An Underrated Marlene Dietrich Movie for the End Times :)

a foreign affair tends to be overlooked in billy wilder's filmography the screenplay co-written by frequent collaborator charles brackett has a fairly standard construction for romantic comedies of its era it doesn't quite enchant like sunset boulevard nor does it offer reproducible funko pop ready imagery like the seven year itch you won't be sitting on the edge of your seat like with double indemnity and its love triangle doesn't include angenews du jour like audrey hepburn and sabrina or shirley maclaine in the apartment okay maybe it sounds like i'm not doing a good job selling you on this movie but if those comparisons reveal anything it's that a good film could easily become lost in the shuffle of masterpieces that is billy wilder's filmography and i'm inclined to believe that's what happened with a foreign affair i've been thinking a lot about this movie recently because of its very specific context who made it why when and where explained the film's entirely purposeful yet completely bizarre political overtones that even disoriented its contemporary critics while i don't think it's directly analogous to our situation today i do think its key players may have been asking similar questions to those many of us are asking right now how do you reconcile that your home has become an unrecognizable place how do individuals function when a system meant to protect them is in chaotic freefall how does nostalgia influence our hopes for the future so today we're taking a deep dive into the production history and themes of a foreign affair we'll talk about marlena dietrich american propaganda why billy wilder considered this his most personal film and will pretty much keep it spoiler free i admit this is one of my favorite movies so i'm excited to hopefully convince you to check it out if you haven't seen it or potentially to offer a fresh perspective on it if you have be sure to let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more explorations of individual films like this and if you're not into it don't worry you've got mommy dearest coming soon quickly before we get started thank you to skillshare for sponsoring this episode skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes that anyone can join click the link in the description to see how it can work for you and stay until the end of this video to see how it's working for me in 1945 colonel billy wilder was assigned to the u.s army's division of psychological warfare he arrived in newly liberated berlin tasked with helping to rebuild germany's film industry as gurgamundin notes in a foreign affair billy wilder's american films the government considered film instrumental both as an educational tool and a relief effort so on the one hand as wilder recalled germans would receive ration cards only if they were willing to sit through documentaries that detailed the atrocities of the nazis and that challenged viewers to face the moral and political responsibilities they were eager to forget on the other hand they were shown typical apolitical hollywood fair like cover girl to distract from the hardships of post-war life wilder was skeptical that separately either approach would successfully achieve long-lasting educational goals of denotification so he made a pitch why not try both at the same time he wrote in a memo if there was an entertainment film with rita hayworth or ingrid bergman or gary cooper in technicolor if you wish and with a love story only with a very special love story cleverly devised to sell us a few ideological items such a film would provide us with a superior piece of propaganda they would stand in long lines to buy and once they bought it it would stick unfortunately no such film exists yet it must be made i want to make it having written screenplays like nanoshka and ball of fire and directed films like double indemnity and the lost weekend the military and paramount were inclined to trust his instincts they gave him the green light and he began work on what would become a foreign affair the film follows rigid congresswoman phoebe frost in one of wilder's less subtle naming gags played by jean arthur as she travels to berlin as part of a congressional delegation to assess the morale of american occupation troops shocked by the soldier's casual fraternization with local women she stumbles upon a nightclub where the inimitable erica von schluto marlena dietrich reigns as the resident headliner phoebe scandalized by erica's overt sexuality launches an investigation into the singer and discovers that not only did she have a shameful past but also that she had a secret relationship with an anonymous high-ranking american officer who was shielding her from punishment she enlists fellow iowan captain john pringle played by john lund to join her crusade to find the man protecting fonchaluto she begins to fall for him unaware that he is the man she seeks now that's the skeleton of the plot wilder's very special love story it has incredible moments of humor and what a curious way to do your hair or rather not to do it compelling characters clear stakes but what are the few ideological items what qualifies this film as the superior piece of propaganda wilder promised well frankly that's what the military wanted to know too because the film he made didn't quite have the comedic perspective they expected originally he had planned a propagandized portrayal of a german woman saved by american values but in the three years since wilder's conception of the film in 1945 to its release in 1948 the director turned his focus away from that idea and toured satirizing the efficacy of american occupation demonstrating his evolving cynicism and disillusionment he spared no punches his germans struggle with abandoning nazi ideology and the americans fail to prescribe adequate solutions beyond make them play baseball that'll fix it the politicians are more interested in grabbing content for campaigns than they are and the duties at hand hey quit juggling film like this is good stuff around election time the soldiers are not ken dolls brimming with virtuous consideration for the greater good they enjoy the decadence of berlin's lawlessness picking up local women and scoffing at the steep price of five packs of cigarettes they received for free in exchange for a bottle of champagne pringle is by no means a captain america type he lies frequently prioritizing his own self-preservation and prolonging a relationship he knows he'd never should have entered in the first place he never really cared about erica's complicity and it doesn't bother him too much once it's revealed these weren't unfair or inconceivable characterizations they were after all informed by wilder's experience on the ground and even our good friend critic bosley crowther noted in the new york times bracket and wilder have looked realistically upon the obvious temptations and reactions of healthy soldiers far from home but needless to say the government was not pleased wilder and the film were both denounced on the floor of the house of representatives the department of defense issued a statement to the effect that the film gave a false account of the occupying forces activities abroad the military government refused to exhibit the film in germany where it was banned and not publicly screened until 1977. certain aspects of the film however were undeniably authentic as his ideas for a foreign affair developed in 1945 wilder began to film exteriors on the streets of berlin capturing the near-total destruction of the city in the immediate aftermath of the war this footage is used extensively throughout the film in fact it's pretty much the first thing you see and the contrast between that berlin and the city we see today is shocking although my sympathy doesn't run too deep because you know nazis wilder knows these images are haunting but he's not overly sentimental and seems thrilled to relish in the nazi's defeat he chooses an interesting framing device to exhibit this footage after the congressional delegation arrives a colonel welcomes them and offers them a tour of the city projected behind them in post as they speed through the streets in an army jeep are the burned-out reichstag husks of administrative buildings and homes and the soot covered brandenburg gate the colonel transforms into a tour guide slinging dad jokes at each ruin underneath there's a concrete basement that's where he married eva braun and that's where they killed themselves a lot of people say it was a perfect honeymoon later as captain pringle drives through the rubble to visit erica in her bombed out apartment wilder overlays not a dark symphonic score but rodgers and hart's heartwarming tune isn't it romantic [Music] wilder later joked they own a few a few songs they don't have to pay any any royalties and that's the picture that's the song to do so it's very nice when you use it in paris you know when they walk up the champs-elysees but how about using it in berlin when they drive through the ruins did i use it yes you did well it just shows you how cheap we are some sort of effect thank god i don't but no matter his justification the selection absolutely drips with irony and competing feelings contrast this with other films from this period that used postwar berlin as a backdrop roberto rossolini's germany year zero paints a bleak portrait of resource scarcity driving the competition to survive in the search a young boy personalizes the devastating consequences of genocide berlin express considers the city a place of intrigue where potential dangers lurk in the shadows and yet there goes captain pringle jovially riding down the street whistling a happy tune as he looks through a hole in the wall at the woman he loves it's definitely unique and not everyone loved it although a foreign affair was generally well reviewed for its performances and humor it later earned a best screenplay oscar nomination some critics found its subject matter and location callous and ill-timed the new yorker's review admitted to an occasional nagging feeling that maybe berlin wasn't precisely the proper locale for a farce the army said berlin's trials and tribulations are not the stuff of cheap comedy and rubble makes lousy custard pies i agree that the tone of the film may be jarring or maybe confusing at times however i'd also argue that beneath its irony is an underpinning of hope motivated by wilder's affection for the city or at least for its memory one cannot ignore that a jewish man helmed for an affair a man whose immediate family members were murdered in the holocaust the documentary short death mills which wilder worked on just prior to a foreign affair tackles that subject with the seriousness and gravity it deserves and vehemently indicts german citizens for their complicity in other words we know that he wasn't taking any of this lightly instead a foreign affair seems to serve as an outlet in other ways not only to satirize and question what he observed on the ground as we've already discussed but also to celebrate the pre-war artistic culture he knew had been lost billy wilder immigrated to berlin from austria in his early 20s and it was there that he became a filmmaker his berlin was the city of brecht and reinhardt of schoenberg murnau and bauhaus the nazi regime silenced displaced or outright destroyed germany's artistic titans one by one and sensing danger wilder himself escaped berlin shortly after the reichstag fire in 1933 by the time he could safely return the allies had physically obliterated the city everything he knew was gone and it would never be the same elaine lennon writes for wilder the city's fall was a deep personal affront but more than that it was a wound from which he would never truly recover as if paying homage to the artists who fled after hitler's ascent he recruited collaborators inextricably linked with the cinema of that era only marlena dietrich could play erica von schluto though she did not come to the united states as a refugee she eventually became one of the most vociferously anti-fascist voices in hollywood and even earned the medal of freedom for her extensive work with american troops during the war a berlin native she too grappled with the physical and spiritual destruction of her home her scenes were not filmed there most of the film was made in la but like billy wilder she visited berlin shortly after the allies declared victory in 1945. there she wept at the ruins of the church where she was married which appears in the film and scavenged through the rubble of her mother's apartment to try to save personal items her hatred of the nazis complicated her portrayal of erika who as you'll remember hides her sordid political past imagine even faking affection for a man who caused all the carnage she had witnessed she really didn't want to do this i have a new feeler now you hire johnny and you can send her timidity in the performance of the gesture still wilder hardest her strengths better than any director since joseph on sternberg to the point that she walks away with the film dietrich didn't have an exceptionally wide range as an actress although it may be more accurate to say that her true range was under explored but like many stars made famous under the studio system it didn't really matter within her comfort zone she oozed an unmatched sexual charisma erica uses this magnetism as currency trading affection for simple comforts like new stockings she pulls all the weight in her scenes with john lund he is not on her level and her scenes with jean arthur can be very funny but it's her musical numbers that make her performance and frankly this film memorable as i mentioned when i spoke about marlena in my 25 days of actress video it's not that marlena physically does much on stage it's that she weaponizes and exudes star quality and it's absolutely transfixing i mean look at that that's cinema baby wearing dresses recycled from her uso performances for american troops she does not tap or twirl she slinks and seduces she does not sing she purrs her sultry crooning belonged where it began in the berlin underground and wilder knew it it makes sense then that these scenes reference weimar cinema specifically marlena dietrich's star-making vehicle the blue angel erika like lola lola and the blue angel is the club's headliner a base reads the syncopators which was a prominent pre-war jazz band featured in the blue angel the art direction by another german emigre hans dreyer evokes the claustrophobic and dingy cabaret and crucially friedrich hollander sits at the piano another berlin native hollander not only composed the songs in the blue angel he's featured in both films he also played a key role in the city's pre-war music scene opening one of its most successful cabarets and becoming a top attraction for his jazzy compositions and politically witty lyrics like wilder hollander also escaped germany in 1933 because of his jewish descent and immigrated to the united states where he continued to compose often for marlena in films like song of songs and destree rides again it's hollander songs that biographer stephen bach calls the beating heart of a foreign affair like the screenplay his lyrics oscillate between cynicism and hope poignantly musing about the state of postwar germany dietrich's opening number black market offers a blunt but humorous portrait of berlin's barter system during the occupation she begins by holding up a camera declaring it six by nine just your side the sensors did not like this anyway the song ends with fonchluto surrendering her dignity to her environment and i'm just gonna read it because i got a copyright strike i'm selling out take all i've got ambitions convictions the works why not soaked in despair a later number imagines a paradise where one is in love with pain acknowledging she must move on she asks the audience want to buy some illusions slightly used second hand her closing number however finds deliverance in the city's destitution the worst of it has been defeated standing once again in front of the syncraters logo she chants that's when you realize at last they won't return the phantoms of the past a brand new spring is to begin out of the ruins of berlin as bach writes with those songs the picture has a subtext about survival a bitter melancholy as close to the sentimental as wilder ever got those songs give a foreign affair focus and an undercurrent of regret perhaps no one but old berliners like wilder and marlena could feel so keenly and it cuts deep enough to draw critical blood to the present day all three dietrich wilder and hollander had reason to celebrate and to mourn though grieving losses incurred by the war it was once again possible for berlin to become a metropolis free from tyranny and bursting with creative energy isn't it romantic the film's mix of joy sadness cynicism and hope has all felt much more potent to me in the past few weeks it's strange to see those tensions and political anxieties played out in the margins of a romantic comedy but i think it's worth a watch even if you want to ignore all the political subtext and just focus on the performances alone i barely even mentioned the jean arthur in this video and she is an absolute delight in this movie they had to pull her out of semi-retirement to do it and i'm glad they did so check it out what have you got to lose thank you for watching today's video and be sure to let me know if you'd like more deep dives on specific films in the comments below [Music] i've mentioned this a couple times before but i am a self-taught video editor and i've been looking for ways to up my game a little bit i recently watched jordy vandeputs after effects tutorial on skillshare and thought it was incredible so i decided to take on his advanced premiere pro class and i have to admit i learned some of the simplest tools that have made my editing process so much easier simple stuff i mean did you know that q does this and w does this i was honestly shocked like it's just been possible for me to do this this whole time and yet i've been doing like 10 extra clicks to achieve that same effect rude not rude of jordy to enlighten me though and definitely not rude of skillshare to make this class available skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes covering different creative and entrepreneurial skills premium membership gives you unlimited access so you can join the classes and communities that are just right for you whether you want to fuel your curiosity creativity or even career skillshare is the perfect place to keep you learning and thriving especially when in-person classes and workshops aren't available the good news is skillshare is incredibly affordable an annual subscription is less than 10 a month because skillshare is sponsoring this video the first 1000 people to use the link in my description will get a free trial of the skillshare premium membership it's that easy one click and you'll have access to immensely helpful tips and tricks like the ones that jordy taught me and that i wish i had known about a lot earlier so check it out and be sure to tune in for my next video which will be made a lot faster [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: Be Kind Rewind

Views: 62,480

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Id: JUEKREh9VUg

Length: 20min 29sec (1229 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 01 2021