A Foreign Affair

A Foreign Affair is a 1948 comedy-drama set in post-war Berlin, where a congressional committee arrives to look into the morale of the American occupation troops. The most diligent member of the group is Phoebe Frost, a strait-laced congresswoman from Iowa, who is shocked to find black-market dealings and romances between soldiers and German women. Her attention settles on Erika von Schlütow, a cabaret singer with a Nazi past who is being shielded by an American officer, and the investigation draws Phoebe into the complicated personal loyalties behind that protection.

Billy Wilder directed and co-wrote the film with Charles Brackett and Richard L. Breen, with Brackett producing. It was Wilder's fourth feature as director, arriving between The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard. Jean Arthur plays Phoebe Frost, Marlene Dietrich plays Erika von Schlütow, and John Lund plays Captain John Pringle, with Millard Mitchell as Colonel Rufus J. Plummer. Seventy-five cast members are credited.

The film was made for about two million dollars and took roughly five million worldwide. On TMDB it holds a 7.1 rating from 166 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 7.5 from 14 reviews, placing critical approval somewhat above the general audience response.