A foreign affair
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A foreign affair |
| Original title | A foreign affair |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English , German |
| Publishing year | 1948 |
| length | 116 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Billy Wilder |
| script |
Charles Brackett , Richard L. Breen , Robert Harari |
| production | Charles Brackett for Paramount Pictures |
| music | Friedrich Hollaender |
| camera | Charles Lang |
| cut | Doane Harrison |
| occupation | |
| |
A Foreign Affair is a 1948 American film directed by Billy Wilder .
action
Republican Congresswoman Phoebe Frost lands with a delegation in war-torn Berlin to check the morale of the American troops stationed there. Upon arrival at Tempelhof Airport , she met Captain John Pringle, who, like her, came from sleepy Iowa and to whom she presented a chocolate cake from an admirer from their common homeland.
The morally strict MP is appalled by the moral lapses that she can observe in all corners of Berlin. In order to find out more about the circumstances, she separates from her group and pretends to be a German woman to two GIs . They promptly lead them to the “Lorelei” nightclub, where the singer Erika von Schlütow appears. She is said to have a secret American admirer who holds his protective hand over her, even though she maintained a close relationship with the Nazi leadership during the Third Reich .
Phoebe Frost turns to Captain Pringle to help her identify this dutiful officer. Little does she know that Pringle himself is that secret admirer. He even traded the chocolate cake Phoebe brought with her on the black market for a comfortable mattress for Erika. In order not to get blown, Pringle begins courting Phoebe to distract her from her investigation. The inexperienced MP immediately falls in love with the dashing captain. However, his superior, Colonel Rufus J. Plummer, knows about the affair with the Nazi artist. He wants it to be continued because he hopes to get hold of the hiding Nazi Hans Otto Birgel through Erika, whose lover Erika von Schlütow was once.
Meanwhile, Phoebe's strict moral standards are shaken, which ultimately even leads to her being arrested during a raid in the nightclub, drunk and in a provocative dress from the black market. But with the help of the night club singer Erika, she can save herself from this embarrassing situation. When Phoebe learns from her that Pringle was only using her, she wants to leave, deeply disappointed. But when the jealous Hans Otto Birgel wants to kill his love rival Captain Pringle and is himself killed by American soldiers, Phoebe learns the whole truth and hurries back to her captain. You hug each other, a game has become real love.
Erika von Schlütow is led away by two American soldiers. The Colonel sends two more men to watch over the others and then another one to watch over the watchers.
background
During his time in the American military, Billy Wilder was an officer in Berlin in 1945 and was responsible for film and propaganda. In a memorandum for the military authorities, among other things, he developed the idea for a propagandistic feature film. The idea for this came to him because of the success of Mrs. Miniver , who would have strengthened the willingness to fight in England during the war more than any documentary or newsreel. In addition, he had seen at cinema screenings how little effect educational films with a raised index finger have. He presented a framework in which a GI, who trades on the black market in Berlin, hooks up with a German girl.
Wilder and his team took the original recordings of destroyed Berlin in 1945 and used them for this film. A very personal experience, the Wilder in Hellmuth Karasek's Billy Wilder. A close-up should be woven in with:
“Wilder had started a conversation with a German girl. She is happy that the Americans are now in Berlin. The gas supply will certainly work again soon. Wilder expressed understanding. He can understand that it will be nice to have a warm meal again. It wasn't because of the cooking, replied the girl. As soon as there was gas, she and her mother would turn it up without lighting the flame and take a deep breath. This dialogue should be built into Wilder's film. At the end of the film the girl should turn the gas on ... to cook potatoes. "
Although the military authorities were initially very pleased with Wilder's memorandum, the project ended up being nothing. Wilder later used the idea for An Foreign Affair . The scene with the gas also appears in a modified form. Colonel Plummer tells MPs how the suicide rate in Berlin skyrocketed after the gas supply was restored. But now the Berliners would rather cook potatoes.
In this film Marlene Dietrich sings the tracks Black Market, Illusions and The Ruins Of Berlin , accompanied on the piano by the composer Friedrich Hollaender .
It premiered on June 30, 1948 at the Paramount Theater, New York. A foreign affair did not come to German cinemas in the post-war period and was first broadcast on ARD on May 6, 1977 . In 1991 the film was shown in the cinema, a German dubbed version was never made.
Reviews
“The triangular story between a German nightclub singer, a US occupation officer and a brittle American congressman in Berlin in the first post-war years, staged as a frivolous and ironic interplay between morality and immorality, which Billy Wilder effectively covered with his 'comedy touch'. Amusing conversation with a slightly cynical tone. "
"Billy Wilder's raven-black satire on the German-American relationship in post-war Berlin contains for the first time the ingredients that later became his trademark: biting, often cynical humor against the background of a basically tragic situation."
“Comedy master Billy Wilder has tackled the ambiguous morals of Americans with a lot of humor and ironic malice. He aims with full force at the uptight Puritanism. So it is hardly surprising that this film did not go down at all with some US critics. "
Awards
The film was nominated for an Oscar in 1949 in the categories of Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay . There was also a nomination for the WGA Award from the Writers Guild of America .
literature
- Hellmuth Karasek : Billy Wilder. A close up . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2006 (updated and expanded new edition), ISBN 978-3-455-09553-1 or ISBN 3-455-09553-4 .
Web links
- A Foreign Affair in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- A foreign affair. In: marlenedietrich-filme.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for a Foreign Affair . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2007 (PDF; test number: 65 152 DVD).
- ↑ Hellmuth Karasek: Billy Wilder. A close-up (updated and expanded reissue). Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-455-09553-1 or ISBN 3-455-09553-4 .
- ↑ Marlene Dietrich - actress . In: CineGraph - Lexicon for German-Language Films, Lg. 21, F 7
- ↑ A Foreign Affair in the Internet Movie Database (English) , accessed on 17 April 2020th
- ^ A foreign affair. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 17, 2020 .
- ^ A foreign affair. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 28, 2017 .
- ↑ A Foreign Affair. In: cinema.de . Retrieved January 2, 2018 .
- ↑ A Foreign Affair. In: prisma.de. prisma-Verlag , accessed on August 28, 2017 .