La belle de Moscou

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.

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

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.

Teaming an on-form Fred Astaire and the lovely Cyd Charisse, supported by Janis Paige, Peter Lorre, and others, this musical adaptation of the famous 30s Garbo vehicle, 'Ninotchka', shines out right at the end of the golden era of screen song and dance movies.

Cyd looks the part and she and Fred have some marvellous dance numbers, as well as the repartee kept in from the original film. Janis Paige is particularly good in the mickey-take 'Stereophonic Sound' (because, of course, this Ninotchka version is based around, yep, putting on a show). The other fun to be had is in seeing Peter Lorre in a musical number. Priceless.

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.