at the behest of one of her constituents, Pringle's old flame from back home. The congresswoman, Phoebe Frost, is part of a committee visit to ascertain the wellbeing of the American troops stationed in Berlin. She's essentially the polar opposite to Erika. Erika is a sexpot, singing in black market nightclubs in glitzy dresses with hair spilling out around her head. Phoebe where's business dresses, keeps her mouth small when she talks, and has tightly styled hair on her head. The irony is that Phoebe starts investigating Erika with Pringle, but Pringle is the one who forged Erika's paperwork to allow her to work. The problem is that Erika was the squeeze of a very powerful Nazi official and Pringle had no idea.
And that creates the central tension in the film. Pringle wants to defend Erika, but in order to do that he has to throw Phoebe off the track for the few days she's in Berlin, and the only way he can figure out to do that is to seduce Phoebe. They're both from Iowa, and Pringle is an attractive man giving a mousy woman attention. Seducing her isn't that hard. She's enamored with him very quickly, but Pringle himself can never quite disconnect from either.
The inherent conflict is most of the movie and it makes for an entertaining mix of light comical farce and drama. The ending, though, tries to combine both and I'm not sure it really works. Erika gets hauled off after her Nazi squeeze comes out of hiding for her and gets shot. Phoebe then is able to pursue Pringle in a wave of relief after she thought he had died instead. The visuals of her going after him evoke an earlier scene where he had gone after her initially. In the earlier seen, she was pulling out drawers to block his way, but Pringle simply closed them and kept after her. In the later scene, Pringle is throwing chairs between them and Phoebe is knocking them away. So, while there's a nice visual echo within the moment, the fact that it ends on a lighter note just doesn't feel right. The Pringle and Phoebe relationship was always a sham, and the idea that it ends happily somehow feels wrong.
Still, the movie as a whole is quite entertaining. I know some people rank this as one of Wilder's best movies, but I have to rank it lower. It's good, but doesn't come close to the heights of some of his other films.
Wilkommen. Bienvenue, Welcome!
jotix10018 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
"A Foreign Affair" is not one of the films, directed by Billy Wilder, that are constantly seen on cable. We saw the movie a few years ago, as part as a tribute to the master. "A Foreign Affair" shows a Billy Wilder at one of his best moments of his Hollywood career. In going back to a destroyed Berlin, a city in which he lived, Mr. Wilder, and his collaborators, presents us with a film that must have been close to his heart.
We are shown a Berlin in ruins right after the war as the US Congressional delegation comes to investigate the morale of the American men deployed in the divided city. It was still a time where some Nazis are still hiding from justice as the Allied forces are looking for them. One of the members of the commission that arrives in Berlin, Congresswoman Phoebe Frost, is carrying a birthday cake for one of her Iowa constituents, sent by his girlfriend.
Berlin in those days was a place where things were hard to obtain. A lot of everyday goods, as well as all types of items, were bought, sold, or bartered, in the streets. We get a glimpse of it, as Capt. John Pringle exchanges his own birthday cake for a mattress that he intends to present to his current love, the exotic Erika, who entertains in the Lorelei, the cabaret that attracts a mixed crowd. Things get complicated as Phoebe Frost, who is a sticker for detail, catches Pringle at the night club. Phoebe, Pringle and Erika will be involved in a web of deception, intrigue and love. The no-nonsense Congresswoman falls in love, against her better judgment with the handsome Pringle.
There are delicious moments in the film that only someone with Mr. Wilder's eye for detail could get from his players. Phoebe Frost is taken for a ride with two GIs who think she is a local. The Congresswoman also plays a number in the Lorelei, a song with the appropriate title of "Iowa Corn Song", one of the highlights of the movie. Also, Erika, sings a couple of numbers, "Illusions", and "Ruins of Berlin" that will stay with the viewer because of the way Ms. Dietrich could only interpret them. Another sequence involves Pringle and Phoebe inside a file room in which drawers are opened and shut with an amazing pace.
Jean Arthur is the best thing in the film. She was an actress who showed every emotion so well in her expressive face. Phoebe Frost has to be one of the best roles she ever played on the screen. Marlene Dietrich is another asset in the movie. Her Erika was a survivor, as she clearly shows. John Lund, makes a wonderful Pringle, the man who ends falling in love with Phoebe. Millard Mitchell is seen as Col. Plummer.
The only thing with the copy shown on TCM, it was so dark, that at times is hard to see what's going on. The photography by Charles Lang shows the devastation and the condition that Berlin looked like right after being repeatedly bombed by the Allies during WWII. At one point in the film, Erika tells Phoebe to accompany her home, "It's the next ruin", she explains.
"A Foreign Affair" is one of Mr. Wilder's best achievements as he gives us an account of the city he knew well.
We are shown a Berlin in ruins right after the war as the US Congressional delegation comes to investigate the morale of the American men deployed in the divided city. It was still a time where some Nazis are still hiding from justice as the Allied forces are looking for them. One of the members of the commission that arrives in Berlin, Congresswoman Phoebe Frost, is carrying a birthday cake for one of her Iowa constituents, sent by his girlfriend.
Berlin in those days was a place where things were hard to obtain. A lot of everyday goods, as well as all types of items, were bought, sold, or bartered, in the streets. We get a glimpse of it, as Capt. John Pringle exchanges his own birthday cake for a mattress that he intends to present to his current love, the exotic Erika, who entertains in the Lorelei, the cabaret that attracts a mixed crowd. Things get complicated as Phoebe Frost, who is a sticker for detail, catches Pringle at the night club. Phoebe, Pringle and Erika will be involved in a web of deception, intrigue and love. The no-nonsense Congresswoman falls in love, against her better judgment with the handsome Pringle.
There are delicious moments in the film that only someone with Mr. Wilder's eye for detail could get from his players. Phoebe Frost is taken for a ride with two GIs who think she is a local. The Congresswoman also plays a number in the Lorelei, a song with the appropriate title of "Iowa Corn Song", one of the highlights of the movie. Also, Erika, sings a couple of numbers, "Illusions", and "Ruins of Berlin" that will stay with the viewer because of the way Ms. Dietrich could only interpret them. Another sequence involves Pringle and Phoebe inside a file room in which drawers are opened and shut with an amazing pace.
Jean Arthur is the best thing in the film. She was an actress who showed every emotion so well in her expressive face. Phoebe Frost has to be one of the best roles she ever played on the screen. Marlene Dietrich is another asset in the movie. Her Erika was a survivor, as she clearly shows. John Lund, makes a wonderful Pringle, the man who ends falling in love with Phoebe. Millard Mitchell is seen as Col. Plummer.
The only thing with the copy shown on TCM, it was so dark, that at times is hard to see what's going on. The photography by Charles Lang shows the devastation and the condition that Berlin looked like right after being repeatedly bombed by the Allies during WWII. At one point in the film, Erika tells Phoebe to accompany her home, "It's the next ruin", she explains.
"A Foreign Affair" is one of Mr. Wilder's best achievements as he gives us an account of the city he knew well.
Cynical, but Naive and Dated
claudio_carvalho22 November 2008
In a wrecked post-war Berlin, a congressional committee from the United States of America comes to the occupied city to investigate the moral of the American troops. The conservative republican Congresswoman Phoebe Frost (Jean Arthur) from Iowa brings a birthday cake to Captain John Pringle (John Lund) from his girlfriend also from Iowa. Later she splits from the others congressmen and decides to investigate the decadence of the military by her own, and not in accordance with the official speech and visit promoted by Colonel Rufus J. Plummer (Millard Mitchell). She meets two American privates that believe she is German and takes her to the night-club Lorelei, where the lead attraction is the singer Erika Von Schluetow (Marlene Dietrich), who is the secret mistress of Captain Pringle. Congresswoman Frost overhears that Erika belonged to the Nazi Party and is protected by a senior officer, and she enlists her fellow countryman Captain Pringle to help her in the investigation of Erika. The officer seduces Frost to protect Erika and himself from martial court, but the jealous former lover of Erika, the Nazi Hans Otto Birgel (Peter von Zerneck), is seeking revenge against his competitor.
"A Foreign Affair" is a cynical, but naive and dated romantic comedy of the great director Billy Wilder. It is sad to see the corruption, the decadence and the treatment of the "rebuilding" of Berlin sixty years ago, with abusive soldiers exploring the hunger and misery of the German people to have sex and make business with the poor civilians without any patriotism or sympathy. The politicians are also not spared; the ruins of Berlin are also extremely painful to see; but there are funny moments alternating with others dramatic and great performances of Marlene Dietrich, Jean Arthur and John Lund. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "A Mundana" ("The Lowlife")
"A Foreign Affair" is a cynical, but naive and dated romantic comedy of the great director Billy Wilder. It is sad to see the corruption, the decadence and the treatment of the "rebuilding" of Berlin sixty years ago, with abusive soldiers exploring the hunger and misery of the German people to have sex and make business with the poor civilians without any patriotism or sympathy. The politicians are also not spared; the ruins of Berlin are also extremely painful to see; but there are funny moments alternating with others dramatic and great performances of Marlene Dietrich, Jean Arthur and John Lund. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "A Mundana" ("The Lowlife")
Just one of Wilder's all-time best films
barrymn130 April 2005
This is one of Billy Wilder's least known films...and one of his best. A brilliant, cynical comedy about post-war Berlin goings on...black market, Army officers having affairs with notorious ex-Nazis, etc.
It stars Marlene Dietrich (one of her all-time best performances), and amazing Jean Arthur (in one of her final films), and newcomer John Lund, who was rather wooden in later performances...here, he's terrific.
Songs and musical score by Frederick Hollander...who's actually present playing piano. The three songs Dietrich sings, "Black Market", "Illusions" and "Ruins of Berlin" are lyrically integral to the plot and represent three of best songs written for a non-musical film of the late 1940's.
There's some serious plot points underneath the cynical comedy.
Wish to heck Universal would open their vaults and release it on DVD in the US; thankfully it's available in the UK (get an all-region DVD player...I did!).
It's an absolutely essential late 1940's comedy and in my opinion, one of Billy Wilder's best comedies.
Remember....Wilder's next film was "Sunset Boulevard".
It stars Marlene Dietrich (one of her all-time best performances), and amazing Jean Arthur (in one of her final films), and newcomer John Lund, who was rather wooden in later performances...here, he's terrific.
Songs and musical score by Frederick Hollander...who's actually present playing piano. The three songs Dietrich sings, "Black Market", "Illusions" and "Ruins of Berlin" are lyrically integral to the plot and represent three of best songs written for a non-musical film of the late 1940's.
There's some serious plot points underneath the cynical comedy.
Wish to heck Universal would open their vaults and release it on DVD in the US; thankfully it's available in the UK (get an all-region DVD player...I did!).
It's an absolutely essential late 1940's comedy and in my opinion, one of Billy Wilder's best comedies.
Remember....Wilder's next film was "Sunset Boulevard".
it still seems very daring; what was it like in 1948?
the red duchess12 February 2001
This underrated Wilder comedy is more pleasurable than some of his more acclaimed, 'serious' films. it does need the Preston Sturges touch - to excise those Wilderean longueurs for a start - but 'Affair' has an agreeable sourness that poisons any move towards fairy-tale resolution. When the most sympathetic character in this tale of a protecting U.S. Army and conscientious senators is an opportunistic Nazi turned 'nightclub singer', you get where Wilder's coming from. His vision of American military imperialism is presciently negative, astonishingly so for 1948, as is the sexual frankness, the shifting sado-masochism of Pringle's relationship with Erika (linked to Nazism); the bawdy innuendo of that with Miss Frost. The film also works as a tribute to/critique of Marlene Dietrich, a creation of light and mirrors, who, unlike earthier stars, will never be caught.
Brilliant! As relevant today as in 1948.
inframan31 December 2005
This is one of those comedies that will always exist in the stratosphere of wit, intelligence and truth. It pulls no punches about politics, greed, hypocrisy & opportunism and treats its audience like grown-ups. It is as applicable to today's congress and the situation in Iraq as it was to post-WWII Germany (to which today's politicians still make frequent comparisons). It also was the first film to unflinchingly capture the effects of the WWII devastation of Berlin.
And what a cast! Jean Arthur, surely one of the greatest of all Hollywood comediennes, Marlene Dietrich in a part to match her Lola Lola in Blue Angel, John Lund a great under-utilized actor with the wit and ruggedness of Clark Gable and Millard Mitchell, one of those character actors whose mold was sadly broken decades ago.
In my book this film ranks with Double Indemnity as the best work of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.
Great songs by the legendary Frederick Hollander who actually appears here as Dietrich's accompanist.
And what a cast! Jean Arthur, surely one of the greatest of all Hollywood comediennes, Marlene Dietrich in a part to match her Lola Lola in Blue Angel, John Lund a great under-utilized actor with the wit and ruggedness of Clark Gable and Millard Mitchell, one of those character actors whose mold was sadly broken decades ago.
In my book this film ranks with Double Indemnity as the best work of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.
Great songs by the legendary Frederick Hollander who actually appears here as Dietrich's accompanist.
Sometimes The Comedy Escapes The Ruins
DKosty12322 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
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.
an excellent film
s.knowles3 January 2005
This is a well written (Brackett and Breen) and directed (Billy Wilder) film with great performances. Marlene Dietrich is impressive as the Nazi chanteuse with loose morals, great legs and an eye for the main chance. Her songs e.g. Ruins of Berlin are sardonic and compelling. Jean Arthur is irresistible as the frustrated Congresswoman, throwing herself at John Lund with enthusiasm and gradually coming to see human behaviour in shades of grey, rather than black and white.
John Lund is very good as the cynical army officer, attracted to Dietrich while repelled by her politics and prepared to romance Arthur in order to bury Dietrich's Nazi past. He has a nice way with underplayed humour e.g. "It can't be subversive to kiss a Republican!" Supporting actors, especially Millard Mitchell as Col Plummer are all good.
Berlin makes a bleak impressive backdrop, making the behaviour of the occupying troops and the Berliners easy to understand. There are some lovely vignettes e.g. the German woman pushing a pram decorated with the US flag.
Unfortunately the film was perceived as unpatriotic by many critics and did not do as much for the career of John Lund as it should.
John Lund is very good as the cynical army officer, attracted to Dietrich while repelled by her politics and prepared to romance Arthur in order to bury Dietrich's Nazi past. He has a nice way with underplayed humour e.g. "It can't be subversive to kiss a Republican!" Supporting actors, especially Millard Mitchell as Col Plummer are all good.
Berlin makes a bleak impressive backdrop, making the behaviour of the occupying troops and the Berliners easy to understand. There are some lovely vignettes e.g. the German woman pushing a pram decorated with the US flag.
Unfortunately the film was perceived as unpatriotic by many critics and did not do as much for the career of John Lund as it should.
Marlene Before The Wall
Lejink25 June 2019
Lesser known Billy Wilder movie which saw him lure Jean Arthur out of retirement to star alongside Marlene Dietrich and the lesser known John Lund in a tale of post-war intrigue set in war-torn Berlin. Arthur is the prissy, by-the-book Congresswoman who arrives with a group of visiting colleagues to spearhead the search for a high-ranking former-Nazi. To get to her prey, she seeks out the undercover U.S. soldier believed to be romancing the Nazi's former-girlfriend, nightclub singer played by Dietrich.
Lund plays the American paramour of Marlene, as we've already learned right at the start of the movie and naturally events transpire to throw the three leads together, sometimes in different combinations before some surprise revelations emerge for the denouement. The film takes in some witty comedic scenes, particularly Lund's seduction of ice-maiden Arthur by way of overcoming her hastily created, unlikely barrier of sliding-open filing cabinets, (possibly satirising Hitchcock's doors-opening love scene between Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman in "Spellbound"), itself neatly inverted in the final scene when she charges through a row of intervening chairs to get to him and there are some pithy topical one-liners probably lost on today's audience.
Another highlight is Dietrich getting to sing three excellent, apposite and witty songs by her long-time songwriter Edward Hollander trading on her long-established vamp-persona, even if this time she's dressed more in keeping with her age, her classy rendition of which is later contrasted with Arthur's klutzy version of her Iowa state song when inebriated at the same club.
While both Dietrich and Arthur can seem a little long in the tooth to be playing parts they each first acted some fifteen years ago, they both just about pull it off. I also smiled as I recognised the "Ninotchka"-like twist in proceedings with this time a starchy American female politician "going native". By the time the conclusion is reached and the hunted Nazi is duly flushed out by all the machinations, the only surprise was that Lund should make the choice of woman he does at the end.
Wilder apparently bemoaned having to accept Lund in place of his preferred lead Cary Grant, although ironically his actor comes off more as a mini-Clark Gable both in appearance and delivery. I didn't really see the chemistry between him and Arthur however and both are outshone by the sultry Dietrich even if again she seems a little old to be throwing herself at a G.I.
Despite the interesting subject matter, good use of location filming in the city's rubble and some amusing situations, this isn't quite in the top-drawer of maestro Wilder's best work, but stands as a watchable curio and an entertaining latter-day juxtaposition of two very different female stars from vintage pre-war Hollywood.
Lund plays the American paramour of Marlene, as we've already learned right at the start of the movie and naturally events transpire to throw the three leads together, sometimes in different combinations before some surprise revelations emerge for the denouement. The film takes in some witty comedic scenes, particularly Lund's seduction of ice-maiden Arthur by way of overcoming her hastily created, unlikely barrier of sliding-open filing cabinets, (possibly satirising Hitchcock's doors-opening love scene between Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman in "Spellbound"), itself neatly inverted in the final scene when she charges through a row of intervening chairs to get to him and there are some pithy topical one-liners probably lost on today's audience.
Another highlight is Dietrich getting to sing three excellent, apposite and witty songs by her long-time songwriter Edward Hollander trading on her long-established vamp-persona, even if this time she's dressed more in keeping with her age, her classy rendition of which is later contrasted with Arthur's klutzy version of her Iowa state song when inebriated at the same club.
While both Dietrich and Arthur can seem a little long in the tooth to be playing parts they each first acted some fifteen years ago, they both just about pull it off. I also smiled as I recognised the "Ninotchka"-like twist in proceedings with this time a starchy American female politician "going native". By the time the conclusion is reached and the hunted Nazi is duly flushed out by all the machinations, the only surprise was that Lund should make the choice of woman he does at the end.
Wilder apparently bemoaned having to accept Lund in place of his preferred lead Cary Grant, although ironically his actor comes off more as a mini-Clark Gable both in appearance and delivery. I didn't really see the chemistry between him and Arthur however and both are outshone by the sultry Dietrich even if again she seems a little old to be throwing herself at a G.I.
Despite the interesting subject matter, good use of location filming in the city's rubble and some amusing situations, this isn't quite in the top-drawer of maestro Wilder's best work, but stands as a watchable curio and an entertaining latter-day juxtaposition of two very different female stars from vintage pre-war Hollywood.
A one-joke comedy...and not a very funny joke
moonspinner5531 August 2011
Director Billy Wilder also co-wrote this post-WWII comedy (along with producer Charles Brackett) involving a prim, humorless Congresswoman policing American troops stationed in Occupied Berlin, finding little but celebrations and skirt-chasing from the randy soldiers. Predictably, she finds her no-nonsense nature stirred up by an army captain, though he's currently sweet on a German chanteuse. A strictly lackluster affair; Wilder means for it to be goosey and 'grown up', yet the silliness of both the conception and the uninteresting characters defeats the players. Plodding John Lund would hardly seem to rate the pounding pulses he achieves here, and Jean Arthur's spinsterish Phoebe Frost (ha ha) is an unattractive role for the actress. Only Marlene Dietrich emerges unscathed, though her song selections are poor. ** from ****
Mordant Cynical Misogynistic
JackCerf4 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Billy Wilder was a German-Jewish exile who cast a cold eye on both his adopted countrymen and the country he fled. This movie's premise is that the American victors of all ranks are contentedly plundering defeated Germany. While the Red Army had simply raped and looted, the Yanks are more effectively using the free market system to buy sex and black market valuables with PX cigarettes, candy bars, and other goodies, all the while telling themselves that they're teaching the Germans democracy. The Germans, meanwhile, are servile but silently unrepentant, doing the best they can to get along while telling the conquerors what they want to hear. Wilder agrees with Churchill's dictum that the Germans are always either at your throat or at your feet. He would return to this cynical take on Germany with more humor and greater emotional distance in 1960's One Two Three, but in 1947 he's still nakedly angry at the people who would have sent him to the gas chamber if they could and contemptuous of the Americans who brag about the destruction they've wrought but don't seem to get the point of it at all.
Against this background we have Jean Arthur's Iowa Congresswoman Phoebe Frost, on a junket to investigate the "morale," i.e. morals, of the occupiers. Tightly repressed, she seems to view Nazism, promiscuity and the black market as part of an undifferentiated mass of European evil from which innocent American GIs must be protected. Her target and (unknowingly) rival for the affections of the same American officer, Captain Pringle, is Dietrich's Erika von Schluetter, former aristocrat, now cabaret chanteuse, whose worldly wisdom is that regimes change but men don't. Men have all the power, and a smart woman gets along by leading powerful men around by the genitals and the ego. So we get the schoolmarm and the courtesan.
Captain Pringle, a formerly nice Iowa boy who has adapted enthusiastically to postwar realities, is the aide to a senior officer, Colonel Plummer. He is using his position to protect Schluetter from the authorities, who are interested in her background as the one time mistress of a senior SS officer. Plummer has his own worldly wisdom about what his men are doing but presses on with the mission.
Of course Schluetter gives Frost a few European lessons in feminine wiles, a cliché as old as Wings, Frost thaws out sexually, literally letting her hair down, and Plummer eventually uses Pringle as bait to catch Schluetter's Nazi lover, but the Frost-Pringle-Schluetter love triangle doesn't really matter because John Lund plays Pringle as a straight cad instead of a lovable rogue, and you don't see what Frost would see in him except sex.
The plot is nothing, the atmosphere is everything, and the atmosphere managed to offend a good many American critics, politicians and the U.S. Army at the time. Worth a look as an interesting and enjoyable period piece by a man outside the American mainstream.
Against this background we have Jean Arthur's Iowa Congresswoman Phoebe Frost, on a junket to investigate the "morale," i.e. morals, of the occupiers. Tightly repressed, she seems to view Nazism, promiscuity and the black market as part of an undifferentiated mass of European evil from which innocent American GIs must be protected. Her target and (unknowingly) rival for the affections of the same American officer, Captain Pringle, is Dietrich's Erika von Schluetter, former aristocrat, now cabaret chanteuse, whose worldly wisdom is that regimes change but men don't. Men have all the power, and a smart woman gets along by leading powerful men around by the genitals and the ego. So we get the schoolmarm and the courtesan.
Captain Pringle, a formerly nice Iowa boy who has adapted enthusiastically to postwar realities, is the aide to a senior officer, Colonel Plummer. He is using his position to protect Schluetter from the authorities, who are interested in her background as the one time mistress of a senior SS officer. Plummer has his own worldly wisdom about what his men are doing but presses on with the mission.
Of course Schluetter gives Frost a few European lessons in feminine wiles, a cliché as old as Wings, Frost thaws out sexually, literally letting her hair down, and Plummer eventually uses Pringle as bait to catch Schluetter's Nazi lover, but the Frost-Pringle-Schluetter love triangle doesn't really matter because John Lund plays Pringle as a straight cad instead of a lovable rogue, and you don't see what Frost would see in him except sex.
The plot is nothing, the atmosphere is everything, and the atmosphere managed to offend a good many American critics, politicians and the U.S. Army at the time. Worth a look as an interesting and enjoyable period piece by a man outside the American mainstream.
Incredible
Polyphem7 June 2001
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.
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.
A Dubious Love Among The Ashes In Post-War Berlin
atlasmb6 March 2016
Billy Wilder was a great director. He was a master of both comedy and drama. But it is easy to name at least fifteen films he directed that are better than "A Foreign Affair".
The film takes place in post-war Berlin and involves three people. Jean Arthur plays Phoebe Frost, a senator who is doggedly investigating immorality among American soldiers. John Lund plays Captain John Pringle, an American officer romantically involved with a nightclub singer. And Marlene Dietrich plays Erika Von Schluetow, the object of his attentions.
Post-war Germany was horribly scarred by bombings. German citizens endured economic hardships and living conditions that might be considered inhumane. Against this backdrop, Billy Wilder shot a story that somehow straddled the fence between comedy and tragedy, but intended to be comic. Senator Frost is a humorless Iowan, intent on ferreting out corruption. Captain Pringle, who is assigned to provide military assistance, has reasons for hiding facts from the senator. What results is one of those stories where the handsome leading man removes the woman's spectacles and finds a comely beauty hidden beneath her frosty exterior. At least that is the intent.
However, the tone of the film wavers unpredictably and the viewer is confused about the director's intentions. The ending is clear enough, but how the story gets there is murky. It may be that Mr. Wilder's personal history--as a Jew who left Berlin and emigrated west to escape a fate that other family members did not--and his closeness to the harsh realities of Germany served to interfere with the film's purely comedic objectives.
The film takes place in post-war Berlin and involves three people. Jean Arthur plays Phoebe Frost, a senator who is doggedly investigating immorality among American soldiers. John Lund plays Captain John Pringle, an American officer romantically involved with a nightclub singer. And Marlene Dietrich plays Erika Von Schluetow, the object of his attentions.
Post-war Germany was horribly scarred by bombings. German citizens endured economic hardships and living conditions that might be considered inhumane. Against this backdrop, Billy Wilder shot a story that somehow straddled the fence between comedy and tragedy, but intended to be comic. Senator Frost is a humorless Iowan, intent on ferreting out corruption. Captain Pringle, who is assigned to provide military assistance, has reasons for hiding facts from the senator. What results is one of those stories where the handsome leading man removes the woman's spectacles and finds a comely beauty hidden beneath her frosty exterior. At least that is the intent.
However, the tone of the film wavers unpredictably and the viewer is confused about the director's intentions. The ending is clear enough, but how the story gets there is murky. It may be that Mr. Wilder's personal history--as a Jew who left Berlin and emigrated west to escape a fate that other family members did not--and his closeness to the harsh realities of Germany served to interfere with the film's purely comedic objectives.
Occupied Berlin in a Wilder Vein
bkoganbing15 November 2009
Although A Foreign Affair turned out to be a big success for all involved, biographies of Billy Wilder, Jean Arthur, and Marlene Dietrich all talk about the difficulties they had in this film. Especially Wilder and Arthur.
Paramount put up some big bucks for this film, even including sending Billy Wilder and a second unit team to film the surviving city of Berlin from World War II. It all paid off quite nicely and you can bet the footage found it's way into films not half as good. It looks far better than the standard newsreel films that are often used as background for foreign locations.
Marlene Dietrich plays the girlfriend of former Nazi bigwig Peter Von Zerneck who is presumed dead by the public at large, but the army knows is very much alive. How to smoke him out is the problem that Colonel Millard Mitchell of the occupying forces has. He decides to use the growing relationship that Captain John Lund has with Dietrich as Von Zerneck is the jealous type.
But into the picture comes Jean Arthur, part of a group of visiting members of Congress touring occupied Berlin. Arthur departs from the group and starts conducting her own investigations and in the way Joseph Cotten was doing in occupied Vienna in The Third Man blundering his way into an investigation in the British sector there, Arthur threatens to blow up all of Mitchell's plans. Especially since Lund is starting to switch gears and drop Marlene for Jean.
Dietrich comes out best in this film. Not only was she German, but she was born and grew up in Berlin. Marlene may have invested more of herself in her character of Erika Von Schluetow than in any other film she did. She gets three great original songs by Frederick Hollander, Black Market, Illusions, and The Ruins Of Berlin that speak not to just her character, but to the sullen character of a beaten people. By the way that's composer Hollander himself accompanying her at the piano.
Dietrich and Wilder got along just great, both being refugees from Nazism. They got along so good that Arthur felt she was being frozen out and Wilder was favoring Dietrich.
Both Frank Capra and Cecil B. DeMille spoke of the difficulties in working with Jean Arthur and Billy Wilder also echoes what his colleagues said in their memoirs. Arthur was a terribly insecure person and it took a lot of patience to work with her. The results were usually worth it to the movie going public, but for her fellow workers on the film it could be painful. A Foreign Affair may have been good training for Wilder when he later had to get performances out of another diva, Marilyn Monroe.
Wilder came in for a lot of criticism showing our occupying forces in a less than perfect light and also making fun of a member of Congress and a Republican at that as Jean was in the film, most definitely not in real life. Millard Mitchell's a smart and tough professional soldier, but he's a bit of fathead as well as extols the virtue of teaching German youth baseball as a method of deNazification. As if it were that simple. But A Foreign Affair has held up very well over 60 years now and is Billy Wilder at some of his satirical and cynical best.
Paramount put up some big bucks for this film, even including sending Billy Wilder and a second unit team to film the surviving city of Berlin from World War II. It all paid off quite nicely and you can bet the footage found it's way into films not half as good. It looks far better than the standard newsreel films that are often used as background for foreign locations.
Marlene Dietrich plays the girlfriend of former Nazi bigwig Peter Von Zerneck who is presumed dead by the public at large, but the army knows is very much alive. How to smoke him out is the problem that Colonel Millard Mitchell of the occupying forces has. He decides to use the growing relationship that Captain John Lund has with Dietrich as Von Zerneck is the jealous type.
But into the picture comes Jean Arthur, part of a group of visiting members of Congress touring occupied Berlin. Arthur departs from the group and starts conducting her own investigations and in the way Joseph Cotten was doing in occupied Vienna in The Third Man blundering his way into an investigation in the British sector there, Arthur threatens to blow up all of Mitchell's plans. Especially since Lund is starting to switch gears and drop Marlene for Jean.
Dietrich comes out best in this film. Not only was she German, but she was born and grew up in Berlin. Marlene may have invested more of herself in her character of Erika Von Schluetow than in any other film she did. She gets three great original songs by Frederick Hollander, Black Market, Illusions, and The Ruins Of Berlin that speak not to just her character, but to the sullen character of a beaten people. By the way that's composer Hollander himself accompanying her at the piano.
Dietrich and Wilder got along just great, both being refugees from Nazism. They got along so good that Arthur felt she was being frozen out and Wilder was favoring Dietrich.
Both Frank Capra and Cecil B. DeMille spoke of the difficulties in working with Jean Arthur and Billy Wilder also echoes what his colleagues said in their memoirs. Arthur was a terribly insecure person and it took a lot of patience to work with her. The results were usually worth it to the movie going public, but for her fellow workers on the film it could be painful. A Foreign Affair may have been good training for Wilder when he later had to get performances out of another diva, Marilyn Monroe.
Wilder came in for a lot of criticism showing our occupying forces in a less than perfect light and also making fun of a member of Congress and a Republican at that as Jean was in the film, most definitely not in real life. Millard Mitchell's a smart and tough professional soldier, but he's a bit of fathead as well as extols the virtue of teaching German youth baseball as a method of deNazification. As if it were that simple. But A Foreign Affair has held up very well over 60 years now and is Billy Wilder at some of his satirical and cynical best.
Unlikely setting for a World War II comedy are the ruins of Berlin...
Doylenf31 January 2007
Billy Wilder obviously had a cynical point of view in mind when he directed A FOREIGN AFFAIR and cast JEAN ARTHUR, MARLENE DIETRICH and JOHN LUND in the leads for a story about an American congresswoman (Arthur) investigating conditions for GIs in post-WWII Berlin.
The rather bleak atmosphere seems to work against the material at times, but the script is witty enough to overcome any such distractions after awhile. There's even a song for Dietrich called "The Ruins of Berlin" which she delivers in her own sultry style.
I'm sure fans of JEAN ARTHUR must have enjoyed seeing her as a prim woman without any obvious romantic inclinations but it seems clear that here she's repeating the same sort of role she played many times, usually opposite stars like Joel McCrea or James Stewart. She was away from the screen for four years before she returned for this one, undoubtedly aware that it was a clever script.
And while she's good, it's MARLENE DIETRICH who steals the spotlight, not only with her glamor and intriguing persona, but a couple of songs she performs in Dietrich style in the Berlin nightclub scenes. And for a leading man, neither actress can complain about JOHN LUND, who proves that his studio never made him a big enough star. He's more than able to share the limelight with the female stars and has enough masculine presence and likability to carry the day.
The story has staid Arthur discovering that she's falling in love with Lund, while at the same time aware that he's been courting a German nightclub singer--so that things get a little heated before they're straightened out for a happy ending.
Summing up: The Charles Brackett script proves that the Brackett/Wilder combination was something to deal with.
The rather bleak atmosphere seems to work against the material at times, but the script is witty enough to overcome any such distractions after awhile. There's even a song for Dietrich called "The Ruins of Berlin" which she delivers in her own sultry style.
I'm sure fans of JEAN ARTHUR must have enjoyed seeing her as a prim woman without any obvious romantic inclinations but it seems clear that here she's repeating the same sort of role she played many times, usually opposite stars like Joel McCrea or James Stewart. She was away from the screen for four years before she returned for this one, undoubtedly aware that it was a clever script.
And while she's good, it's MARLENE DIETRICH who steals the spotlight, not only with her glamor and intriguing persona, but a couple of songs she performs in Dietrich style in the Berlin nightclub scenes. And for a leading man, neither actress can complain about JOHN LUND, who proves that his studio never made him a big enough star. He's more than able to share the limelight with the female stars and has enough masculine presence and likability to carry the day.
The story has staid Arthur discovering that she's falling in love with Lund, while at the same time aware that he's been courting a German nightclub singer--so that things get a little heated before they're straightened out for a happy ending.
Summing up: The Charles Brackett script proves that the Brackett/Wilder combination was something to deal with.
Berlin,l946,the Army takes over,Dietrich soars
Hill-227 October 2004
A dazzling movie,standing with Billy Wilder's very best, and surely it has Marlene Dietrich's finest performance. Berlin, l946...bitter...witty...haunting story, interesting characters, evocative stuff.
You can go back and back to savor this one.The talk is terrific, and the urgency of feeling, and the sharp comedy and underlying drama are pure gold. Dietrich's songs, "In the Ruins of Berlin," and "Black Market" ,show a Great Star doing her superb stuff.
You can go back and back to savor this one.The talk is terrific, and the urgency of feeling, and the sharp comedy and underlying drama are pure gold. Dietrich's songs, "In the Ruins of Berlin," and "Black Market" ,show a Great Star doing her superb stuff.
Berlin babe dishes out some Nazi love
AAdaSC20 March 2011
The women steal the honours in this film about a soldier John Pringle (John Lund)who has a lover Erika (Marlene Dietrich) in Germany but falls for a Congresswoman Phoebe (Jean Arthur) who is on a 5-day stay in Berlin investigating morale and morals within the US army. Jean Arthur is funny, determined and innocent while Dietrich is sexy, stylish, streetwise and playfully wicked. The story has humour and sadness and it ends well for all parties, but it is the acting of the 2 lead women that makes the film worth seeing.
As usual, Dietrich sings some rubbish songs but it doesn't get in the way of the film and she wears nice sparkly outfits which takes the attention away from the music. My favourite scene is when Dietrich and Arthur are in a club that gets raided and Dietrich points out a few home truths. Jean Arthur makes you feel genuinely sorry for her and it's a good contrast to the humour which has gone beforehand. There is also a story about a jealous Nazi who is coming to dish out some revenge to John but this thread is only picked up in the latter stages of the film. It's quite a long film but it's enjoyable enough to watch again.
As usual, Dietrich sings some rubbish songs but it doesn't get in the way of the film and she wears nice sparkly outfits which takes the attention away from the music. My favourite scene is when Dietrich and Arthur are in a club that gets raided and Dietrich points out a few home truths. Jean Arthur makes you feel genuinely sorry for her and it's a good contrast to the humour which has gone beforehand. There is also a story about a jealous Nazi who is coming to dish out some revenge to John but this thread is only picked up in the latter stages of the film. It's quite a long film but it's enjoyable enough to watch again.
Love Among The Ruins
writers_reign30 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This has the Wilder stamp all over it; cynical, trenchant, classy, stylish. It was common practice for Hollywood studios to use music associated with a given studio as background in subsequent films yet who but Wilder would select Isn't It Romantic as a background to sleaze and squalor, love among the ruins indeed. Jean Arthur excels as uptight Congresswoman Phoebe Frost, carefully finishing off a report before taking a look at Berlin from the air - reminding us of a previous character written by Wilder, Garbo's Ninotchka, who failed to be impressed by Paris initially. Frost is bringing a chocolate cake on behalf of one of her constituants in Iowa to Captain John Pringle, John Lund, and Arthur's performance is truly the frosting on this particular cake. The menage a trois is completed by Marlene Dietrich as Erica Von Shutelow who sings in a shady club called the Lorelei and was the mistress of a high-ranking Nazi currently in hiding. The only false note is the fact that with all the austerity on view - and not even owning a decent mattress til Lund trades his cake for one - Dietrich is able to boast three different expensive dresses, one for each of the three numbers she performs, accompanied, incidentally, by the uncredited Frederick Hollander, who composed all three. Even weakest link Lund, wooden at the best of times and not helped by having to utter such lines as 'you blonde flame-thrower', can't bring this down to less than nine out of ten. It was Wilder's last film of the forties and stands beside Double Indemnity and The Lost Weekend as the very cream of his output - not that The Major And The Minor or Five Graves To Cairo were chopped liver if anyone asks you, but this was just the right note with which to follow the disappointing The Emporer Waltz.
Inspired by Ninotchka
jhall-418 January 2006
I saw it for the first time last night (Jan. 2006--should have seen it years ago) on TCM (thank goodness for them, and Robert Osborne). I enjoyed the movie and agree with nearly everything positive said here in IMDb. But has anybody commented (including Osborne) that the movie is a pretty blatant ripoff of Ninotchka? Same general situation, same three central character-types. Jean Arthur in the Garbo role; Dietrich sort of in the Ina Claire role (two actresses playing off each other, as another poster said, "at the other end of the spectrum"); John Lund in the Melvyn Douglas role. I don't want to take the comparison of the two actresses too far, since they are actually reversed. Arthur, the comic technician, playing the uptight role, where in Ninotchka Garbo the woman of instinct played it. It was a bit painful to see Dietrich forced to play someone who ends up so unsympathetic (in my view). Was she made to pay American audiences back for the years of Nazism and war? Re: Wilder's Berlin movies, I guess I need to see One, Two, Three again sometime. 40 years ago it seemed quite awful. Cagney made to run around in unfunny manic confusion like Grant was in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Dated
greggman29 March 2021
I love Jean Arthur. I love Berlin. I loved seeing Berlin's history through this movie. Dietrich was great.
Unfortunately the movie is dated. Phoebe's (Jean Arthur) attitude is just entirely unrelatable in 2021. It's hard to even believe it was relatable in 1948 when the movie came out. She goes off on seeing couples kissing in the park? Seriously? She gets upset that a nightclub exists? Why? Why are we supposed to believe this character actually exists?
That cornball ending also didn't fit at all and by itself lowered the movie several points. I can't believe even in 1948 that was considered a good ending. It only works if you played the Sad Trombone Wah Wah Waaaah over it and even then that wouldn't make it good. It would just tell us the director understood it was a bad outcome, not a good one.
It's still worth watching but the character of Phoebe Frost is cringey.
Unfortunately the movie is dated. Phoebe's (Jean Arthur) attitude is just entirely unrelatable in 2021. It's hard to even believe it was relatable in 1948 when the movie came out. She goes off on seeing couples kissing in the park? Seriously? She gets upset that a nightclub exists? Why? Why are we supposed to believe this character actually exists?
That cornball ending also didn't fit at all and by itself lowered the movie several points. I can't believe even in 1948 that was considered a good ending. It only works if you played the Sad Trombone Wah Wah Waaaah over it and even then that wouldn't make it good. It would just tell us the director understood it was a bad outcome, not a good one.
It's still worth watching but the character of Phoebe Frost is cringey.
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