Foreign Affair A (1948)

Foreign Affair A (1948)

Directed by Billy Wilder with a screenplay he co-wrote with Charles Brackett and Richard Breen (adapted by Robert Harari) that was based on David Shaw’s story this essential comedy drama romance stars Jean Arthur Marlene Dietrich and John Lund. The clever screenplay writing was nominated for an Oscar as was the film’s B&W Cinematography.

Arthur plays Congresswoman Phoebe Frost who along with others (played by Raymond Bond Boyd Davis Robert Malcolm Charles Meredith and Michael Raffetto) are sent to post World War II Berlin to investigate U.S. soldiers’ conduct find war criminals etc.. What they find are shocking conditions and a rampant black market. Frost even hears that the mistress of a war criminal Erika Von Schluetow (Dietrich) is being protected and lives in an area near where the congressmen are staying. She gets Captain John Pringle (Lund) to help her find Erika. When the two women finally do meet the scenes between them are priceless; their banter is both funny and insightful. Unbeknownst to Frost the captain is the one who’s protecting Erika! Pringle of course is drawn to both women who are diametrically opposed to each other – Frost the prim proper moral one; Erika less so as one who’s used to having to do anything to survive. Millard Mitchell plays Colonel Rufus J. Plummer who manages the occupying forces and the busybody congressmen. Peter von Zerneck plays Hans Otto Birgel. Stanley Prager and William Murphy also appear.

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