Review of A Foreign Affair (1948) by Eve C — 06 Feb 2014

Doesn't work as a comedy or a romance, but for some reason I still liked it. Because of the subject matter, I didn't find the movie funny at all. Maybe it was funny to people right after WWII that German women had to prostitute themselves to American GI's just to survive, but just seemed in poor taste to me, and just looks like the conquerors making fun of the conquered.

The romantic angle doesn't work because John Lunk is a weak lead, and also his character is a total unlikable prick. It also doesn't help that Jean Arthur's character is painfully dull (and sends a bad message of all she needs is a man, then she can "lighten up" and lose all sense of reason and professional ability).

So why do I like it, despite all of these flaws? Marlene Dietrich's character is pretty interesting, and the whole post-war Berlin scenario is pretty unique for movies (besides the brilliant The Third Man, set in post-war Prague).

Also, it's interesting to see the viewpoint of ex-patriot Billy Wilder coming back to film his home country not from his nation's conquered perspective, but from the victor's.