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 NUMBER_TOKEN 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
START_SPONSOR_TOKEN 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 END_SPONSOR_TOKEN