This Marlene Dietrich movie is more relevant than ever

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In this video I dive deep into the themes and production history of Billy Wilder's underrated classic, A Foreign Affair. It's a weird movie, and I'm obsessed with it.
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Music from Epidemic Sound

[@ArturoStojanoff]

Marlene Dietrich's eyebrows are higher than my hopes and dreams, and just as likely to be real.

[@rolom3]

Hahaha what a comment 😍💩

[@dontaylor7315]

That line would work well in a film noir, my mind's ear can hear it in dialogue or, even better, in a narrator voiceover.

[@donstarfinkel6456]

She was pulling her cheeks back.. look it up.. she did it to look like she had a facelift

[@donstarfinkel6456]

@@criminalsaint9611 🙄

[@DJ-ue3zq]

Ugh. 🙄 Clumsily written and irrelevant. Read a book.

[@guilhermeclausemortiz2857]

"Be sure to let me know if you like stuff like this" YOU COULD LITERALLY MAKE A ENTIRE VIDEO ABOUT MARLENE DIETRICH'S FOREHEAD AND I WOULD WATCH NO MATTER WHAT! That's how good u are!

[@NicholeGreenNicholeGreen]

+1 on this

[@dontaylor7315]

Agreed and btw Dietrich's forehead would totally be a worthy subject!

[@robinhahnsopran]

I desperately needed to watch a bisexual vintage-style icon in a movie this week, and I didn't know it until the moment I saw this video.

[@AquaticStarchild]

Marlene Dietrich is PHENOMENAL in the two musical numbers in this movie. She's not a particularly good singer, not particularly beautiful, but MY LORD does she know how to work with what she's got! The first performance the Black Market song is breathtaking, Illusions is more mind-tricking.

[@terry4137]

@@AquaticStarchildbeg to differ, she was beautiful and extremely talented.❤

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I’m so happy that there’s a video on Marlene Dietrich. You can never have too much Marlene Dietrich content.

[@marialeticiaborges7761]

This

[@stevenbosch429]

My father recalled when Dietrich gave a concert at the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. My dad was an 18 year old cadet. Marlena came out on stage and surveyed her audience of 18 year old men in their summer fatigues and ran off the stage. She came back out and explained she had never before seen so many knobby knees before and thought she was at a Boy Scout jamboree.

[@ModernGurlz]

how dare youtube not notify me about this

[@bkrewind]

ugh!! i keep hearing this. this algorithm is AFTER ME these days i think

[@AndreiGromit]

I got notified immediately. Did you choose the "All notifications " option for the bell icon?

[@humournoir7316]

I didn’t get one either! And I have all notifications

[@nilaysnandi]

Me too

[@salemsaberhagen1570]

I had the same problem :(

[@TeamSukiyo]

I should stop watching videos from this channel, I always end up adding 30 movies to my watchlist

[@PogieJoe]

Saaaaame

[@Thermopylae66]

I already have more than 30😂 But this channel helped me get into Old Hollywood so I ain’t complaining. I am thanking!😂✌️

[@HelloHello-tm7uc]

My German Film professor and I ARE SCREAMING! Favorite film my professor showed me in that class

[@britneysprsfan1forever415]

PLEASE do a FULL video of Marelene Dietrich she was such an icon and ageless and beautiful up until the end of her life, thanks.

[@shaunfitzgerald4891]

Marlena was so freakin stunning

[@ColonelGreen]

This is such a good movie. I only wish Cary Grant, Wilder's original choice for the male lead, had accepted it -- Wilder himself dissed John Lund by remarking he was who you ended up with when Grant said no.

[@MariaVosa]

Clark Gable would have been an even better casting. He can do the morally compromised/cynical protaginist better than Grant.

[@linchen008]

Wasn't Tyrone Power available?

[@strega1380]

damn, roasted

[@soulsurvivorla]

Wow! I love that fact!

[@paulpeterson4320]

Lund was PERFECT!! The film is perfect!! End of story.

[@chriswald7700]

Billy Wilder was a genius: No matter whether hilarious comedies, dark dramas or films noirs - he nailed it!

[@lepetitchat123]

Only he can make a romantic comedy in this kind of post WWII setting

[@lydiaringwald3238]

John Lund’s performance was subtle but brilliant - a balancing act between two women, while serving as a decoy in a plot to bring Erika’s ex, a high ranking Nazi officer, to the surface for capture.

[@waddlesdpuffin]

One example of a good slow joke one that uses slowness instead of speed as part of its punchline. That scene early on when Jean A is packing up her kit and we see her go through the entire process

[@frankpeter6851]

You do barely mention Jean Arthur here, and she deserves her own video what a fascinating actress. For example: she played ingénue roles into her 40s

[@BoBo-ti6jh]

Be Kind Rewind is full of foolish mistakes. She probably never heard of Jean Arthur before this movie.

[@frankathl1]

@@BoBo-ti6jh Typical of the person you clearly are to make wild allegations without a shred of substantiating evidence. Go away and do something useful instead.

[@thomasbirdeno]

Yes, please. More underrated spotlights. Actually, you do you. I'm happy with everything you cover. Thank you for all that you do.

[@roddersrodders]

I literally opened KZbin thinking "when will BKR release a new video" to see this was posted 2 minutes ago. As, the singer-actress-songwriter Beyoncé once said "God is real".

[@dennisteneyck5004]

I saw "A Foreign Affair" years ago on the AMC (American Movie Classics) station when the movies were shown with no commercials from start to finish. It was good. I can not remember if Jean Arthur sang The Iowa Song on it. I think she did.

[@caraqueno]

@@dennisteneyck5004 Arthur, memorably, sang "The Iowa Song" in "A Foreign Affair".

[@blakeconroy2187]

Billy Wilder is one of my favorite directors and A Foreign Affair is one of his most underrated films. Both Marlene Dietrich and Jean Arthur are fantastic. Love that you did a video on this great film!

[@phillipgregoryburkeactor1]

Would love an analysis on 1972’s SOUNDER, in honor of our newly minted ancestor, Queen Cicely Tyson. She should have won the Oscar that year. Sorry, not sorry, Liza.

[@katie3603]

BKR talks about Sounder in her 1972 best actress video!

[@harviebone]

Cosign 100% about Ms. Tyson wrongfully being denied the Oscar.

[@bliss66]

Increasingly, I feel there are no right or wrongs when it comes to the Oscars; it's simply a conversation we would otherwise not be having that continues to this day.

[@TheDriftwoodlover]

Phillip, if the Oscars were really about performance, Cecily would have won. They are nothing more than a popularity contest.

[@georgebraybon3731]

I thought John Lund was perfect in the role, he was unable however to parlay it into a leading man career.

[@lemonwoodcourt]

Deep Dive Requests: The Heiress, Rebecca, State of the Union

[@brendanfoehr5086]

Seconded for Rebecca

[@ephramportugal]

seconded for the heiress

[@AndreiGromit]

Hasn't BeKindRewind already covered Olivia de Havilland? Isnt't her win for The Heiress just her doing a great job and riding the crest of her late 1940s succes and popularity?

[@anaclaraana3232]

the heiress!!!!

[@AndreiGromit]

Both these films have been partly covered on this channel.

[@johnnzboy]

Yes yes more deep-drives if that's what you like doing, all your content is gold.

[@painteasy]

watching bkr videos be like: click on the video, give it a like after watching the first 5 seconds, finish the video, be amazed by the quality for like 5 minutes, go to letterboxd and add every picture that was mentioned to your watchlist.

[@eduardoramirezjr4403]

My favorite scene is when Marlene sings “Black Market”.

[@ttintagel]

OMG one of the best musical numbers in a non-musical movie EVER.

[@georgebraybon3731]

Billy Wilder at the most close to the bone...BERLIN 1945/6 Marelene too. Jean Aurther was able to hold her own against the glamour wall that is Marlene. One of my all time favourite films. Thank you soooo much for featuring it on your very well researched and sophisticated channel.

[@victoriamasamoros6552]

I love Marlene, when I was in film school we did a whole week of her movies in our cinema room

[@davidzee8250]

This is just an extraordinary review and deep dive -- thanks so much, I learned a lot. This film and Wilder could be seen as the originator of "too soon?" but the bitter humor is something lost now -- a specific Berlin humor that's satirical and rueful. Ernst Lubitsch personified this in some of his work, but Wilder was more cutting and less sentimental. Dietrich respected him enormously, as she did Orson Welles, and as you say in your comments, told Wilder "only for you!" would she play a Nazi sympathizer. Dietrich recorded one album of Berlin songs and it's worth finding to hear the witty, sexy, and longing sound of the Berlin that was destroyed. Thanks again for this great piece.

[@jhhone]

OMG, yes more please! Robert Osborne on TCM said Jean Arthur didn't like the movie until a second viewing many years later! Also, the fashions in the film became a challenge on "Project Runway"! Your videos are in-depth perfection! Thank you for quality entertainment!

[@lamoneal]

I heard, or read, the same thing. Apparently, Jean Arthur thought that Wilder was favoring Dietrich over her, and that her performance and appearance suffered as a result. Years later, after seeing the film, she realized she was mistaken. Though back then what actress wouldn't be insecure around the uber-glamorous Dietrich?

[@moviemonster2083]

"Let's go up to my apartment. It's only a few ruins from here." Great lines and classic Wilder humorous cynicism that, of course, these days, seems rather touching and innocent as well. Underrated indeed.

[@lisajackson6238]

i could watch a thousand of your deep dives and still want more

[@aaronjanlistanco]

We talk about most snubbed genre in the category of best actress is the "Horror/Thriller" and why? how? from Sissy Spacek in Carrie (lucky gal been nominated) nowadays and that give us great performances like Toni Collette in Hereditary Lupita Nyong'o in Us Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man & Shirley Riley Keough in The Lodge Samara Weaving in Ready Or Not Jennifer Lopez in Boy Next Door Sophia Lillis in Gretel & Hansel

[@sharonjefferson5944]

One of my favorites also. Jean Author holds her own, along with Marlene

[@againstallodds3300]

@9:20ff. This interview by German film critic Prof. Hellmuth Karasek and German film director Volker Schlöndorff (e.g. The Tin Drum) was conducted and filmed in 1988 in Billy Wilder's PARAMOUNT office. There, on the wall, as both an hommage and a permanent reminder, hung a sign with the categorical imperative in the disguise of a question HOW WOULD LUBITSCH DO IT? Lubitsch (NINOTCHKA, TO BE OR NOT TO BE, HEAVEN CAN WAIT etc. etc.) was born in Berlin, Wilder (like many others) had come to Berlin from Austria-Hungary. Friedrich Holländer can also be seen in Wilder's other Berlin film ONE, TWO, THREE (1961). Chance has is that both these films, FOREIGN AFFAIR and ONE TWO THREE, were shot in two of Berlin's most dramatic post WWII phases: Shortly after AFFAIR had been completed in 1948, the Russians, with their notorious Berlin Blockade, cut off two million West Berliners from free West Germany prompting what has become known as the Berlin Airlift, with hundreds of C47s via three air corridors from Frankfurt, Hannover, and Hamburg bringing there everything the West Berliners needed to survice the icy cold winter 1948/1949 (including even coal). And, while shooting ONE, TWO, THREE in 1961, Wilder was interrupted by the Russians' inducing their East Berlin communist German puppets to build the notorious Berlin Wall (August 13, 1961).

[@Marta-vw3uk]

I was about to go to sleep (it’s 1:00 AM where I live) but welp, here we are!

[@slowdancers]

Indiscreet (1958) absolutely deserves a deep dive of any kind, even if it's just to show the scene where Ingrid screams... just throwing that out there!

[@paillette2010]

That one is on youtube. Hate her matronly wardrobe, though

[@Alexandra-bk5pi]

As a person who lives in Venezuela. A country strange now to everyone that has leave. You opened my eyes to something very close to home....weird the power of cinema huh

[@marialeticiaborges7761]

I was hoping to see more Marlene Dietrich content, I'm soooo happy!

[@kaceynm]

I can’t believe that you’re talking about this film! It was one of the subjects for my ba thesis. Truly a gem

[@TheOriginalSupreme]

You had me at "Mommy Dearest". I'm here for it! Love your channel!

[@jeromemckenna7102]

As an older person I love this movie. Marlene Dietrich is wonderful and sings some of her best songs. There is so much to love in this movie.

[@beguiled10]

I would love to see more deep dives. The way you dissect a film makes it seem brand new again.

[@cloudwalker86]

Thank you so much for recommending this fascinating film! I immediately watched it. It's the first Marlene Dietrich film I've ever seen and I loved every minute of it. I'd totally be down with you exploring some more underrated masterpieces.

[@LostCommenter7]

Honestly more deep dives on specific films would be amazing if they are as good as this one. I've meaning to get more into Marlene Dietrich's films so this was happy coincidence.

[@Alfruna]

This is such an underrated film and one of my favorites. I'm also surprised to see some of my the footage from my "Berlin in the 20s" video at 15:25! hahah that was a labor of love I edited together at age 17 and now it's finally serving a purpose :)

[@villevuorio1607]

More deep dives please. I’m always keen to discover overlooked or underrates movies from the 40’s or the 50’s!

[@shmivv]

Would love more movie deep dives! I recently saw Pillow Talk for the first time and loved it, even with the horrible gaslighting and assault scene in the car. That could be a good one! Also more people need to know about Gentlemen Prefer Blondes! It's straight up one of the best comedies ever!

[@nisoZ]

Brilliant! Please do more deep dives into individual movies. You have such a unique and well-informed perspective and I do appreciate it a lot. Thank you!

[@shlee4]

Yes please... more in-depth explorations to these (forgotten) gems!

[@robertgoyette5863]

wow this is perfect-im currently writing a short story set among gis in immediate post war berlin. Thanks for saving me some research time bkr!

[@jamespolk5428]

These single film focus videos are nice-they complement the Best Actress videos by offering the whole picture for a particular movie. Yes, it would be a treat to see more, if you were inclined! ✨

[@BrandonGrew]

Great deep dive! I hope to see more. I haven’t seen other video essayists tackle the era as effectively as you, so this kind of narrowed focus is exciting to see you flirt with.

[@melanie62954]

Specific films or Oscar races, bring on ALL the deep-dives. I love your channel! I've seen A Foreign Affair, but unlike Wilder's more popular movies I wasn't aware of the context surrounding it, and I think that makes it a different experience. Must rewatch now.

[@prinzaustria8152]

Thank you so much for this precious deep dive in Billy Wilder‘s most overlooked film: Iconic when Marlene is singing ,Black Market’ in the underworld of debris, rubble and ashes of bombed-out Berlin. Her golden dress is Hollywood-assimiliated Weimar Years glamour resurrected from the still dead then and now. When Marlene sings ,Illusions’ the Wilder Touch is best captured: Bittersweetness paired with slightly cynical sadness after all hope was lost but it still echoes. A Wilder‘esque quote from Marlene after thoughts of hers if she should have stayed in Germany after 1933: ,Maybe I could have talked him (Hitler) out of it.‘ This movie is haunting in all the right ways: Dark, funny, touching and desperate. Thank you for putting it on the map again 🥰

[@MissMariana10]

just... wow. every single one of your videos is so amazing! i'm loving the deep dives, and it always amazes me how eloquent and knowledgeable you are.

[@tristansuxx]

you should definitely do more deep dives!! love this and always love hearing your passion for marlene!!

[@OceanSwimmer]

I'm so pleased to find your review and behind-the-scenes piece about this movie. I'm a 70 year old film buff, and 'A Foreign Affair' has been a favorite of mine for some time. There are many reasons to love it. It could be the initial harrowing bird's eye view of ruined Berlin, The satiric portrayal of Jean Arthur as the constipated American congresswoman completely lacking empathy for the suffering, starving survivors of WW2, or the harsh, cynical lyrics of "Black Market" sung by the incomparable Lili Marlene. Thank you for this post. This film is an underappreciated masterpiece.

[@vegamagallanes]

YES!!!! We want more deep dives on specific films!!!

[@madeleineanderson3492]

All of your videos are brilliant but this feels especially brilliant. Thank you so much for putting in all the effort to make these videos so excellent!

[@danjlp9155]

Definitely do more deep dives like this. I’m always looking for underrated gems to watch

[@joaov.guimaraes1888]

i'm very pleased with the tip, Wilder is my favorite director (and THE reason why I become a screenwriter) and this film always passed me by, and looks amazing

[@faezrblazr]

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant as usual! Thank you for your work! What a fascinating nugget of confrontational filmmaking!

[@renatateofilo9887]

I'm such a fan. And yes, please do more of this kind of analysis. Thank you for your work and time dedicated for this channel.❤

[@bethanylaurel]

I loved this video! If you want to keep making deep dives on specific films, I will absolutely watch them!

[@morriford]

You just gained a subscriber and Eureka just sold a blu-ray of this film, thank you for putting the time in to make such an informative video.

[@Andrew_Warden]

I'd love to hear your takes on individual films. I really do love your videos. The editing, the writing, the film history. Yes, please!

[@MarcelaBellyDance]

I absolutely loved this video, thank you so much for making such a great content. Is always a happy moment to watch a new video from you! And yes please I would love more videos talking about specific movies. I love this Billy Wilder movie and I have never listen anybody talking about it, so this was a great surprise 😊. My favorite Billy Wilder movie is “Love in the afternoon.” Thank you.

[@melvinezekiel6304]

If I may ask you, please make a video about Cassavetes-Rowlands collaboration and how their impact on current filmmaking is still huge. It's nice if you put 47th Academy Awards (I love to see this analysis and a closer look to the other big colaboration that year, Bergman-Ullmann) as a context, but I still think they deserve a standalone video. Thanks for always making great contents! Wish all the best on you!

[@lamoneal]

Thank God for BKR.. I needed this. Foreign Affair is one of my favorite movies and your thoughtful and sensitive analysis was like Christmas in July, okay February. Now I'm going to see if Netflix has it!

[@patrickchappell5821]

I reallu enjoyed this. I think on your typical best actress videos, it's the 'deep dive' academic aspect of it that I really enjoy about it. I would enjoy that on actors, supporting actors, directors.... & I really enjoyed the deep dive on a specific film. Thank you!

[@erinchilds4028]

very well done. You always help me get thru the lean times waiting for a new You Must Remember This episode, and end up expanding my film knowledge every time.

[@mannyreyes9602]

Hi BKR! I enjoy watching your "film essays" as they are very informative, very well edited and quite entertaining. I like how you seamlessly blend film critique, film analysis, political history, biography and production background without sounding difficult to people unfamiliar with old Hollywood movies. Your enthusiasm for the subject is palpable so I do hope you do more of this type of short film as it gives a fresh perspective into old movies.

[@PhoebeFayRuthLouise]

This video was wonderful! I will definitely be finding “A Foreign Affair” to watch! And I love the deep dive on one film!

[@denisematthews6215]

I want to thank you for the wonderful gifts you post! I love all of the information and care yo provide in ALL of your videos!❤️

[@rhythmchyc3089]

I love your channel so so much. Thank you for your passion and dedication to these bold, magnetic, inspiring, and truly awesome women!

[@oferbenami]

This is my favorite channel. Always entertaining, always insightful and interesting. Thank you for sharing your love of cinema with us. Can't wait to see what you have next for us.

[@BeaBaz]

Yes please to more deep dives on underrated films and actors! Loved this, thank you x

[@davidbjacobs3598]

Watched this last night and absolutely loved it, but was also really confused by it and felt I was missing some context. So I was excited to see you had a video on it! Thank you for helping me process.

[@connordesmond5662]

This brought tears to my eyes. Such an important video. Thank you so much.

[@bunnrey]

Please do more deep dive videos (or anything! Your content and detail is so amazing!)

[@fitnessfreak7851]

I love the idea of focusing on a movie that not many are aware of. I would love it if you could do "The Misfits" Monroe's last completed film. It was not well received at the time, but it has been reevaluated in recent times and is now considered a masterpiece specifically the performances of the leads. I think it would be an intriguing look.

[@regenabon6659]

BKR I was looking for an classic movie to watch and came across your in-depth commentary on Foreign Affair. It's one of the best informative videos I've watched. I hope you do more like this one. I'm planning to watch your western front video that you just uploaded. Thanks so much for providing the historical information to better understand what people might have thought and felt about Foreign Affair. I hope you do more of these. 😊

[@etherealtb6021]

I love this movie. I knew those songs were something special, but thanks for bringing their full meaning out for me!

[@thedubliner02]

I will watch just about any video from the channel and this was another great one. I’ve seen the film and enjoyed it but can’t say it’s a personal fave. I might have to rewatch as this deep dive made me think about it more

[@lottaandgus]

This is one of my favorite movies. Thank you for this wonderful video.

[@BernardGolden]

Terrific. You really captured the spirit and theme of the movie. Thanks.

[@elizabethrossi4714]

Yes yes yes I love deep dives on specific films. Would love to see more!

[@CCNuck]

I would absolutely LOVE more deep-dives into specific movies!!! This was fantastic.

[@hilakummins3104]

This is one of my all time favorites & helped develop my interest in "old" films. It's hard to find it other than on TCM a few times of year, and I always forget to record it. But you can find Marlene singing the superb Ruins of Berlin on YT

[@seattlejayde]

I LOVE your videos. So intelligently and eloquently presented! Hello from Seattle! I am a big fan

[@glh2473]

Your videos are one of the only things that I look forward to these days

[@libblikk]

I love your indepth analysis. Thank you!

[@isabelavasco9321]

Love the idea of this kind of video on certain specific films, would love to see it in the channel!

[@daltonbelflower7331]

I love pieces about specific films. There's so many I'd love to see you do, but honestly I'd watch any of them you'd upload. Keep up the good work. Be Kind Rewind is the one channel I endlessly wait to see their newest upload. I'm still waiting on that Marilyn Monroe video by the way, and I want to see your work surrounding the highly discussed 1950 Oscars where Judy Holliday beat Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson.

[@firouz4296]

One of the best reviews of a movie I have ever seen/read! I love this movie so much

[@itsjustme4848]

A great study in human nature. Berliners trying to forget and doing what’s necessary to survive, soldiers taking advantage of “opportunities”, politicians doing the same. With a backdrop of past horror and present destruction, human nature remains human nature.

[@lifecycleproject]

Congratulations on a first rate video encapsulating the essence of this movie. I haven't seen the full movie, but will watch it as soon as I can, in relation to a film project of my own. Thank you !

[@crowoath8044]

This is one of my favorite movies of all time! Thank you for all the articles and critiques from the time of release! I was always struck by the images of the city's demise... not surprised merica took some issues with this amazing film. Marlene, as usual, eats up the film and I use her "I see you don't believe in makeup" line often. Great video🥰

[@samray397]

I enjoyed yr video. Pls continue with more movie dissection & background. Thank you!

[@meluckycharms111]

Yep, would definitely like to see more deep dives like this. Love the channel!

[@clairequinn7515]

I truly enjoy each and every one of your tutorials!!! They are super interesting!!! I have always loved the classics well done :)

[@tatjanaberlin569]

Thank You for this analyzes . you are the first person who lloves A foreign affair as much as I do and you found very good words to describe it . it’s one of my favorite movies and whatever beer.

[@amyreynolds7244]

I loved this! Would love to see more deep dives into individual films just like this!