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In
1947, United States Congresswoman from Iowa, Phoebe Frost, arrives in the
American occupation zone in Berlin, Germany, with a group of fellow
congressmen to investigate the morale of the ten thousand troops stationed
there. The congressmen receive an official greeting from American
troops, during which Phoebe presents to Captain John Pringle a home-baked
cake, which was sent by his fiancée, whom he has not seen in four years.
Unknown to Phoebe, John immediately trades the cake on the black market for
a mattress, and brings the mattress and various hard-to-find luxury items to
his German girlfriend, Erika von Schluetow, a beautiful torch singer.
After a tour of the city, the stern and prim Phoebe
immediately begins taking notes on the troops playtime antics, which include
chasing German blondes in the ruined streets and drinking at an off-limits
nightclub called the Lorelei. After being mistaken for a young German
woman by a pair of rowdy American soldiers, Phoebe accompanies them to the
club, where Erika sings. The soldiers tell Phoebe that although Erika
is suspected of having been the girlfriend of a Nazi leader—either
Hermann Goering or Joseph Goebbels—she is now
receiving protection from an American officer. Unknown to Phoebe, the
officer is John. Phoebe sees the cake being served at the Lorelei and
confiscates it, then appoints John to watch Erika's apartment in order to
catch her American lover.
The next day, after seeing Erika speaking to Adolph Hitler in
a newsreel shot during the war at a Berlin opera house, Phoebe accompanies
John to army headquarters to retrieve Erika's official file. To keep
Phoebe from accessing the file, John pretends to be in love with her, and
chases her around the file cabinets for a kiss. After nervously
reciting Longfellow's poem "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" to avoid him,
Phoebe relents and passionately kisses him. She immediately falls in
love and, within forty-eight hours, John has proposed in order to distract
her from pursuing Erika. Erika, meanwhile, asks John to take her to
America with him, and he begins to see how manipulative she is.
Later, Phoebe dresses up in an elegant gown she got on the
black market and goes out with John to the Lorelei, where Erika insults her.
Phoebe then announces that she has arranged a furlough for John so that they
can marry. After John is called away to report to his colonel, Rufus
J. Plummer, Erika and Phoebe are caught in a police raid that is conducted
to catch Germans without proper papers.
At army headquarters, Plummer warns John that he has been
"wise to him" all along before ordering him to stay away from the
congresswoman and aggressively court Erika. Plummer hopes to ferret
out one of Erika's lovers, a jealous ex-Gestapo agent named Hans Otto Birgel,
who is thought to be hiding in the American occupation zone.
Meanwhile, at the police station, Erika convinces Phoebe not
to embarrass the Congress by identifying herself, and gets Phoebe released
by saying she is her cousin. Phoebe, thinking Erika has befriended
her, goes with her to her apartment, where Erika tells her that John is her
mysterious lover and has been pretending to be in love with Phoebe merely to
shield Erika. Heartbroken, Phoebe cries, then hides as John enters and
tells Erika that his romance with Phoebe was just a ruse. Phoebe then
steps out from the shadows and leaves, humiliated.
Plummer later delays the congressmen's departure to arrange
for John and Phoebe's reconciliation and, in his jeep on the way back from
the airfield, tells the group that he appointed John as a "love commando" in
order to bring in Birgel.
Meanwhile, Birgel surreptitiously enters the Lorelei armed
with a gun, and takes aim at John. American soldiers on watch fire
first, however, and when Plummer's jeep arrives and Phoebe, who now realizes
that John was never really in love with Erika, rushes in to see who was
killed, Birgel is revealed dead on the nightclub floor. Plummer has
Erika arrested to serve time in a labor camp and, when she tries to use her
feminine wiles to manipulate him into releasing her, the formidable colonel
tells her that he has just become a grandfather. Determined to marry
John, Phoebe corners him in the nightclub for a kiss and, hiding behind
barroom chairs, he recites "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere."
Notes
The working titles of this film were Operation Candy Bar and
Foreign Affairs. According to the HR review of the film,
producer Charles Brackett and director Billy Wilder preferred the title
Operation Candy Bar. According information in the Paramount
Collection at the AMPAS Library, the title of Irwin Shaw and David Shaw's
original story was Love in the Air, which may also have been an early
working title for the film. Records at the AMPAS Library indicate a
dispute over the screen writing credits for this film. Paramount
initially had suggested credits listed as follows: "Screenplay by Charles
Brackett, Billy Wilder and Richard L. Breen; From stories by Irwin Shaw,
David Shaw and Robert Harari." Although the source of the dispute is
not clearly marked, Irwin Shaw willingly removed his name from the original
story credit, but noted in a letter that "it was the original story which
made the final screenplay possible, and Mr. Harari only came on after the
initial leap had been made." Harari protested against David Shaw
receiving any credit for original story, and the matter was taken up by the
Screen Writer's Guild for arbitration, which determined that the credits
should appear as they now do on the film.
Information in the Paramount Collection at the
AMPAS Library reveals that supervising editor Doane Harrison was also listed
as co-director on this film. Harrison was supervising editor on all of
director Billy Wilder's films, for which he was frequently listed off-screen
as co-director. Wilder has stated in a modern interview that while
this credit should not be interpreted as equal to the Director, he
considered Harrison a highly esteemed collaborator. Harrison was
present on the set during shooting to add his input on the concept of the
scenes, and to recommend certain shots. It is likely that Harrison
also contributed in this manner to A Foreign Affair.
Other onscreen credits state that a "large part
of this picture was photographed in Berlin." Filming of backgrounds in
the American occupation zone in Berlin, Germany, took place over a period of
two months in the summer of 1947. According to information in the
Paramount Collection at the AMPAS Library, Paramount had to get permission
from the War Dept. in order to shoot in Berlin, and once there, had to deal
with the Military Government for their needs. In addition, Paramount
hired a German crew from Film-Studio Tempelhof, a division of UFA.
Although some reviewers questioned the appropriateness of using post-war
Berlin as the locale and subject of a comedy, many praised Brackett and
Wilder for what the NYP called a "healthy, hearty irreverence." The
LADN review stated: "The ruins of Berlin is a bit stark and tragic for such
corn-on-the-cob nonsense as the romance between Congresswoman
Jean Arthur and officer-wolf John Lund."
As noted in a Paramount News item, in filming
the nightclub scenes, Paramount introduced a new "silent" method for
shooting dance sequences: flashing lights were used on the set to
denote rhythm so that dialogue could be recorded without the obstruction of
music. Paramount News also states that seventy-nine pre-war newsreels
were studied in order to accurately recreate a newsreel in which "Erika von
Schluetow" is seen at a Berlin opera house with Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess,
Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels and Gestapo chief Hermann Goering.
According to modern sources, Paramount pulled
A Foreign Affair from the theaters not long after its release due to
protests from various government officials, who felt the subject matter
reflected negatively on American forces in Berlin. Academy Award
nominations for the film include Charles B. Lang, Jr. for Best
Cinematography (Black-and-White), and Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and
Richard L. Breen for Best Writing (Screenplay).
Music includes "Illusions," "Black
Market" and "The Ruins of Berlin," music and lyrics by Frederick
Hollander. |
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