A Foreign Affair (1948)

Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund

Synopsis:
A Congressional committee travels to occupied Berlin to investigate reports of decaying morals among the troops, leading one congresswoman on the trail of a nightclub singer with Nazi ties who is receiving cover from someone in the military.

Impressions:
With the basic outline of the plot, this could easily have made for a political thriller, but instead we get a comedy and we're certainly no worse for it. It took some convincing to get Marlene Dietrich to play a covert Nazi, but Billy Wilder's probably about the only one who could do it. You get a rather stark look at postwar Berlin and it's very interesting to see the dynamic between the locals and the occupying troops. The on-set rivalry between Dietrich and Jean Arthur dovetails nicely into the characters they play. When Arthur shows off her comedic chops, she really shines. John Lund is decent enough as the man caught in the middle. I could see the part being given to a more high-profile actor, but he does well enough. It's a fun movie and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
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