People are voting emotionally.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Berlin, 1948, the titular foreign affair may be Captain Pringle's (John Lund) fraternisation with German chanteuse and former companion to Nazi brass Erika Von Schluetow (Marlene Dietrich ), or his wooing of visiting U.S. Congresswoman Phoebe Frost (Jean Arther) (or both) or, more broadly, the ever-present canoodling between US serviceman and the local fräuleins. Shot in part in the bombed-out ruins of Berlin just 2 years after the end of the war, the movie, while a comedy, is a penetrating look at the social implications of occupation, especially on women. The interactions between the allied (American) troops and the local girls is mostly played for laughs (although some viewers might perceive the soldiers as simply coercing young women desperate for food and essentials), but at one point Von Schluetow darkly refers to what had been like being a women when the Russian troops overran the city. The movie opens with a stunning 'travelogue' of the ruined German capital as Frost's Congressional committee is toured around, and along with images of the burned-out city, there are shots of the general misery of the German people (often seen bartering their remaining luxuries for necessities). John Lund is quite good as the Lothario trying to play two hands at once (although there is more going on than meets the eye), Arthur is OK (although a little goofy at times, especially when she is supposed to be drunk), Millard Mitchell is great as the Colonel in charge of shepherding the members of congress around while dealing with the complexities of occupation and of locating high-ranking Nazis hiding out in the city, but the real star is Dietrich. As always, she plays the role of the 'exotic women' to the hilt and I can't imagine why Pringle would even consider giving her up for corn-pone Phoebe Frost (R-Iowa). She also gets most of the best lines (both spoken and sung), especially when she's playing off against Arthur's up-tight and somewhat 'unworldly' congresswomen. All in all, a great political comedy/satire by one of Hollywood's top directors.

seduction is the basic virtue of a film who propose war as stage, the fight between a singer and a U.S. congresswoman, a sort of Don Juan and the theme of denazification. Marlene Dietrich is herself and the songs interpreted by her are the heart of film. Jean Arthur does a great portrait of official who discover become woman. the atmosphere, the manner to use delicate themes, the genius of Billy Wilder for create comedy in a not conventional manner, the dialogs and the clash between two different worlds are pillars of a beautiful film not only for its actor's performances or for the script, but for the status of lesson about war from different perspective.

Shot amidst the bombed out ruins of postwar Berlin, Billy Wilder's "A Foreign Affair" positions us to sympathise with Erika Von Schluetow (Marlene Dietrich), a German glamour queen who may or may not have once worked with the German War Office. As the US military begins its occupation of Germany, Erika works nights at a local club, where she sings sad songs of regret. The patrons love her, but a US congresswoman, played by Jean Arthur, wants her apprehended.Wilder's film functions as both a hymn to the fallen and a demand that the Axis and Allies stop slandering one another and fess up to the suffering each has wrought. It's not one of Wilder's masterpieces, but his trademark cynicism shines through all the same.Dietrich - who hated Wilder's script and took the part only to pay her bills - is excellent as Erika. Her character's a poor gal struggling to get by, latching onto whatever occupier dares claim her body as post-war bounty. Jean Arthur's her nemesis, a stickler for rules and regulations who balks at post war, trans-Atlantic love affairs, be they literal or political. 7.5/10 – Once daring, now dated. Worth one viewing.

Director Billy Wilder also co-wrote this post-WWII comedy (along with producer Charles Brackett) involving a prim, humorless Congresswoman policing American troops stationed in Occupied Berlin, finding little but celebrations and skirt-chasing from the randy soldiers. Predictably, she finds her no-nonsense nature stirred up by an army captain, though he's currently sweet on a German chanteuse. A strictly lackluster affair; Wilder means for it to be goosey and 'grown up', yet the silliness of both the conception and the uninteresting characters defeats the players. Plodding John Lund would hardly seem to rate the pounding pulses he achieves here, and Jean Arthur's spinsterish Phoebe Frost (ha ha) is an unattractive role for the actress. Only Marlene Dietrich emerges unscathed, though her song selections are poor. ** from ****