Silk Stockings (1957) User Reviews

By no means a miss, but not exactly a smash hit.

[Terrell-4 · 7/10 · 11 September 2006]

There are a number of good things about Silk Stockings, but there also is a professional finality about the movie that makes it easier to observe than to be delighted by it. It was one of the last of the big MGM musicals coming from Arthur Freed's production unit. It was the last musical Fred Astaire made as the lead. It was the last film directed by Rouben Mamoulian. It was based on the last Broadway musical Cole Porter wrote. Silk Stockings also was used to make a statement about the excesses some thought were ruining films and music...the advent of rock and roll and the technological changes in films with wide screen and stereo sound. It even takes a crack at the fashion for ballet in many musicals. You've got to be very clever and original to successfully parody things which are already self-parodies. Silk Stockings, even with its many entertaining moments, isn't that clever.

The story is based on Ninotchka, the female Soviet commissar who comes to Paris and finds romance reluctantly...and then enthusiastically. Paris is presented as a place where decadence was never more innocent and persuasive.

One of the things that seems so odd is that, for a Fred Astaire film, Astaire spends a good deal of time doing knee drops, full-length on-the-floor sprawls and athletic dance moves that limit the sophisticated and smooth Astaire style. He was 59 when he made the picture, and this might explain the relative shortness of some of the sequences. Still, while he is assured and immensely watchable (and while he can still do wonders with a cane), three major dance productions he is in just seem choppy.

Most of the songs from the Broadway show were retained and Porter wrote a couple of new ones. It's become routine with Porter to say that whatever his latest show was, the score was never one of his best. In this case, it's true. The romantic songs are great, but the topical specialty numbers just seem tired. Siberia and The Ritz Roll and Rock in particular miss the mark, in my opinion.

Astaire, as always, is first class. Charisse is easy to look at and a fine dancer. George Tobias, as a commissar in Moscow and Ninotchka's boss, gives a sly and dead-pan performance. Some of Porter's songs are very good. Mamoulian brought the film in on time and under budget. And Silk Stockings was a success with ticket buyers.

An above decent musical remake of Ninotchka

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 29 June 2015]

Silk Stockings is not one of MGM's best films, with it just lacking their earlier films' sparkle, and it is not as good as Ninotchka(a Greta Garbo and Ernst Lubitsch gem), that it's a remake of. However, while it has its flaws, it is eminently watchable and is good entertainment.

The film is a handsome-looking film, especially in the sumptuous sets, though the colourful and expansive photography, not-too-bright-not-too-drab lighting and elegant costumes also delight. The music is energetic and whimsical and the songs, while not among Cole Porter's best(Ritz Rock and Roll is a little dull and tired) are very good, with memorable melodies and Porter's usual wit evident. All of You and Paris Loves Lovers are dreams come true for Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse lovers, but the highlight is the enormously fun Stereophonic Sound, Siberia has some funny moments but not for all tastes. Choreographically Silk Stockings is splendid, but does not waste Astaire or Charisse's talents at all, the songs I mentioned as highlights are also the highlights for the choreography, and while Ritz Rock and Roll is tired song-wise Astaire's dancing certainly is not.

Also present are a very clever script, where most of the humour sparkles and the romantic parts have the right balance of sweetness and magic while not feeling too much, it also has a good deal of warmth chemistry-wise which stops it from feeling cold and underdeveloped. The film is warm-hearted, good-humoured and light-footed on the most part, and is competently directed, while the cast are as splendid as the choreography. Astaire is as charming and graceful as ever, and Charisse is glamour and elegance personified. Janis Paige is hilarious, and comes close to stealing the show in Stereophonic Sound, and Peter Lorre and Jules Munshin are amusing, though both have given better performances elsewhere.

It's not a flawless film though. It does get heavy-handed in places and occasionally over-plotted, the anti-Russian jokes may leave a sour taste in the mouth and as aforementioned the Ritz Rock and Roll lacks the energy and is not as memorable or up-to-tempo as the rest of the film.

Despite the problems, Silk Songs is very watchable and fun and an above decent but inferior musical remake of Ninotchka. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Musicals die in style

[ben-981 · 8/10 · 26 October 2005]

Fred Astaire has always been a performer who's work is very close to my heart. The last real Fred Astaire movie (excluding his geriatric non-singing, non-dancing or non-starring roles) is 1957's "Silk Stockings".

I was a little afraid to watch Silk Stockings at first. Sure, it had a Cole Porter score supervised by Andre Previn, and Hermes Pan choreography, and, sure, Fred made fabulous movies even at that age ("the Bandwagon", "Daddy Long Legs"), but I knew it was Fred's last, and I didn't want to know why. Now I know what a pleasure I was depriving myself of.

"Silk Stockings" is a musical remake of "Ninotchka", a 1939 Greta Garbo picture. It's about a serious stern young Russian woman, sent as an envoy to nab a Russian composer living illegally in Paris. The composer is betraying his Russian classical heritage by writing music for a low brow movie musical. The director of this movie, played by Fred Astaire, distracts the pretty young Russian (Cyd Charisse) with the wonders of Paris, classy night clubs, and dancing to jazz. In falling for him, her strict heartless personality melts away.

This movie was produced at the height of the cold war, and the height of Hollywood blacklisting, and it's commie-bashing could make some uncomfortable. To me, those jokes are anything but propaganda. The cultural stereotypes are played for laughs, and should be taken with a grain of salt. Of course, I'm a big fan of the top hat and tails ritzy romantic culture that Astaire's character teaches Charisse's character the joys of, so it's easy for me to say.

With the exception of the classics "All of You" and "Paris is For Lovers", Cole Porter's songs are comic, here. But, that being said, they are hilarious. This was towards the end of Porter's career too. In fact, this was towards the end of the movie musical as America knew it.

Rock and Roll was taking over. To me, the most moving moments in this movie are not the dramatic love scenes shared by Astaire and Charisse, they are the self referential moments, where Porter, Astaire, and choreographer Hermes Pan acknowledge that their era in over.

Porter wrote special material just for this movie. One highlight is a tune called "Stereophonic Sound". In it, the singer quips about how moviegoers used to be content to see talented performers do their thing, and a nice love story, but these days all they want is "glorious Technicolor, breathtaking CinemaScope, and Stereophonic sound!" The song puts down all the gimmickry of the modern Hollywood, and even has one verse quite obviously about Fred Astaire himself. Porter writes that these days a great hoofer in tails is not enough, they want a ballet (alluding to Gene Kelly's ballet dance number fad).

Fred Astaire's last MGM dance number is to the song "Ritz Rollin' Rock". It's Porter's parody of this new music called Rock and Roll, ironically borrowing from Irving Berlin's dated "Puttin' On the Ritz". This sequence, choreographed by Astaire's long-time collaborator Hermes Pan, ends with Fred writhing on the floor, wearing his 1930's tails and top hat. As the horns hit the last big chord, Fred removes his trade-marked top hat and smashes it flat with his fist. The message Porter, Astaire and Pan slipped into this novelty number, is very powerful, if you know what you're seeing.

Pop entertainment changed in the sixties, and the the old kings abdicated their thrones to... well... the King, I suppose.

Anyway, if you're a Fred-head like me, and you're afraid to see Fred's final fling, "Silk Stockings", don't be. You'll be reminded why he and his period of Hollywood was great.

Smooth as silk musical and great pairing of Astaire and Charisse...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 27 September 2006]

A lot of humor at the expense of the Soviets (natch) is present throughout this musical version of "Ninotchka" in which Greta Garbo was the Russian who melts into a normal woman thanks to the spell of capitalism. Here it's CYD CHARISSE who plays the very uptight lady (with a stiffness that comes naturally to Cyd who could play an "ice princess" with the best of them). And FRED ASTAIRE is thankfully cast as an American film producer hoping to get her cooperation in borrowing a Soviet composer for his new film.

That's the nuts and bolts of the story, but the ingredients (including a trio of Soviet agents played by PETER LORRE, JULES MUNSHIN and Joseph BULOFF and a ditsy American singer/actress JANET PAIGE), are enough to stir up a lot of sardonic humor and some really good song and dance numbers. Paige is especially good with her "Stereophonic Sound" routine and "Satin and Silk", flirtatious and vivacious as ever in a top supporting role.

But it's the dance elements that count here--Astaire at his most elegant and Cyd Charisse gracefully matching him step by step all the way through. Her performance as the serious minded miss who gradually bends to his ways is one of her better contributions to film comedy.

Summing up: A delightful blend of Cole Porter songs and a clever script make this one a sheer pleasure, smooth as silk.

Now on DVD - CinemaScope once more!

[gregcouture · 30 April 2003]

Like so many films produced in the mid- to late Fifties and early Sixties, when CinemaScope and other widescreen processes enhanced a production, directors and cinematographers were usually unafraid to take full advantage of the wider ratio. They weren't so concerned about how the final product would look on TV's square screens and probably didn't anticipate the visual desecration of "formatting" and "pan-and-scan" reductions. So it's nice to know that this musical, filmed when M-G-M was about to throw in the musical towel and bid an undeserved farewell to the Arthur Freed "unit," can now be enjoyed again close to its original theatrical aspect ratio on DVD.

Astaire and Charisse are a team to be treasured (so wonderful together in "The Band Wagon" a few years earlier, under Minnelli's astute guidance) and all of the others listed in this film's credits are professionals of the highest caliber. Astaire has a fun solo (with a chorus of top-hatted dancers) in the "Ritz Roll 'n' Rock" number; Cyd gets to put those legendary legs to dazzlingly opulent use in the "Red Blues" production show-stopper; and even Janis Paige gets to raunch it up in an amusing example of clever Cole Porter risking something risqué (for its day) in a song about the Empress Josephine, "commonly known as Jo"! And there's that first reel number, "Stere-oh-phonic Sound," that cleverly spoofs the contemporary moviemakers' attempts to lure people from their TV sets with widescreens, sound coming from every corner of the auditorium and eye-glazing color processes. It may not be prime Porter but it's all far-and-away more fun and enjoyable than anything we're likely to get today with the threatened revival of the movie musical with barbarians like Baz Luhrmann given the directorial reins.

A Most Fitting Tribute to Charisse's Terpsichorean Talents

[EUyeshima · 7/10 · 28 June 2008]

With the passing of Cyd Charisse last week at age 86, it's worth seeking out what is probably her finest work on celluloid. As an actress, she was bland. As a singer, she was dubbed (this time by the sonorous-sounding Carole Richards). But as a dancer, she was extraordinary. Along with Vera-Ellen, the ballet-trained Charisse was in the top echelon of the female dancers MGM showcased during the studio's golden years of which this film is one of its final stops. The clearest evidence of this claim can be found in the title tune when she dances with beauty and precision elegantly changing from her drab street clothes into silk and satin. It's a remarkable number, no small feat since her co-star is Fred Astaire. Directed by early musical maven Rouben Mamoulian in what turned out to be his last film, the movie also marks Astaire's swan song as a musical comedy leading man. Symbolically, he smashes his top hat at the end of his final solo number, "The Ritz Roll and Rock". The wear barely shows in his dancing where he pulls off some of his most acrobatic numbers, but other than the professionalism of the two leads, the inspiration seems sadly missing.

The film is a partial remake of Ernst Lubitsch's 1939 classic comedy, "Ninotchka" - in fact, some scenes are repeated verbatim - although certain elements have been altered to accommodate Cole Porter's musical score. This musical translation first showed up on Broadway two years earlier, but further revisions have obviously been made to tailor the story to the dancing talents of the leads. Charisse has the unenviable task of stepping into Greta Garbo's shoes as top Soviet envoy Ninotchka Yoschenko, who is sent to Paris to retrieve three lesser envoys swept up by the City of Lights. They had already botched their mission to lure famous Russian composer Peter Boroff back to the mother country. At the same time, American movie producer Steve Canfield wants Boroff to score his next picture, a musical bowdlerization of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" starring comically curvaceous Peggy Dayton, a parody of an Esther Williams-style swimming star whose been in the pool too long. As Dayton uses her feminine wiles to entice Boroff, Canfield tries to seduce Ninotchka, a far frostier proposition though the eventual thawing is inevitable. Porter's music has that effect or so we are led to believe.

Playing another variation on the worldly photographer he played in the same year's "Funny Face", Astaire is still at the top of his game, but his dance numbers are less elegant and appear markedly shorter than usual here. Charisse cannot compare to the legendary Garbo when it comes to line readings as a stoic communist. However, her dancing truly transcends – not only the title tune but also "The Red Blues", an impressive ensemble number showcasing Charisse in a variety of dance styles, and the two duets with Astaire to "All of You" - the first a romantic defrosting of Ninotchka and the second a jauntier, rhythmic pas-de-deux. I wish the rest of the film was as good, but sadly, the energy wavers and the pacing flags during its 117-minute running time. The rest of the cast is serviceable, in particular, Janis Paige on familiar ground as Peggy (nicely paired with Astaire on the energetically cynical "Stereophonic Sound") and George Tobias as the deadpan Soviet commissar. Peter Lorre ("M") and Jules Munshin (Ozzie in "On the Town") show up as two of the bumbling envoys. The 2003 DVD has some interesting extras beginning with a ten-minute featurette featuring a 2003 interview with the still-elegant Charisse in "Cole Porter in Hollywood: Satin and Silk". Because of the Porter tie-in, there is also a 1934 Bob Hope short, "Paree, Paree", a silly musical comedy with Hope wooing singer Dorothy Stone. Also included is the original theatrical trailer, as well as "Poet and Peasant Overture" with Alfred Wallenstein conducting the MGM symphony orchestra playing the Franz Von Suppe piece as an overture to the movie.

In Glorious Technicolor and Cinemascope and STEREOPHONIC SOUND

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 13 August 2006]

It is Cole Porter meeting Ernst Lubitsch's best recalled film, NINOTCHKA. Up-dated to be sure, but still an affective comedy about rival systems of politics, social structure, and economics.

In the original, a Soviet economic mission is trying to use some jewelry that was originally owned by a Grand Duchess to purchase needed agricultural equipment. This is jettisoned in the new version. Fred Astaire (Steve Canfield) is a movie producer who is planning a production of WAR AND PEACE with Janis Paige as his star (she is Peggy Dayton, a noted Hollywood swim star, a la Esther Williams), who will play the Empress Josephine. Interesting point: Josephine does not appear in WAR AND PEACE - keep that in mind. Canfield wants to have a score by Russia's leading composer, Peter Ilyitsch Boroff (Wim Sonneveld) who is currently in Paris with a culture mission that is under Jules Munshin, Peter Lorre, and Alexander Granach. Their boss, George Tobias (promoted since NINOTCHKA - he's now a commissar) sends Cyd Charisse (Ninotchka Yoschencko) to keep the other three and Boroff under control. Tobias has reason to be upset. Not only is Canfield trying to corrupt the culture mission (not too difficult there) but also Boroff, who falls for Peggy Dayton (as Canfield hopes).

It follows closely the pursuit and "corruption" of Ninotchka, but there is one aspect that is shown here that was barely touched upon in the 1939 film. There Swanna's cynical use of the jewelry as a bargaining chip to keep Leon from Ninotchka sort of suggests that pure capitalism has it's drawbacks when in the wrong hands. In SILK STOCKINGS it is the cavalier use of culture for a fast buck that gets a go over.

Boroff's masterpiece is called "Overture to a tractor", but Canfield has it changed into a song for Peggy "Jo,Jo, Jo, Jo, Josephine...commonly called Jo". Whatever one thinks of music in honor of inanimate objects, Boroff's work represents serious art. Ninotchka and the others (including Boroff) are furious, and dismiss the glib excuse Steve comes up with (many other popular songs are based on classic tunes). They leave for Russia, and the rest of the musical follows Steve's attempts (like Leon's before him) to get Ninotchka back.

The Porter score here (with the score for CAN-CAN) were the last two really first rate scores Porter composed, but both were composed for the stage productions of the musicals and transposed to the screen. Here the title song (originally sung by Don Ameche on stage, but here by Astaire) is one of the best numbers, as is "Glorious Technicolor", where Astaire and Paige describe all the cinematography gimmicks used to draw in the audience (leading up to "sterophonic sound", which the film sound track blasts out). Munchkin, Lorre, and Granach have two big numbers, the second (SIBERIA) being one of Porter's best comic pieces as the three culture mission people look gloomily to returning to Russia, and possibly being sent to Siberia ("Have you seen our choice bill of fare...Please try the fillet of polar bear!"). There is even a second piece by "Boroff" composed in Russia, "I've got the Red Blues!" which uses forbidden rock and roll.

If it does not have the fine Lubitsch elegance and "touch", SILK STOCKINGS still shows a first rate handling on it's own.

Fred & Cyd take on a Garbo classic with songs and dances.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 20 December 2012]

The 1955 Broadway musical "Silk Stockings" is one of the few hit stage shows that has not (as of yet) had a major New York revival, even at the City Center Encores. One of the reasons is probably its dated communist propaganda spoofing, something as gone with the wind as the south of Tara and Rhett and Scarlett. But we have this movie version of the musical, and if we don't get the original cast (Don Ameche, Hildegard Kneff and Gretchen Wyler) we do get more than acceptable substitutes (Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse and Janis Paige) instead. After their pairing in "The Band Wagon" in 1953, it seems inevitable that the team of Astaire and Charisse would be re-teamed, something that other than Fred & Ginger for 10 films had happened with Rita Hayworth for 2 films. When "Silk Stockings" was adapted for the screen, only Cyd Charisse of MGM's musical stars seemed capable of playing that part, even if her acting was nowhere near the quality of Garbo's.

"Silk Stockings" is of course a musical version of the 1939 romantic comedy "Ninotchka", and was the final Broadway musical of Cole Porter, the genius behind "Anything Goes", "Kiss Me Kate" and "Can-Can". An original Broadway cast album reveals a charming, if not remarkably sung musical score, with pleasant romantic tunes such as "All of You" and "Paris Loves Lovers" added to the snappy comic songs "Stereophonic Sound", "Too Bad" and the show-stopping "Siberia", which is up there with "Kiss Me Kate's" "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" as a classic song for the comic supporting players. Then, there's the big dance number, "Red Blues", which in itself isn't anything outstanding, but an excuse for the chorus to get out there and do all sorts of high kicks and traditional Russian dance moves. (The lyrics basically continue to repeat themselves over and over, as if a skipping record, but getting wilder and wilder. With Cyd Charisse dancing, it ends up the hot spot of the film.)

The story of American film director Steve Canfield in Paris to film his latest epic has a Russian composer defecting, sending in Russian agent Ninotchka to bring him home. She finds she loves the capitalistic society and the lights of Paris, and even more so, the charming American man who tells her that they were fated to be mated. But her duty calls her back, and the lovers part so Canfield utilizes the Russian defectors sent prior to Ninotchka to bring her back for the final fade out. Among those men is a comical Peter Lorre who sings and dances for the first and only time, or as some may say, screeches and shakes a leg. Sultry Janis Paige takes on an Ann Miller type role as the American movie star Peggy Dayton and steals every scene she is in. Paige ironically didn't get to repeat her Broadway role in "The Pajama Game" the same year, but when you're dancing with Fred Astaire, why quibble? (Ironically, she would co-star with her replacement, Doris Day, in "Please Don't Eat the Daisies", whom she had ironically appeared with in Day's first film, "Romance on the High Seas").

Porter wrote a new song for the movie, "The Ritz Roll and Rock", a spoof of the rock music of the time, combining it with Astaire's traditional white tie and tails. The song is not a classic, but with Astaire's charm and the MGM glamor treatment, it ends up a lot of fun. When Paige and Astaire get together to honor the new trend of glorious Technicolor, breathtaking cinemascope and stereophonic sound, you will grin from ear to ear with the cleverness of the parody of advances in Hollywood movie making. This will never beat the charm of the original movie, but there is a lot of fun to be had in it, and Astaire and Charisse have more chemistry than some of the much younger women he had been co-starring with in some previous recent movies.

Charisse is a bonus to any film, a compliment of any arm, a true gem...

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 9/10 · 18 August 2002]

Cyd Charisse, along with Vera-Ellen and Ann Miller, was one of the premier dancing stars of the 1940's and 1950's...

Known for her cool sex appeal, Cyd Charisse has a beautiful face, a perfect figure, and a thrilling musicality... She is the American cinema's lyrical dancing beauty with a lovely flow of movements and crystalline footwork, a bonus to any film, a compliment of any arm, a true gem... The sensitivity and eloquence of character she projects as a dancer found great echo in her roles as an acclaimed ballerina capable of expressing herself to the entire audience with a flick of the wrist, tapering her high extensions into a musical phrase like a painter controlling a fine sable brush...

When she danced 'La Bamba' and 'Flaming Flamenco' with Ricardo Montalban in Richard Thorpe's "Fiesta," she excelled in technical dynamics... But in 'Broadway Rhythm Ballet,' number from "Singin' in the Rain," Stanley Donen's camera followed the leg up to the figure of a seductive Dancer, a gangster's moll: Charisse was beautiful, bewitching exotic nightclub performer and city vamp, teasing Gene Kelly by balancing his straw hat on the end of her foot, and leaving us all breathless...

In 'Silk Stockings' she is a humorless, unromantic and cold, a seriously-austere Russian envoy who is sent from Moscow to check three Russian emissaries who, in turn, have orders to bring back with them a Soviet composer about to lend his talents to an American movie producer...

A 'beautiful dynamite,' Charisse warms to the appeal of romance, and Fred Astaire, to luxury, jazz, and French champagne... The chemistry was there when they danced the 'Paris Loves Lovers,' number in which the suave Astaire awakens her interest in life and the City of lights, but in the title song where she throws off her cold uniform for her first fine pair of silk stockings and laces, Charisse, (the very serious and dedicated Ninotchka), turns into an explosion of talent and glamor, with the qualities of a scintillating star, radiantly charming and sweet, filling the screen with bravura, energy and spark...

Peter Lorre, Jules Munshin and Joseph Buloff are the three Kremlin agents, the trio of 'clowns' who become fond of freedom and the pleasures of Paris...

Janis Paige is delightfully amusing as the temperamental movie star for whom producer Astaire was preparing a musical about Napoleon and Josephine...

'Silk Stockings' has definite virtues, the foremost being Fred Astaire... Although worried about being ageless for the role, Astaire sings 'All of You' to Charisse with all of his old ardent feelings, dances beautifully with her in a deserted movie studio to 'Fated to Be Mated,' and joins Janis Paige, playing 'America's Swimming Sweetheart,' in Cole Porter's delicious 'Stereophonic Sound.' His solo to 'The Ritz Roll 'n' Rock,' in which he wears his trademarked top hat and tails, is a proof of his grace, sophistication and talent...

For all its merits, Mamoulian's 'Silk Stockings' has a degree of elegance and sophistication, but mostly a sweet sadness, the end of a living legend, in which Fred Astaire appears in his last great musical role...

In Soviet Russia, Stockings Wear You!

[mmallon4 · 7/10 · 1 June 2016]

I'm rather disappointed with the latter era MGM musicals. High Society, Les Girls, Gigi; as one of the numbers in Gigi sums it up: "It's a bore!" Silk Stockings is one of the better ones, not perfect but it shows this now increasingly outdated style of musical could still be glorious, despite their lack of economic viability from the rise of television. Whereas High Society came off to me as an unneeded remake of The Philadelphia Story, Silk Stockings manages to hold its own and not come off as a cheap remake Ninotchka, which was released prior to the cold war in 1939 (and not doing much good for American-Soviet relations). Silk Stockings was made right during the cold war and towards the end of the McCarthy years. It's interesting seeing the story of love overcoming ideology retold from the cold war perspective in this critique of communism just like Ninotchka before it favours the gayety and decadence of the west to the rigid and gray world of the Soviet Union. While Silk Stockings may be moving denouncing communism it does paint a positive picture of Russian arts. The movie, however, is self-aware its propaganda, with the film being made within the film described as "The iron curtain dissolved by music" and Astaire gleefully proclaiming the film within a film as "what propaganda!"

The influence of the director Rouben Mamoulian is one of the aspects which helps elevate Silk Stockings. Mamoulian was one of the most innovative directors of the 1930's, whose credits include the ground-breaking musicals Applause and Love Me Tonight. Although this was 1957 and his final film, he was an innovator of the genre and his handsome direction is apparent throughout the film. The musical numbers take full advantage of the Cinemascope frame, such as the number 'We Can't Go Back to Russia' which features multiple people dancing at once in a long, unbroken shot. While Fred Astaire is dancing, Peter Lorre might be doing something amusing in the background. The dancing on display in the film is not Astaire's most accomplished but is entertaining none the less. Mamoulian never worked with Ninotchka director Ernst Lubitsch, although Love Me Tonight did feature Lubitsch elements, as well as regular Lubitsch stars Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. Elements of the famous Lubitsch Touch are present throughout Silk Stockings; for example, when the Soviet commissar has just finished his first encounter with Ninotchka and is surprised to discover she is a woman, his secretary then bursts into the room to tell him this very fact, very much a Lubitsch inspired gag.

Cyd Charisse succeeds in holding her own, not merely doing an imitation of Greta Garbo; showing that she was an underrated actress as well as a great dancer. Plus it simply a pleasure seeing Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse reunited again after The Band Wagon. Astaire could have conceivably played Melvyn Douglas' role back in 1939 (I often wish the man could have done more non-musical comedic roles) so his casting does work; plus I've always championed Astaire's for his unsung comic abilities. The casting of Peter Lorre as one of the three operatives is a brilliant decision, while Janis Page is also very entertaining as the uncultured actress Peggy Dayton.

The film's selection of songs written by Cole Porter are very good. 'Stereophonic Sound' is a satire on the habits of moviegoers more concerned with a film's technical aspects over the content of the film itself, while Cyd Charrise's solo dance number captures the decadence of capitalism in the form of dance. The 'Ritz Roll n' Rock' reflects the changing musical landscape from jazz to rock n'roll and appropriately so as this marked Astaire's retirement from musicals, in the final number of the film dressed in his trademark top hat, white tie, and tails; what a send-off! Although my favourite number in the film is Astaire and Charisse dancing on a film set in 'All You Dance', simply beautiful. The big flaw I have with Silk Stockings, however, is the length; at the two hours the movie is too long and some trimming could have gone a long way. With thirty minutes chopped out, Silk Stockings could go from a good movie to a great one.

Not exactly touched by Lubitsch

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 28 November 2021]

This is a musical remake of Ninotchka. Something MGM did repeatedly in the 1950s was remake a golden era classic of theirs in musical format, and it usually landed with a thud. This is no exception. The only thing I found interesting was Fred Astaire, who is always a joy to watch. Without him this effort would probably be a 3 or 4 out of ten. The surprise in the original Ninotchka was Garbo as an effective dead pan comedienne, but Cyd Charisse just bombs in this parallel role. Maybe the difference is that Americans had a completely different attitude towards Russia than they did in 1939, right before WWII. Maybe that kept MGM from doing anything the least bit challenging with the material almost twenty years later.

The musical numbers just slow everything down and most of them are boring. Rouben Mamoulian is the director, and in fact it is his very last credited directing role. He and Lubitsch, who directed the original Nitnotchka, were at Paramount at about the same time in the 1930s, but he just is unable to work any magic on this film.

Old-fashioned grace.

[movibuf1962 · 8/10 · 11 October 2002]

"Silk Stockings" is something of an enigma. Its release came at the moment much of America had switched over to viewing television and the musical film was dying. But it was still glorious. I couldn't care less about the 'outdated Red Russia' story line; this is a remake of a 1939 film and the USSR conflict was in the original as well. What're you gonna do? The main focus is on capitalist seduction- first by Tobias, Munshin, and Peter Lorre, then most beautifully by Astaire and Charisse. Note that in their first duet (the non-dancing "Paris Loves Lovers"), as they sing in perfect counterpoint, they appear to be undressing each other with their eyes. Later, in "All of You," the gloves come off and our two leads seduce each other through a most graceful dance in a living room. Astaire was 56 years old, Charisse was about 36, and there is still more electricity in their pairing than in some of the downright silly things passing as romantic comedies today. The undisputed highlight of the film is Ms. Charisse in a silent and sensuous expression of terpsichory as she puts on nude stockings, a camisole, and a flared transparent slip. OMG!!

A so-so musical with memorable performers

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 24 April 2017]

"Silk Stockings" is based on a Broadway musical and the 1939 film, "Ninotchka." Both of those are based on a story by Melchior Lengyel, and this film further includes a book written on the original story. The 1939 MGM film was a huge success when it hit theaters just a month after the start of World War II in Europe. Efforts to revive it during the war were stopped because the Soviet Union was then an Ally. The film was banned in the Soviet Union.

Cole Porter wrote the music and lyrics for the 1955 Broadway play by the same title (his last work for the stage). It starred Hildegard Neff and Don Ameche. Porter had a popular hit from the show, "All of You." He wrote one more number for this film, at the behest of Fred Astaire, "The Ritz Roll and Rock." It was Astaire's nod to the emerging music culture of rock and roll.

While the stage musical was a success with 478 performances, the movie fizzled and lost MGM $1.4 in 1957. The story keeps some of the dialog of the original "Ninotchka," especially between the leads. Fred Astaire plays Steve Canfield and Cyd Charisse is Ninotchka Yoschenko. Charisse is quite good at imitating the Ninotchka of Greta Garbo, but the change in the story with the male lead casts Astaire in his all- too-familiar role as a stage or film producer or director. And, that role and his part here seem out of place and don't work well.

Some of the rest of the casting wasn't that good. Janis Paige as Peggy Dayton was way overboard in a bombastic role. And, the three derelict Russian commissars here couldn't' match the three great supporting character actors of the original film. However, the inclusion of Peter Lorre as one of the commissars, with some particularly funny lines and actions, gave the film a badly needed shot in the arm.

Other than the hit song, "All of Me," and the very funny and clever "Siberia," most of the musical numbers were just so-so. Even Astaire's special "roll and rock" number wasn't very special. Except for a 1968 single film return with some light footwork ("Finian's Rainbow"), this was Fred Astaire's last dancing movie. To his credit, the great master of dance quit while he was near top form. Yet, even here, Astaire's dance numbers are tame and without pizazz or creativity. Astaire continued to act and appear in films and on TV for more than two decades. But his career as a leading star in music and dance films was closed. It was an amazing career for a 58-year-old song and dance man – perhaps the greatest of all time.

Seven stars may be generous for this film, but I give them for the good comedy and performances of some stars – notably Charisse and Lorre. And, because it's Astaire's swan song for his dancing career. This doesn't come close to the great dance films of the past, but it's okay for whiling away a rainy afternoon. Check the Quotes section on this IMDb Web page of the film for funny lines. Here are a few.

Bibinski, "Come. We talk to him now." Brankov, "Very casual. Don't frighten him. Smile." Bibinski, "I haven't smiled in 30 years."

Markovitch, on the desk intercom, "I want to look somebody up. Does this office have a copy of 'Who's Still Who?'"

Steve Canfield, "Ninotchka, don't you like me at all?" Ninotchka, "The arrangement of your features is not entirely repulsive to me."

Ninotchka, "In Russia, when someone wants someone, he says, 'You, come here!'" Steve Canfield, "Oh, you mad, romantic Russians."

"Silk should be used for parachutes " but as Ninotchka learns NOT so in Paris

[rose_lily · 5/10 · 31 July 2013]

Comparisons between this and the 1939 film "Ninotchka" are inevitable, but both films are entirely different genres and need to be evaluated on their own merits…or lack thereof. The 1939, Garbo-Douglas "Ninotchka" can be defined as a comedy/drama; the 1957, Astaire- Charisse "Silk Stockings" as a comedy/musical.

Also… to those who find fault with the script as an unauthentic representation of Soviet citizenry circa the Cold War era… well…"Silk Stockings" is not meant to be a polemic on Communism, soviet style. It takes elements from Soviet life, exaggerates, and subverts the realities for comedic effect. We're talking comedy here, not documentary.

Fred Astaire, as Hollywood producer Steve Canfield, here is an older Fred than we are used to seeing and although given star billing, the film is more of an ensemble effort. Cyd Charisse, as Ninotchhka, is tasked with playing a prudish, repressed, literal minded Soviet official. Ninotchhka, a personality manufactured by political propaganda is more of a one- dimensional caricature, a role that doesn't require great acting skill and Charisse manages her role with facility.

Together Astaire and Charisse make a good dance team but the choreography is lackluster and pedestrian. Astaire at age 58 still demonstrates vitality but he's taking it easy here… nothing physically innovative or too rigorous. There's no Fred wow factor that would serve to add another jewel to the King of Dance's crown.

Peter Lorre, one of a trio of Soviet commissars come to Paris to waylay a Russian composer's defection to Hollywood, diverges from his familiar portrayals. Formerly inseparable from characterizations of the sinister, sly insinuator here he's an engaging, chubby comrade/sidekick.

Janis Paige was a ubiquitous, popular name in entertainment in the 1950s. She's the crass exhibitionist, Peggy Dayton, a concoction epitomizing the Hollywood star factory; she's a proxy for the over the top, gaudy commercialism of the Capitalist System. Her movie star is a manufactured product famous for showcasing her talents in the type of movie called water spectaculars, most commonly confined to swimming pools or sound stage sets mimicking exotic, fanciful lagoons. A not very flattering homage to Esther Williams...maybe?

In "Silk Stockings" Cole Porter has given us song lyrics that seem forced, applied with a heavy- handed manipulation agonized over. The tunes are not memorable. Overall, there's a turgid gimmickry at work here, lacking the easy, almost effortless, sophisticated grace of his best work. This musical score is not representative of the best compositions in Porter's catalogue of memorable work.

The most glaring bungling occurs in the cinematography and lightening. The camera work throughout is woefully uninspired, filmed predominately using medium shots, every scene is framed in a relentless monotony lacking visual variety. The unimaginative lightening only emphasizes the camera's deficiency further bathing everything in a uniform bright light, without nuance, shadow or mood. The result presents everything as if a flat page in a picture book. These "lazy" production values extend to the costumes and set décor as well where Technicolor is not used to advantage. The entire movie has a flat dullness, and drabness to it all. It might as well have been filmed in black and white.

After finishing "Silk Stockings," Astaire didn't make another movie musical for ten years. After viewing the finished product, it's no mystery why he made that decision.

All this being said… this is not the worst musical ever made, and can offer some entertainment value. Just sit back and enjoy the effortless charm and courtliness of Fred Astaire and the gorgeous Cyd Charise. What woman wouldn't want her figure and those beautiful, sculpted long legs?!

Silk Stockings DVD has some fun extras

[AustinKatAnne · 16 June 2006]

As "Silk Stockings" reaches the half-century mark, it is now so dated that it can be enjoyed either as a period piece, as a look at popular attitudes toward the Cold War, as a rather silly but enjoyable setting for the odd couple of Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire, or as a chance to see character actors like Jules Munchin and Peter Lorre. You know it's an old movie when Technicolor and stereophonic sound are being touted as the new big things!

Whether you like the main movie or not, the DVD extras have their own charm. The Special Features section includes a short film with Cyd Charisse as narrator, made about 2003, in which she talks about Cole Porter, Fred Astaire, and how the film came to be. Another short b/w film from the thirties is called "Paree, Paree". This one stars a very young Bob Hope, and features Cole Porter songs from the musical "20 Million Frenchmen".

Another musical treat is the "Poet and Peasant Overture", written by Franz von Suppe, played by the full studio orchestra. Both the 'Paree' film and this overture will tease you with musical strains familiar to those of us who grew up with old cartoons, so be warned! Listening to this music may induce animation flashback.

A Mixed Bag with Cole Porter Songs to Recommend It

[LeonardKniffel · 7/10 · 28 April 2020]

This musical version of the Greta Garbo film "Ninotchka" stars Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, and Janis Paige (as a mock Esther Williams swimming star). When it comes to musical plots, less can be better, so in this case there is a lot of Soviet agent stuff to ignore. It's the Cole Porter songs that matter. It's fun to watch Charisse play super-serious Soviet while Astaire mocks the jokes about the whole spy act, but the real highlight of the film may well be watching Charisse put on her underwear. ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

Score one for the genius of the system

[Anne_Sharp · 7/10 · 14 September 2000]

The very idea of a film version of this musical based on "Ninotchka" being produced at the height of both the cold war and the Hollywood blacklist is sick-making. But 1957 was also a year when the MGM musical-making machine was running at full steam, so there was plenty of talent to find a sure-footed way around the sticky bits and this is every bit as charming and debonair as "Band Wagon" or "It's Always Fair Weather." Fred Astaire is far too old to be Cyd Charisse's love interest and reportedly knew it, so their ritual courtship is tastefully deemphasized, and the ripe young beauty mostly cavorts in separate routines so that the aging master can do his stuff on his own terms. It's a little startling to see Peter Lorre in an MGM musical, but he makes an adorable Kommissar and could certainly lip synch just as well as George Tobias, or Audrey Hepburn for that matter.

Dance Scenes

[Doubtindave · 8/10 · 27 February 2005]

Astaire too old! Gimme a break. He danced with a polish that was always present. Charisse should have been grateful for his presence and I suspect that she was.

A characiture of the USSR and America of the Cold War period? Yes indeed, and it was almost as good as "One, Two, Three" in its dialogue and situation. Its sensuality as presented in its dance numbers far exceeded the 1939 version and all comers of the same subject.

I had no problem watching a 56 year old Astaire romancing a 36 year old Charisse. As a matter of fact, I found the pair quite sensuous.

I have often wondered why in the final dance scene Cyd's costume skirt was switched to a cullote in the middle of the scene. The switch was not seamless as it was very noticeable.

But, all in all I give this delightful musical a rating of 8 on a 0 to 10 scale.

Dave

Good but lesser MGM musical

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 3 January 2010]

Musical version of "Ninotchka". Three bumbling Russian men go to Paris to bring a Russian composer home. He doesn't want to go and a friend of his named Steve Canfield (Fred Astaire) talk them out of it. Then strict unemotional Ninotchka Yoschenko (Cyd Charisse) comes by to get the job done. Steve falls for her and tries to get her to fall in love with him.

This is a good MGM musical but far from being one of the best. The dance numbers are energetic but dull (Charisse's strip tease goes on forever), the songs are forgetful, it's far too long and the simplistic portrayal of Rusians would be offensive if it weren't so silly. Still it does have its good points--Astaire and Charisse are in top form and just great; Peter Lorre actually sings AND dances (sort of); Janis Paige is full of energy and steals every scene she's in; the script is somewhat amusing and the "Stereophonic Sound" number is a show stopper (and the only good song in the film). So, all in all, it's worth catching but no great shakes. I give it a 7.

Ninotchka 20 years after Garbo but in colour, music and dance

[clanciai · 10/10 · 11 October 2019]

This was Mamoulian's final film and another masterpiece like almost all the others. Here for a change he devotes himself to dancing and singing, this is colourful comedy and very enjoyable as such, making great fun of the cultural clashes between American superficiality and Russian communist orthodoxy. Cyd Charisse is a Russian commissar who is sent from Moscow to lecture three earlier emissaries to Paris who have fallen for the general decadent gaiety. Fred Astaire is the American, a showman who uses a serious Russian composer for common show music in a musical, and the mission of the Moscow emissaries and Cyd Charisse is to save the composer from American vulgarity and get him back to Russia.

It's Cyd Charisse who makes this film, she is overwhelmingly splendid all the way, keeping up her style without compromise, and gradually thawing in Paris, but in the very original way of breaking out into ballet dancing. She is all style, and she never loses ít. Mamoulian must have been aware of the tremendous possibilities of the cultural clashes between serious moral orthodoxy of communist Russia and American vulgar looseness and makes splendid use of the opportunity in one of the finest and most stylish final musicals of the 50s. Needless to say, Cole Porter's music adds to the outstanding high class musical standard.

Fred Astaire should have retired from playing romantic leads long before he actually did

[JamesHitchcock · 6/10 · 4 November 2021]

Like Mel Brooks's remake of "The Producers", this can be described as the film of the play of the film. The 1939 film "Ninotchka", starring Greta Garbo, was in 1955 turned into a stage musical entitled "Silk Stockings", which was itself made into a film two years later.

The musical makes a few changes to the plot of the original film, but the basic idea is the same. An unfeasibly beautiful female Soviet official named Ninotchka arrives in Paris on an official mission. In the original film this concerned the sale of jewellery confiscated during the Russian Revolution; here Ninotchka's mission is to persuade Peter Boroff, a defecting Russian composer, to return to the Soviet Union. In both cases Ninotchka, who initially comes across as fanatical, dull and humourless, allows herself to be seduced by Western freedoms and consumer luxuries, including the silk stockings of the title, and ends up falling in love with a Westerner. In the first film her lover is a Frenchman; here he is an American. (Despite the Parisian setting, not a single major character is French).

This was one of two musicals which Fred Astaire made in 1957, the other being "Funny Face" with Audrey Hepburn. It is also the only film in which he dances to a rock and roll number, "The Ritz Roll and Rock", a new song written for the film and which did not feature in the stage show. Astaire, who would have been 58 in 1957, wanted to concentrate on "straight" acting in future, and announced that "Silk Stockings" would be his last dance musical. (He was, in fact, to return to the genre for one last bow in "Finian's Rainbow" in 1968). Astaire's character here is Steve Canfield, the American film producer with whom Ninotchka falls in love, and his leading lady is Cyd Charisse, who had already starred alongside him in "The Band Wagon" from four years earlier. Like most of his female co-stars she was a lot younger than him, and Astaire never really looked convincing as the love-interest of a woman young enough to be his daughter.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised by Charisse's performance in this film. In the past, I had got the impression from films like "The Band Wagon" and "Party Girl" that she had become a big star on the basis of her good looks, her shapely legs and her dance skills rather than her acting, an impression strengthened by "Singin' in the Rain", in which she was drafted in as Gene Kelly's dance partner even though she does not have an acting role. Here, however, she succeeds in the difficult task of portraying the stony-faced apparatchik of the early scenes and the warmer, more human Ninotchka of the later ones, while making it clear that these two apparently different people are really two sides of one personality. She was even nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe.

Like the original "Ninotchka", the film is an anti-Soviet satire, but as it is also a comedy it largely ignores the brutality, authoritarianism and lack of political freedom inherent in the Soviet system. Instead it concentrates on painting the Soviet Union as a grim, joyless and puritanical society, which is probably exaggerated. Certainly, consumer luxuries such as silk stockings and champagne might have been in short supply (although they would have been available to anyone with the requisite influence and connections or to anyone prepared to pay black-market prices), but it is not correct to imply, as the film does, that Soviet citizens were deprived of simple pleasures like music and dancing.

Indeed, the film does not always show Western society in the best light, although it is difficult to decide how much of this is deliberate and how much inadvertent. From what we see of it, the film being produced by Canfield, ostensibly an adaptation of "War and Peace", seems horrifyingly vulgar. Or at least it did to me, but I am not sure whether I was meant to be horrified. The makers of American musicals of this period were often keen to defend lowbrow culture in the name of giving the masses what they want and to satirise highbrows as snobbish, pretentious "longhairs"; "The Band Wagon" is a good example of this phenomenon.

One thing which did appear to be deliberate satire was the characterisation of Peggy Dayton, a Hollywood actress who is the star of Canfield's movie. Peggy is portrayed as an airheaded nymphomaniac; asked what she thinks of Tolstoy, she replies "There's no truth in the rumours, we're just good friends". (Her standard reply when asked about any man). As Peggy is described as a swimmer who has starred in aquatic musicals, the character was presumably written as a spiteful dig at Esther Williams who had recently had a very public falling-out with the studio, MGM.

It is a long time since I last watched "Ninotchka", but from what I can remember it was considerably better than "Silk Stockings". Not every good film- even every good comedy- can be made to work as a musical. Especially if, as in this case, the music is not particularly memorable. The dance sequences are well performed, but there is little here to contradict my view that Astaire should have retired from playing romantic leads at least a decade before he actually did. 6/10.

Wow, did my family hate this one!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 28 May 2013]

Rarely have I seen my wife and oldest daughter hate a film as much as they hated "Silk Stockings"! I didn't think it was that bad, but I did understand SOME of their feelings. It sure should have been a lot better!

"Silk Stockings" is a musical remake of "Ninotchka". Now that is a serious problem, as this Ernst Lubitsch film is a wonderful classic--a film that is very, very hard to top. But the film didn't even come close to the quality of the original for many reasons--though the biggest one is the music. Too often, the romance or comedy of the film grinds to a severe halt when the musical numbers intrude--and they did intrude! Few of the song and dance numbers were that good or had much to do with the film, but the tempo was even more seriously a problem. While the film is a sweet little plot--the songs are often HUGE production numbers. The fit is all wrong. And you know it's a problem when Fred Astaire is totally lost in the process! On top of all this, the characters are way too cartoony and silly to work. Overall, I see no need to see this one considering that "Ninotchka" is light-years better!

Paris Loves Lovers

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 5 December 2007]

After an adaption to Broadway as the final stage musical of Cole Porter's career, Ernest Lubitsch's acclaimed film Ninotchka, now Silk Stockings is getting its film treatment. Silk Stockings ran for 478 performances on Broadway in the 1955-1956 season and starred Don Ameche and Hildegarde Neff in the roles originally played by Melvyn Douglas and Greta Garbo.

For reasons I don't understand Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder's names are not given credit here. I distinctly heard a lot of lines from the original Ninotchka that came from them. I also heard some of the acid barbs of George S. Kaufman who worked with Abe Burrows on the book for Silk Stockings.

Most of Cole Porter's score makes it intact to the screen, but since the male and female leads were now dancers, Porter wrote Fated To Be Mated and The Ritz Roll and Rock for Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. The latter is one of my favorite Astaire numbers from his film. Porter who was no mean satirist himself was having a bit of fun at the new trend in music called Rock and Roll in a spoof of Rock Around the Clock.

The plot from the original Ninotchka was changed and updated from the time of the pre-World War II Soviet Union of Stalin to the Cold War. Commissar Ninotchka is no longer concerned with selling jewels of the former nobility, she's negotiating with an American producer who wants a famous Russian composer to score his film adaption of War and Peace. Curiously enough War and Peace did make it to the screen the previous year.

Astaire as the producer also has a sexy, but very tough minded star in Janis Paige to contend with. Janis has her moments on screen with the song Josephine and singing and dancing with Astaire in Stereophonic Sound.

The big hit song from the score, All of You is sung and danced elegantly by Fred and Cyd. As usual Cyd's vocals were dubbed in this case by Carole Richards who used to be a regular for a while on Bing Crosby's radio show.

Peter Lorre, Jules Munshin, and Alexander Granach are the three commissars who Ninotchka has to bail out as in the original film. Granach repeats his role from Ninotchka. But George Tobias sets a record as the only player to appear in both film and the Broadway version. In the original Ninotchka he was the Soviet Embassy Official who balks at granting Melvyn Douglas a visa. On stage and on screen he plays the boss of Garbo/Neff/Charisse, a part that was done in the original Ninotchka by Bela Lugosi.

The comedy is a lot more broad than in the Lubitsch film, but with that Cole Porter music and the charm and dancing of Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, Silk Stockings is a film you should not miss.

Cinema Omnivore - Silk Stockings (1957) 6.3/10

[lasttimeisaw · 6/10 · 27 July 2021]

"Fo' shizzle the razzle-dazzle doesn't disappoint, Charisse spellbinds us with an improbable transfiguration from a hardened collectivist to a girl succumbing to occidental decadence, i.e. Getting togged up in gossamer gowns and other fineries, but her acting bent is nil. A glamorous fashion plate who is only enlivened when she moves, that reflects one major hindrance for a musical film, if it has a rather dramatic plot arc to bring off (here is Ninotchka's proselytization), it scarcely works because of the jovial nature of the genre and the technique requirement of its players (who should be able to act and entertain, like Judy Garland), SILK STOCKINGS is guilty as charged."

read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, thanks.

"A chemical reaction"

[Steffi_P · 2/10 · 6 September 2011]

Very few of the classic 1950s musicals were original stories. Most of them were musical adaptations of novels, stage plays or, increasingly, the previous generations' non-musical pictures. The quality of these often had little bearing on that of the original. The musical A Star is Born is for example considerably better than the original. But they could also be vastly worse than their predecessors after the rigours of plot rehash, singer-dancer casting and the conventions of a new era.

The 1939 movie Ninotchka could only really have worked with Greta Garbo – it was built around her persona. Silk Stockings does not – and could not – have Garbo. Cyd Charisse is not a terrible actress, and even does a decent caricature of a steely soviet officer, speaking without moving a single other muscle in her face. Garbo on the other hand managed to get across the same idea without even such a trick as freezing up her face. She had something likable and beguiling about her even before her grim exterior was broken down. Charisse on the other hand succeeds only in presenting Ninotchka as totally robotic. That may be to her credit but it does not benefit the movie. Her transformation does not seem as plausible as Garbo's, and she is not especially human even after it.

And this really seems to feed into all the other problems with Silk Stockings. With the Cold War and the McCarthy scare as a backdrop, there was no way the movie could be remotely equivocal about communism. As such the original story has lost a lot of its complexity, and a tone that was once playful now seems belligerent. Many of the lines seem unnecessarily dumbed-down (compare for example the language used by Garbo commenting on a fancy hat to the equivalent of Charisse and the stockings). There is a new subplot about a Russian composer having his music distorted for a screen musical, and there are a lot of attacks on ostentatious movie-making. But this is as simplistic as the politics, never going further than disdainfully listing the ills of modern Hollywood, as in the song "Stereophonic Sound".

Presumably the studio didn't grasp the irony of these sentiments in a picture that was itself shot in Technicolor and cinemascope. Director Rouben Mamoulian probably did, apparently describing the new aspect ratio as "the stupidest shape I've ever seen". For a director usually at his most brilliant and inventive in the musical genre, his work is decidedly lacklustre here. The irony cannot have been lost on poor old Fred Astaire either, who is not at all well-served by 'scope. Either his feet are cut off at the bottom of the frame, or he seems lost amid all the other business on screen. It's a shame this was to be his last top-hat-and-tails performance. It's not exactly a noble send-off.

There is one nice feature of Silk Stockings, and that is a sweet little performance by Peter Lorre. He's at his best here, all pent-up as if on the edge of a maniacal outburst. But the fact that this is the only laudable thing to say about the picture shows how generally dire the rest of it is. The Cole Porter songs are far from his best; weak rehashes of material from his earlier musicals. The second great irony about Silk Stockings is that, despite its waxing lyrical about the magic of true romance as opposed to bland analysis, the romance in the picture feels completely flat. It lacks all of the original movie's warmth and passion, not just in the love story but also in, say, the friendship between Ninotchka and the trio of Russian comrades. All in all, this is an atrocious movie.