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Post by Jep Gambardella on Jun 27, 2019 14:07:11 GMT
As a big fan of Billy Wilder, I jumped at the chance of watching his “A Foreign Affair”, a movie I not only had not seen before, but hadn’t even heard about. It takes place in Berlin after the war, as a congressional committee comes to town to look into reports that the occupying American forces are suffering from morale problems. Jean Arthur plays a congresswoman and Marlene Dietrich plays a cabaret singer, with the third part of the love triangle being an American officer played by John Lund.
While it doesn’t reach the same heights as some of Wilder’s best known movies such as “Sunset Boulevard”, “Some Like it Hot” and “The Apartment”, I found it very enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone who is excited rather than horrified at the prospect of watching a black-and-white movie from 70 years ago.
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Post by wmcclain on Jun 27, 2019 15:36:54 GMT
A Foreign Affair (1948), directed by Billy Wilder. A no-nonsense congresswoman from Iowa joins a junket to Berlin to survey the morals of the post-war occupying forces. She acquires her own nonsense and learns quite a bit about morals. It's been a long time since I last saw this. I'm not laughing this time. If it is a romantic comedy, it is an excessively bitter one. Why isn't it working for me?
- It needs a better leading man. John Lund is dull and forgettable. (Although: he's hardened and cynical in a non-comic way. Maybe he belongs here).
- They're making comedy out of material that just isn't funny: the rubble of Berlin, women selling themselves for chocolate and stockings. This is too real.
- The wisecrack observations (Millard Mitchell seems to be the MC) seems forced this time. Too much Message.
- It's as if Wilder can't decide what the film is about or the best tone to take.
On the good side: Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, and Charles Lang cinematography. Filmed on location in Berlin. As for The Third Man (1949), bombed-out rubble is distressingly cinematic in black-and-white. Edith Head costumes. A historical note: there is a passing reference to how awful times were for women when the Russians entered the city. This a glancing allusion to something almost never spoken of; see Soviet war crimes / mass rapes. 
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