Silk Stockings

Buy This Item Silk Stockings by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $15.99  on 11-27-2008     Fred Astaire took one of his final musical turns in this delightful 1957 comedy, a cold war update of the classic <I>Ninotchka</I>. Cyd Charisse, having previously wrapped her endless legs around Fred in <I>The Band Wagon</I>, plays the Greta Garbo role: a humorless Soviet functionary who sternly refuses the allure of Paris… for a while, anyway. Like some of the first widescreen musicals, <I>Silk Stockings</I> feels a little slowed down by the horizontal format, but nothing can dim the sparkle of Astaire and Charisse, nor quench the razzmatazz of Janis Paige. Paige and Astaire assess the current state of movies by singing that films today need "glorious Technicolor, breathtaking CinemaScope, and Stereophonic sound!" In the hands of Cole Porter, that phrase becomes wonderfully musical--and by the way, it's nice to see the composer identified with so many breezy 1930s songs staying au courant in the age of Sputnik and television. <I>--Robert Horton</I> Reader Reviews This is the last musical Fred Astaire made and he did go out on a high note with this musical remake of Ninotchka. Fred Astaire is up to his usually high standard. His numbers with Cyd Charisse are sheer perfection. I agree with one of the early reivewers of this film who called for congress to mandate Astaire and Charisse to make a film every two years. Along with Astaire and Charisse, there is also Janis Page who steals every scene that is not nailed down (and sometimes even then). While the plot of the movie is meant to follow that of the old Melvin Douglas Greta Garbo movie, this movie is a departure in many ways. First of all instead of a cache of jewels, the two protagonists argue over a Soviet composer, is he Russian or is he French. This sets things in motion. Since the jewels are out, so is the Countess Swana, instead there Janis Page who plays a kind of Esther Williams swimming musical star, Peggy Dayton who is trying to grow professionally by playing Empress Josephine in a crazy film version of "War and Peace" which apparently is not about "War and Peace." She is not so much a rival for Cyd Charisse, but a frequent and wonderful distraction. Her numbers like "Silk and Satin" and "Stereophnic Sound" are wonderful. The funniest number is "Ritz Roll and Rock" in which Fred Astaire attempts to get down in a kind of pastiche of teen rock and roll musical numbers popular at the time. This is an excellent movie, loads of fun, with stand out performances by all concerned.

Silk Stockings Available from Amazon Price: $15.99 Updated on 11-27-2008.

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