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A Foreign Affair Overview:

A Foreign Affair (1948) was a Comedy - Drama Film directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Charles Brackett.

SYNOPSIS

Wilder's tongue-in-cheek look at de-Nazification has Arthur and Dietrich in fine form as opposite ends of a Lund taffy pull. The postwar Berlin setting casts Arthur as a congresswoman monitoring the fraternization between Germans and Americans, while Dietrich stakes out familiar territory as the steamy chanteuse, this time with Nazi-infested past. She manages to ensnare Lund while singing numbers like "The Ruins of Berlin," but Arthur, who counters by cooing "Iowa Corn Song," is wise to be her and seems to have fallen for Lund herself.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1948 --- Ceremony Number 21 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best CinematographyCharles B. Lang, Jr.Nominated
Best WritingCharles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Richard L. BreenNominated
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A Foreign Affair BlogHub Articles:

A Foreign Affair ( 1948 )

By The Metzinger Sisters on Apr 23, 2023 From Silver Scenes - A Blog for Classic Film Lovers

During World War II, the American, British, and Russian forces bombed Berlin until it was a heap of concrete rubble. After the war, the US Army decided to leave some troops behind to help clean up the mess. This included capturing Nazi members who may have eluded them earlier and also aiding the Ger... Read full article

A Foreign Affair (1948): Billy Wilder and Post-War Germany

By 4 Star Film Fan on Feb 12, 2021 From 4 Star Films

What A Foreign Affair offers is a curious mix of Billy Wilder’s brand of gleeful satire with docudrama. In this regard, it stands alongside the likes of The Search (1948) as one of the earliest American films to explore the world of post-war Europe with so much rebuilding to do both physically... Read full article

A Foreign Affair (Billy Wilder Blogathon)

By Kayla on Jun 22, 2014 From The Cinema Dilettante

A Foreign Affair (Billy Wilder Blogathon) June 22, 2014 / The Cinema Dilettante When Aurora and Kellee first announced their jointly hosted Billy Wilder Blogathon, I was eager to sign up. After all, with a career such as his, the hardest part would be narrowing down what movie I w... Read full article

A Foreign Affair (1948)

By Wade Sheeler on Feb 3, 2014 From Pretty Clever Films

One of Billy Wilder’s many skills was his ability to take fresh and atypical perspectives on familiar situations and exploit them for maximum humor and insight. Before Stalag 17, who would’ve thought to play a German POW camp with comedy and gallows’ humor, or a man who falls so hard for a pro... Read full article

Cinema Style--Marlene Dietrich is a Master of Illusion in 1948's A FOREIGN AFFAIR

on Jun 3, 2013 From GlamAmor

For the recent TCM Classic Film Festival, I was honored that Turner Classic Movies asked me to introduce two films from the standpoint of style. The first was Billy Wilder's post-war project A Foreign Affair (1948). Of course Wilder is a wonder of the cinema, writing and directing some of the grea... Read full article

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A Foreign Affair Quotes:

Erika von Schluetow: We've all become animals with exactly one instinct left. Self-preservation. Now take me, Miss Frost. Bombed out a dozen times, everything caved in and pulled out from under me. My country, my possessions, my beliefs... yet somehow I kept going. Months and months in air raid shelters, crammed in with five thousand other people. I kept going. What do you think it was like to be a woman in this town when the Russians first swept in? I kept going.
Phoebe Frost: There. Now we're getting someplace. I wonder what holds up that dress...
Captain John Pringle: Must be that German willpower.
Erika von Schluetow: [singing] Want to buy some illusions? Slightly used, just like new. Such romantic illusions, and they're all about you. I sell them all for a penny, they make pretty souvenirs. Take my lovely illusions, some for laughs, some for tears.
Phoebe Frost: How do you know so much about women's clothing?
Captain John Pringle: My mother wears women's clothing.
Captain John Pringle: How is good old Iowa?
Phoebe Frost: Sixty-two percent Republican, thank you.
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A Foreign Affair Facts
Female stars Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich were in their late 40s when they shot this film. The leading man 'John Lund' however was a decade younger than both.
"Theater Guild on the Air" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on November 4, 1951 with Marlene Dietrich reprising her film role.
"Screen Director's Playhouse" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on March 1, 1951 with Marlene Dietrich and John Lund again reprising their film roles.
One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.
"Screen Director's Playhouse" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on March 6, 1949 with Marlene Dietrich and John Lund reprising their film roles.
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