A Foreign Affair (1948): Sandwiched in between The Lost Weekend, which won writer-director Billy Wilder his first two Oscars, and Sunset Boulevard, where he won his third (three more were still to follow), is the 1948 romantic comedy A Foreign Affair, a not wholly successful production that nevertheless makes for fascinating viewing on a number of levels. Wilder was active in the American film industry from the mid-1930s, but only made his directorial debut in the 1940s, and his most famous films are associated with a new wave of postwar film stars (many of whom he helped make). For this romantic comedy, he has recruited two of the most famous actresses of the prewar period -- Frank Capra favourite Jean Arthur, and German expatriate Marlene Dietrich, the former making her penultimate film appearance before retirement. The plot follows Arthur's uptight/upright Rep. Phoebe Frost (R-IA) to Berlin as part of an investigation into troop morale, where she is scandalized by the evident fraternization between occupying American soldiers and German women (and the distinctly mercantile character of many of these relationships). Frost hones in on Erika von Schlütow (Dietrich), a former mistress to a high profile Nazi now working as a nightclub singer, who is being protected from deNazification laws by a lover in the US military. Unfortunately, the one man that she chooses to trust to help with her investigation is actually the culprit, Captain John Pringle (John Lund).
Fans familiar with some of Wilder's other comedies, such as The Apartment, know that he's not averse to putting fairly heavy material in them, and there's perhaps no better example than here. Wilder immigrated to the United States from Germany prior to the war starting, and lost his entire family to the Holocaust, which makes for rather sobering background knowledge. And yet, the film he has made here is a remarkably even-handed look at postwar German society. Dietrich's Erika is a surprisingly complex character (the actress is giving a purely dramatic performance, which is almost jarring in the scenes she shares with Arthur, who is in full screwball comedy mode), and the film never really judges her for the choices she's made to get by over the years. Erika's musical performances, shown at multiple points, are very mournful about the way Germans (and women in particular) are effectively bartering their possessions (or themselves) in order to get by. You're also not likely to see many romantic comedies have a character reference (albeit veiledly, this being a Hays Code film) the mass rape committed by Russian soldiers when they retook Berlin in 1945. As well, while the film is not, per se, filmed on location in Berlin, unlike The Third Man's evocative use of Vienna one year later, Wilder made extensive use of location shots from the city, which definitely ups the realism factor.
If none of the above sounds much like comic material, well, it could be said the movie has tonal balance issues (particularly when contrasted with some minor comedy characters who are not funny, and frankly jar in contrast with their surroundings).
If there's another aspect of the film that is a little less than optimal, it would be the gender politics (a recurring problem in old screwball comedies, where the women are sharp and fast-talking, but often constrained by stories determined to humble them, something that particularly plagued Katharine Hepburn). Now, one must note to begin with that this is a romantic comedy starring two actresses in their late 40s, and with a male love interest a decade younger than either woman, which would be considered remarkably progressive even today (sadly), so credit where it's due. The film also lets them go beyond being romantic rivals, which too many films don't do. However, the handling of Arthur's Phoebe is at times a little questionable. She's introduced as an ice queen (her surname is Frost, for God's sake) with a very black-and-white worldview the movie clearly thinks is a bit in need of shading, but the second that Pringle attempts to woo her as a distraction, she seems to forget everything she had previously cared about in favour of falling head over heels. The character is not a lost cause, by any measure (a later confrontation with Pringle is superbly acted), but it's definitely more than a hiccup.
Finally, there's also the issue that John Lund is a very bland presence, and caught between Arthur and Dietrich he can feel inadequate to the task. It's a strain, at times, to see why they're so wild about him. If all these things keep the film short of greatness, it still has much to recommend (including some very good cinematography). As a product of a particular moment in time, it's worth seeing for fans of older film, and Wilder's directorial work.
