A Foreign Affair
- APPROVED
- Year:
- 1948
- 116 min
- 738 Views
Congressmen, we're now
flying over the heart of Berlin.
Berlin.
Over 75,000 tons of explosives
were dropped here.
British Lancasters by night,
American Fortresses by day.
I heard Russian artillery had a little
part in it too, if you don't mind.
Sure they did and I wish
they'd pay us for all those cannons.
Hey, quit juggling. Film like this
is good stuff around election time.
The incumbent overseas.
Pennecot, don't you want to see it?
Look at it.
Like pack rats been gnawing at a hunk
of old mouldy Roquefort cheese.
Miss Frost? Congresswoman Frost?
- Present.
- We're flying over Berlin.
Well, don't you want to see it?
One thing at a time.
Looks like chicken innards at frying time.
Considering the taxpayers' money
poured on it,
I don't expect it to look
like a lace Valentine.
Golly.
(Man) Well, that's rough doing.
That sure is rough doing.
(2nd man) They ought to put in grass
and move in a herd of longhorn.
Build up their industries.
Get those smokestacks belching again.
- Not without organised labour.
- We got to feed the people.
You can't keep a country
eating scraps out of garbage pails.
I'm all for sending food,
only let 'em know where it's from.
- But you don't mind sending food.
- There's a difference.
If you give a hungry man bread,
that's democracy.
If you leave the wrapper
on, it's imperialism.
Gentlemen, these are
but they don't happen to be
the problems of this committee.
why we were sent to Berlin,
since our chairman,
Mr Pennecot of New Hampshire,
has been indisposed ever since
we took off from Washington.
We're here to investigate the morale
of American occupation troops,
nothing else.
that pest hole down below
and according to reports, they are being
infected by a kind of moral malaria.
It is our duty to their wives, their
mothers, their sisters, to find the facts.
And if these reports are true,
all the insecticides at our disposal.
If you'll pardon me,
we're approaching Tempelhof Airfield.
(Man) Oh, God, if they haven't got
a reception out for us.
(2nd man) A band and everything.
(3rd man) They'll be
glad to see home folks.
Men, once more it is our honour and
privilege to welcome a visiting committee.
Lately they seem to be coming
as regularly as the electric bill.
This time it's not just VIPs.
This time we're getting VIPIs.
Very Important Persons Indeed.
Some Congressional committee
to investigate our morale.
Seems back home, they've got an idea
this here is one great big picnic,
that all we do is swing in hammocks
with blonde Fruleins,
swap cigarettes for castles on the Rhine
and soak our feet in sparkling Mosel.
Well, let's not kid ourselves.
Some of you do go
overboard once in a while.
Maybe some of you are working too hard
to enlighten the civilian population
and maybe some of you
PX millionaires have found out
you can parlay a pack of cigarettes
into something more than 20 smokes.
After all, this isn't a Boy Scout camp.
We've got a tough job on our hands
and, by and large,
I think we're handling it darn well.
For my dough, we're on the ball.
Most of us, anyway... most of the time.
What they've got to realise is you can't
pin sergeant's stripes on an archangel.
Now, this committee
is going to be here for five days.
Let's give them as good
an impression as possible.
Not pussyfooting
around with a phoney attitude.
That's not fair to them or us.
I'm counting on you men to behave, period.
Morale. Maybe some day we can send
to investigate morale in Washington, DC.
Hey, look what I picked up
at the Brandenburg Gate.
- How much?
They've still got some nine and a halfs.
- I got no one to give them to.
- How about Trudy?
I lost her. Russian sergeant came along
with a pound of rancid butter.
- Those German dames are all alike.
- Speak for yourself.
I wouldn't be afraid
of a Russian general with a ton of caviar.
Nice toe.
The best.
We're here, Congressman.
Ready to unload?
Present... arms!
- Hello, Colonel.
- Nice to see you, General.
Mr Giffin from Texas, General Finney,
General McAndrew, Colonel Plummer.
- My pleasure.
- Mr Salvatore, from New York.
- The Bronx.
- Nobody's going to think you're Wall Street.
Mr Yandell, Congressman from Virginia.
Mr Kraus, Congressman from Illinois.
Hold it, everybody.
Want to get some of this brass.
Snappy little outfit you have.
Thank you. I have to
apologise for the band.
- You should indeed.
- We're half strength today.
- We generally have 40 pieces.
- That's terrible.
We sent the others to the British sector
for a parade. It's Empire Day.
What's terrible is I came hoping to find
an army taking its task with seriousness.
Instead I find you have a 40-piece band.
Perhaps you also have
some drum majorettes.
- May I introduce...
- I know.
General Finney, General McAndrew
and Colonel Plummer.
It's in my data. I am Miss Frost,
Congresswoman from Iowa, 9th district.
Delightful of Congress to send us
a lady representative for a change.
Delightful.
May I suggest here and now that
we dispense with all the soft soap.
As committee chairman,
permit me to bring you greetings
from the people
of the United States of America.
This genial reception augurs well
for the success of our mission.
I sincerely hope so. And now let us proceed
to a luncheon we have prepared for you.
A very simple luncheon. Powdered egg
omelette, probably, and a little Spam.
- Can I carry that for you?
- No, thank you.
I undertook to deliver it in person
to a Captain John Pringle,
stationed somewhere in Berlin, G2 Section.
- Could you tell me how to go about it?
- I could try.
Through army channels?
All I have is five days.
Captain Pringle!
Captain Pringle!
Captain Pringle reporting, sir.
Congresswoman Frost,
this is Captain Pringle.
Thank you. This is for you,
Captain Pringle. Happy birthday.
I thought I could deliver it on time
but we were held up
in Newfoundland for 16 hours - fog.
- You brought this from America?
- Murdoch, Iowa.
Well, how is good old Iowa?
I was entrusted with this by a constituent,
or rather, his daughter.
I hope it's still in one piece. Open it.
Be glad.
Well, what do you know? Little Dusty.
- Untranslated subtitle -
It's a beauty.
I didn't know it was so personal.
Her name is really Pauline Rose
but we call her Dusty. Some joke.
- How long since you've seen her?
- Dusty? Four years.
Don't these boys ever get home?
Can't they be given a short leave?
- Certainly, if it's accrued.
- I don't want any leave.
- You don't?
- Oh, of course I do. Dying to.
We're all homesick
but personal feelings don't matter.
There's unfinished business here.
Now that we've won the war,
we mustn't lose the peace.
I hate to think of anybody
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"A Foreign Affair" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/a_foreign_affair_8433>.
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