SILK STOCKINGS (1957) C widescreen 118m dir: Rouben Mamoulian

w/Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Janis Paige, Peter Lorre, Jules Munshin, Joseph Buloff, George Tobias, Wim Sonneveld, Belita, Ivan Triesault

From Variety's contemporary review of the film: "Silk Stockings has Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, the music of Cole Porter and comes off as a top-grade musical version of Metro's 1939 Ninotchka. Adapted from the [1955] Broadway musical adaptation of the same tag, film has two new Porter songs and a total of 13 numbers. Astaire enacts an American film producer in Paris who falls for the beautiful Commie when she arrives from Moscow to check on the activities of three Russian commissars.

"Rouben Mamoulian in his deft direction maintains a flowing if over-long course. Musical numbers are bright, inserted naturally, and both Astaire and Charisse shine in dancing department, together and singly. Choreography is by Hermes Pan (Astaire numbers) and Eugene Loring (others).

"Janis Paige shares top honors with the stars for a knock-'em-dead type of performance. George Tobias has a few good moments as a Commie chief, and commissar trio Peter Lorre, Jules Munshin and Joseph Buloff are immense."

From The Movie Guide: "Hermes Pan oversaw Astaire's dancing, some of the last really dazzling terping he would do, while Eugene Loring handled the rest of the choreography. Charisse, a great dancer in her own right, gives a terrific performance (vocally looped by Carole Richards). Rouben Mamoulian's direction is brisk but not brilliant; Cole Porter's songs are witty, airy, and tuneful, though not as memorable as many of the renowned tunesmith's other works; and because the chemistry between Charisse and Astaire isn't the equal of that of Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, SILK STOCKINGS lack's NINOTCHKA's warmth. It does, however, have some wonderful musical moments and is the kind of picture that anyone of any age will enjoy."

The following are notes collected for a lecture on SILK STOCKINGS:

From the book Astaire Dancing by John E. Meuller:

• SILK STOCKINGS: NINOTCHKA: original story:
  • Melchior Lengyel: Hungarian playwright: came up w/story to satisfy MGM:
    • wanted to sell Garbo w/slogan: "Garbo laughs"
      • 3-sentence idea: he read idea to Garbo at her pool:
  • "Russian girl saturated w/Bolshevik ideals goes to fearful, capitalistic, monopolistic Paris. She meets romance & has an uproarious good time. Capitalism not so bad, after all."
    • Garbo: "I like it. I will do it": then she dived back in pool
• Silk Stockings on the stage: 1955:
  • based on NINOTCHKA: 1939:
    • more jokes than the original:
      • not as stylish or sophisticated a film
  • stage script: written by George S. Kaufman & wife Loueen McGrath:
    • they tried to capture flavor of film:
      • but producers: thought it should have more "bounce & push":
      • Abe Burrows brought in to rewrite book
  • Cole Porter: songs
  • final script: about half & half: Kaufman-McGrath & Burrows
    • lead male char: refashioned: given real occupation:
      • play: theatrical agent
      • SILK STOCKINGS: film producer
  • authors of Broadway play: added another object of satire:
    • superficiality of Hollywood:
      • to support this new satire: new char added:
        • dumb, vulgar Hollywood sex queen
• SILK STOCKINGS on screen:
  • 1st Astaire film to be derived from Broadway musical since ROBERTA (1935)
    • film needed to refashion leads from stage: Don Ameche & Hildegarde Neff
      • they were singing actors: film would use acting dancers
  • SILK STOCKINGS on film: closer to NINOTCHKA than to stage musical:
    • authors of stage musical: used almost no dialog from NINOTCHKA
    • authors of film: went back to original film:
    • screenplay a blend of 2 sources:
      • includes: dialog sequences & substantial parts taken from 1939 film
        • not included in stage musical
  • producer Arthur Freed: chose Mamoulian as director:
    • MGM brass resisted this:
      • Mamoulian's last film: 1948: SUMMER HOLIDAY: failed at box office
    • but Freed insisted on Mamoulian:
      • felt Mamoulian's style close to that of Lubitsch
      • also: Mamoulian had directed Garbo in classic
      • also: Mamoulian was a Russian
    • Mamoulian's 1st job: convince Astaire to take leading role:
      • Astaire had already turned it down: thought himself too old
        • Mamoulian convinced him he wasn't
  • SILK STOCKINGS: still retains some brashness of stage musical:
    • but writers & Mamoulian mellowed it out:
      • Astaire char: less cynical, more charming
    • love story: made more important: more tender, less combative: than on stage
• Mamoulian: urged changes: pushed SILK STOCKINGS: closer to NINOTCHKA
  • reshaping stage musical for film: Mamoulian:
    • made dance most important element in film:
  • "I had 2 of the best dancers in the world, and what interested me was to give greater importance to the dancing than to the action proper, which was merely a repeat of Ninotchka. The psychological and dramatic development existed only in the dances. It was by dancing that the characters became aware of something or other."
    • dance used effectively & strategically: reasons for dance numbers:
      • Charisse's surrender to Astaire's charms & to western luxury
      • to celebrate their love: essential to film
• Music: Porter: wrote 27 songs for Broadway musical:
  • 13 used on stage: all but 2 of them: used in film
    • Porter: wrote 2 additional songs for film:
      • "Fated to Be Mated"
      • "Ritz Roll & Rock": at Astaire's suggestion
• Choreography:
  • Eugene Loring: FUNNY FACE & YOLANDA: both with Astaire:
    • choreographer for Silk Stockings stage production:
    • preferred "not to choreograph for Astaire again. He's very difficult to work with. By that I mean it's hard to create for him and get something new & fresh that also pleases him. He's very set in his ways."
  • so: Hermes Pan: Astaire's old collaborator from RKO days: brought in to work w/Astaire
    • Loring: choreographed other numbers
• Cyd Charisse: a bit stiff & self-conscious: appropriate to char she plays
  • Garbo: gave role flashes of insecurity & vulnerability:
    • beyond Charisse's range as actress: her "range": in movement/dance
  • once Ninotchka changes to civilian clothes:
    • designer Helen Rose: gives her clothes: suggesting severity
    • but clothes are attractive: also allow her freedom to dance
  • "Fated to Be Mated" number: she extends her legs out into space:
    • pulling Astaire around after her:
      • use of widescreen
      • opening up space of dance
    • called best number 2 of them ever did together:
      • 2 films together: BAND WAGON, SILK STOCKINGS
  • Eugene Loring: in interview:
    • "Cyd Charisse doesn't look good doing just anything. She has to be used
      in a certain way. You have to be merciless with yourself in trying to keep
      the star in mind while thinking of movement. Cyd does ballet best, but
      even there, there are some things she doesn't look good doing. I had to
      keep in mind that body --- those legs --- & knowing what would look good
      on that body."
      "When you see the ['Red Blues'] number on film Cyd Charisse looks like
      a human dynamo, but in those days Cyd tired very easily. You had to
      shoot the most difficult physical things in the morning & try not to take
      any of the really difficult things in the afternoon."
• Filming of the Dances:
  • Cinemascope: Mamoulian:
    • "the worst shape ever invented by the distorted initiative of man"
      • but look what he does w/screen: "Stereophonic Sound"
    • Astaire: makes no effort to use space at edges of screen
  • more cutting than usual in Astaire dances: in SILK STOCKINGS:
    • cutting from full-figure shot to medium shot of upper body:
      • with camera tracking away afterwards
    • more typical for Astaire: cuts between different full-figure shots
• The End:
• SILK STOCKINGS: last of Astaire's classic Hollywood musicals:
  • Astaire: made films as actor later: plus: FINIAN'S RAINBOW: different kind of musical
• Astaire: turned his attention to TV:
  • acting
  • produced & starred in 4 musical specials: highly successful: popular & critically acclaimed
• Hollywood musical: as Astaire knew it:
  • in its last glow: popular music: now rock & roll
  • SILK STOCKINGS: comments on this:
    • satirizes rock & roll, expense of filmmaking, Hollywood driven to desperate technology, etc.
• stage version of SILK STOCKINGS:
  • Porter's last stage musical
  • George S. Kaufman's last produced play
• SILK STOCKINGS: twilight film:
  • MGM producer Arthur Freed's last dance musical
  • Mamoulian's last film
  • Charisse's last Hollywood musical
  • "Ritz Rock & Roll": Astaire's last number @ MGM: last thing he does: smash his top hat flat

   

• From the book Mamoulian by Tom Milne:
• SILK STOCKINGS: dismissed by critics:
  • The Observer: "Cyd Charisse, as Ninotchka, is no Garbo": but she wasn't meant to be
    • more to the point:
• Mamoulian: improved on stage version: giving it emotional depth:

  • more like original NINOTCHKA

• Mamoulian changed: "Silk Stockings" number: Ninotchka acknowledges her femininity:
  • 1939: NINOTCHKA: not musical: Garbo takes hat from hiding place:
    • plays w/it a bit: next scene: she comes to Douglas's door
  • on stage: song by Canfield: Ninotchka just appears in her new finery:
    • Canfield sings his appreciation of how she looks
  • onscreen: song by Canfield changed to dance by Ninotchka
    • it's much more than in previous film or on stage:
      • we watch her dressing for date w/Canfield: slow, dreamy dance:
      • she casts away old clothes: takes new clothes from hiding places:
      • what she does: an affirmation of love:
        • just like bedroom scene in QUEEN CHRISTINA:
        • Garbo directed by Mamoulian: memorizing the room
    • "Silk Stockings": Mamoulian obviously based it on:
      • bedroom scene from QUEEN CHRISTINA
  • comparing Garbo's Ninotchka to Charisse's Ninotchka:
    • Garbo: expression of her face in c/u:
    • equivalent in Charisse: Charisse: her movement: when she dances:
      • dancing in "Fated to Be Mated": she moves thru deserted sets: "airy"
        • dancing in "Red Blues": mechanical: she's become an automaton
• finale: on stage: "petered out" in reprise: "Too Bad"
  • onscreen: unfinished emotional line of film: completed by Astaire's final number:
    • "Ritz Roll & Rock": solo dance w/chorus line
• Mamoulian touch:
  • opening: series of foot-level shots:
    • tracking w/Canfield: joining different spaces as he progresses to theater:
      • similar to opening of LOVE ME TONIGHT
  • transitions from dialog sequences to musical numbers:
    • smooth & easy: typical of Mamoulian: rhythm of scene maintained
  • Mamoulian always looking for ways to be inventive w/action:
    • "Stereophonic Sound": Astaire & Paige:
      • leaping onto boardroom table from opposite sides of screen
    • "Josephine" number: opening: track in thru people of court: to c/u of Paige