A Foreign Affair

It's not a rip-roaring "funny affair" as the poster would suggest, but rather overly melodramatic in the final act. I liked the uncommon love triangle between a 48 year old Jean Arthur, a 47 year old Marlene Dietrich, and a 37 year old John Lund, though the ladies definitely did not look old. I'm a bit confused by the supposed undercover mission---was it really what was going on or was it just a lie from the Colonel? Fav scenes: Arthur with the two soldiers; Nazi youth with dad

Hilarious, bittersweet, and masterfully subtle. "Post-war romantic comedy" sounds inevitably dishonest, but Wilder builds it around the fractured, disillusioned humanity still wandering through the rubble (to which he was no stranger). I don't know how he made it work, but it does. There's nothing I can add about the ever-at-ease Marlene Dietrich.

An indictment of puritanical and imperialistic ideology, an insightful understanding of the German post-war condition, and a depiction of American G.I.s as less than saintly. I'm sure this ruffled some feathers, even more so that Billy Wilder had the audacity to treat it comically. The three leads, entangled in a love triangle that is simultaneously tense and funny, turn out to be more complex than first let on. Marlene Dietrich in particular is outstanding.

A couple good laughs, but most of the humor is lost on the current person. It's actually not bad at all considering it was so early in Wilder's career, but if you were to take into account his later efforts this pales in comparison.

A worldly-wise comedy that demonstrates how a little Old World corruption can have a humanizing effect on the moral absolutes of American culture overseas. Lund, as usual, gives us second-rate Gable, but the two leading ladies--both in their late forties--give outstanding performances, and the twilight of their beauty seems even sweeter--and sadder--amidst the ruins of Berlin.

This must have been a subject close to Wilder's heart and he is sympathetic towards both the Germans and Americans. It's a well-constructed romcom with some clever farce elements, but as is often the case, Wilder's sense of humor just doesn't jibe with me. I can see why it's funny, but it falls flat with me. Maybe part of the problem is that I found Lund so despicable that I couldn't be forgiving towards him. Still, I appreciated the camerawork, the performances and the cleverness of the script.

I love Jean Arthur, and that final scene with her uptight congresswoman character throwing chairs to the air and chasing a man seems incredibly funny, but the film suffers from a general lack of surprise and enchantment, despite the stellar cast. It would look great if it had been directed by Hawks, a filmmaker with better credentials when it comes to man-vs-woman affairs.

A bewildering pastiche of a film - still full of Brackett’s sardonic wit and Wilder’s playful command of the politely reprehensible - that often looks and sounds gorgeous but still leaves wanting. It’s no fault of the leads, since Arthur and Dietrich never misstep with what they’re given, but it just feels like once the characters are finally distilled into triangle melodrama, it sucks some of the poison out of the wound it first tries to make.

Billy Wilder's look into post-war Berlin is both haunting and comical. There is a lot of political under text, as well as many things look far fetched, still a very solid piece of art.

In my eyes Jean Arthur can do no wrong but I really have to question the wisdom of doing this film. Lund's acting is so wooden it verges on unwatchable at times and I know when you get Marlene Dietrich you almost always get a song, but three is too many. Its a disease that unfortunately ends up infecting Arthur too. Was it too much to hope for that Dietrich's character ended up shot at the end, and why does she get so much male attention in all her films? She has a face like a scrubbed floor...

The rubble of Berlin turned romantic, the opposing forces of Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich, the many wisecracks aimed at the tenets and practitioners of Nazism. What's not to love?

The scene where Jean Arthur sings the Iowa song is THE BEST! She reminds me a lot of "I Kissed A Girl" singer Jill Sobule, especially there.

87.00

87.000

An entertaining comedy that partly gives a light treatment to sensitive topics but is set in post-war Berlin. The jokes are unfortunately of uneven quality.

Rock solid romantic comedy from Wilder with a great part extremely well performed for Arthur and a strong performance by Dietrich. Lund is fine but lacking in comparison. It's fairly predictable, but well done with some laughs and some very nice touches (like the reversal in the final scene of the file cabinet scene earlier.) The war torn setting in films of this period filmed in Germany and France and other countries are something that special effects and sets can never quite replicate.

So good! Almost every aspect of it was superbly done. But the main attraction was simply two aging beauties still performing at the top of their game, What a brilliant idea of pitting Jean Arthur & Marlene Dietrich against each other. The danger of Marlene vs the wholesomeness of Jean in a WWII aftermath setting. Might actually be my favorite Jean Arthur role!