{ "id": "eps69p8871", "slug": "silk-stockings", "title": "Silk Stockings", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music", "label": "Musical and music films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s", "label": "Musical films of the 1930s to 1960s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Musical films of the 1930s to 1960s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music", "label": "Musical and music films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s", "label": "Musical films of the 1930s to 1960s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Silk Stockings (1957) is an MGM musical comedy directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, adapted from Cole Porter's 1955 Broadway musical and the 1939 film Ninotchka; Astaire's last MGM film and Mamoulian's final movie.", "snippet": "Silk Stockings (1957) is an MGM musical comedy directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, adapted from Cole Porter's 1955 Broadway musical and the 1939 film Ninotchka; Astaire's last MGM film and Mamoulian's final movie.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s", "markdown": "# Silk Stockings\n\n**Silk Stockings** is a 1957 American musical comedy film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and produced by Arthur Freed for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring [Fred Astaire](https://www.edgepedia.org/fred-astaire) as American film producer Steve Canfield and [Cyd Charisse](https://www.edgepedia.org/cyd-charisse) as the Soviet commissar Ninotchka Yoschenko. It is a musical remake of the 1939 [Ernst Lubitsch](https://www.edgepedia.org/ernst-lubitsch) comedy *Ninotchka*, which starred Greta Garbo, and it adapts the 1955 Broadway musical of the same name with songs by Cole Porter.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/24025/silk-stockings)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | July 18, 1957 (New York opening); 117 minutes; CinemaScope, Metrocolor, Perspecta sound[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) |\n| Director / producer | Rouben Mamoulian; Arthur Freed[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) |\n| Stars | Fred Astaire (Steve Canfield), Cyd Charisse (Ninotchka Yoschenko), Janis Paige (Peggy Dayton), Peter Lorre (Brankov)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) |\n| Source | 1955 Broadway musical by George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, and Abe Burrows, music and lyrics by Cole Porter, suggested by Melchior Lengyel's story *Ninotchka*[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/silk-stockings-8011) |\n| Broadway run | February 24, 1955 to April 14, 1956 at the Imperial Theatre, 478 performances[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/silk-stockings-8011) |\n| New songs for the film | \"Fated to Be Mated\" and \"Ritz Roll and Rock\"; two Broadway songs, \"Hail Bibinski\" and \"As Through the Seasons We Sail,\" were dropped[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) |\n| Box office | Nearly $4 million domestically against a $1.9 million production cost[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/24025/silk-stockings) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nAmerican producer Steve Canfield is in Paris to collaborate with the leading Russian composer Peter Ilyitch Boroff (Wim Sonneveld) on the score for his next picture, when Soviet commissars Brankov, Bibinski, and Ivanov ([Peter Lorre](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-lorre), Jules Munshin, and Joseph Buloff) attempt to escort the composer back to Russia.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) Boroff, charmed by Parisian nightlife, refuses to return, so Moscow dispatches one of its staunchest agents, the humorless bureaucrat Ninotchka Yoschenko, to retrieve the men.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/silk_stockings) Canfield sets out to win her over, and the film follows her gradual seduction by Paris luxury, silk stockings included, and by the producer himself.[5](https://cinema.cornell.edu/silk-stockings)\n\nThe plot also involves Peggy Dayton ([Janis Paige](https://www.edgepedia.org/janis-paige)), a former swimming star turned Hollywood actress, whom Canfield is promoting in a musicalized film version of *War and Peace*; a quarrel develops when Boroff's serious composition \"Ode to a Tractor\" is turned into the popular song \"Josephine.\"[6](https://www.asau.ru/files/pdf/1814992.pdf)\n\n## From Ninotchka to Broadway to Hollywood\n\nThe chain of adaptations runs from Melchior Lengyel's story *Ninotchka*, first filmed in 1939 by Ernst Lubitsch with [Greta Garbo](https://www.edgepedia.org/greta-garbo), to the 1955 stage musical, to the 1957 film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) Producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin, coming off *Guys and Dolls*, saw that the Lubitsch film was source material that, in one account's phrase, practically cried out for song.[7](https://www.goodspeed.org/uploads/Documents/Musicarnival.pdf) [George S. Kaufman](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-s-kaufman) and his wife Leueen MacGrath wrote the book, but the producers balked at the romantic aspect of their adaptation and brought in Abe Burrows to rewrite it on the road; it remains the only time in his career that Kaufman was fired from a production.[8](https://georgeskaufman.com/plays/critics-choice/silk-stockings-1955/) The show opened at the [Imperial Theatre](https://www.edgepedia.org/imperial-theatre) on February 24, 1955, ran 478 performances, and toured from April 23 to August 4, 1956.[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/silk-stockings-8011) • [9](https://www.ibdb.com/tour-production/silk-stockings--531141) On Broadway the Garbo role was played by Hildegarde Neff and the male lead by Don Ameche.[10](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/music/silk-stockings-original-broadway-cast-1955/)\n\nThe film made several changes. The character of Count Leon, the Parisian charmer of the 1939 film, was dropped, and the love interest became the American producer.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/24025/silk-stockings) Mamoulian, remaining faithful to the stage version, emphasized the love story, which he called \"the main theme of our picture,\" and gave greater importance to the dancing than to the action, saying he had \"two of the best dancers in the world.\"[11](https://www.enotes.com/topics/rouben-mamoulian/critical-essays/tom-milne) The film also feminized the heroine relative to Kaufman's book.[12](https://torontofilmsociety.com/film-notes/ninotchka-1939-and-silk-stockings-1957/)\n\n## Production and music\n\nFilming ran from early November 1956 to late January 1957, with dance rehearsals beginning September 18, 1956.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) • [13](https://lecinemaparadiso.co.uk/review/silk-stockings) [Choreography](https://www.edgepedia.org/choreography) was by Hermes Pan and Eugene Loring, cinematography by Robert Bronner, editing by Harold F. Kress, and costumes by Helen Rose.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) • [13](https://lecinemaparadiso.co.uk/review/silk-stockings) The film was shot in [CinemaScope](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinemascope) and Metrocolor with stereophonic sound.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/24025/silk-stockings)\n\n[Cole Porter](https://www.edgepedia.org/cole-porter)'s score includes \"Too Bad,\" \"Paris Loves Lovers,\" \"Stereophonic Sound,\" \"It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All,\" \"All of You,\" \"Satin and Silk,\" \"Silk Stockings,\" \"Without Love,\" \"Fated to Be Mated,\" \"Josephine,\" \"Siberia,\" \"Red Blues,\" and \"Ritz Roll and Rock.\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) Porter wrote \"Fated to Be Mated\" and \"Ritz Roll and Rock\" new for the film; the movie retained all but two of the Broadway songs.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography) • [14](https://www.soundandvision.com/content/isilk-stockingsi) \"All of You\" has become a standard.[14](https://www.soundandvision.com/content/isilk-stockingsi) \"Stereophonic Sound,\" sung by Astaire and Paige, is a witty dig at widescreen movies and Hollywood excess, mocking the fashion for \"Glorious Technicolor, breathtaking Cinemascope, and Stereophonic sound\" even though the film itself was presented in exactly those formats.[15](https://www.timeout.com/movies/silk-stockings) • [16](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/gdc/gdcebookspublic/20/19/66/77/49/2019667749/2019667749.pdf) As was common in 1950s film adaptations, some racy stage lyrics were laundered: a \"mouth,\" rather than a \"bosom,\" is five feet wide in the song.[12](https://torontofilmsociety.com/film-notes/ninotchka-1939-and-silk-stockings-1957/) Charisse's singing was dubbed by Carol Richards.[14](https://www.soundandvision.com/content/isilk-stockingsi)\n\n## A film of \"lasts\"\n\nSilk Stockings is known more for its \"lasts\" than its \"firsts.\" It was the last movie Fred Astaire made at MGM and the last time he appeared with Cyd Charisse, after *Ziegfeld Follies* (1946) and *The Band Wagon* (1953); the last film directed by Rouben Mamoulian; and the last MGM musical made entirely at Culver City in the 1950s, the period generally acknowledged as the genre's golden age.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/24025/silk-stockings) Critics have described it as effectively marking Astaire's retirement from dancing, his final significant on-screen hoofing before *[Finian's Rainbow](https://www.edgepedia.org/finians-rainbow)*.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/silk_stockings) • [19](https://playbill.com/article/astaire-looks-to-the-rainbow-com-329699) In \"The Ritz Roll and Rock,\" a top hat, white tie, and cane solo, Astaire symbolically smashes his top hat, one of his trademarks, signaling the retirement from movie musicals he announced after the film's release.[13](https://lecinemaparadiso.co.uk/review/silk-stockings)\n\nThe film also contained a first for Arthur Freed: it launched his independent production unit at the studio, with Freed thereafter holding a 25 percent profit participation deal.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/24025/silk-stockings)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film opened at [Radio City Music Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/radio-city-music-hall) in mid-summer 1957, played there for two months before opening nationally, and became a hit with both older and teenage audiences, grossing nearly $4 million domestically against a $1.9 million production cost.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/24025/silk-stockings) Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that \"there should be legislation requiring that Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse appear together in a musical picture at least once every two years.\"[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/24025/silk-stockings) A contemporary New Yorker review found the plot tired but the Porter score lively and the dialogue consistently funny.[17](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1957/08/03/1957-08-03-048-tny-cards-000058261)\n\nLater critical opinion has been divided along a familiar line. Time Out calls the film a dazzling musical version of *Ninotchka* with both stars at the top of their dancing form, while other critics hold that it suffers in any comparison with its nearly flawless predecessor.[15](https://www.timeout.com/movies/silk-stockings) • [18](https://letterboxd.com/jwm107/film/silk-stockings/) The Toronto Film Society traces the perceived inferiority to two factors: musical remakes almost always begin from behind because they adapt a solid success, and Lubitsch's 1930s comedies represent a high point of screen comedy.[12](https://torontofilmsociety.com/film-notes/ninotchka-1939-and-silk-stockings-1957/) The stage show itself has had no Broadway or West End revival, perhaps because its Cold War romance is now thought dated.[14](https://www.soundandvision.com/content/isilk-stockingsi)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Silk Stockings (1957), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52366-SILK-STOCKINGS?cxt=filmography)\n2. [Mel Neuhaus, \"Silk Stockings,\" Turner Classic Movies article](https://www.tcm.com/articles/24025/silk-stockings)\n3. [Silk Stockings, IBDB (Internet Broadway Database)](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/silk-stockings-8011)\n4. [Silk Stockings, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/silk_stockings)\n5. [Silk Stockings, Cornell Cinema](https://cinema.cornell.edu/silk-stockings)\n6. [The Postwar Hollywood Musical (academic text)](https://www.asau.ru/files/pdf/1814992.pdf)\n7. [Goodspeed Musicals program notes on Silk Stockings](https://www.goodspeed.org/uploads/Documents/Musicarnival.pdf)\n8. [Silk Stockings (1955), George S. Kaufman official site](https://georgeskaufman.com/plays/critics-choice/silk-stockings-1955/)\n9. [Silk Stockings national tour, IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/tour-production/silk-stockings--531141)\n10. [Silk Stockings: Original Broadway Cast 1955, Masterworks Broadway](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/music/silk-stockings-original-broadway-cast-1955/)\n11. [Tom Milne, Rouben Mamoulian criticism, eNotes](https://www.enotes.com/topics/rouben-mamoulian/critical-essays/tom-milne)\n12. [Ninotchka (1939) and Silk Stockings (1957), Toronto Film Society film notes](https://torontofilmsociety.com/film-notes/ninotchka-1939-and-silk-stockings-1957/)\n13. [Silk Stockings Blu-ray review, Le Cinema Paradiso](https://lecinemaparadiso.co.uk/review/silk-stockings)\n14. [Robert Deutsch, Silk Stockings Blu-ray review, Sound & Vision](https://www.soundandvision.com/content/isilk-stockingsi)\n15. [Silk Stockings film review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/silk-stockings)\n16. [Thomas Leitch, adaptation studies (Loc e-book)](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/gdc/gdcebookspublic/20/19/66/77/49/2019667749/2019667749.pdf)\n17. [John McCarten, \"Perdurable,\" The New Yorker, July 27, 1957](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1957/08/03/1957-08-03-048-tny-cards-000058261)\n18. [Jesse Mitchell, Silk Stockings review, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/jwm107/film/silk-stockings/)\n19. [Astaire Looks to the Rainbow Com 329699, playbill.com](https://playbill.com/article/astaire-looks-to-the-rainbow-com-329699)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Musical and music films (individual works) › Musical films of the 1930s to 1960s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/silk-stockings", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/silk-stockings.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Silk Stockings\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/silk-stockings. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Silk Stockings](https://www.edgepedia.org/silk-stockings)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/silk-stockings](https://www.edgepedia.org/silk-stockings). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Silk Stockings\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/silk-stockings. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Silk Stockings is an MGM musical comedy directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, adapted from Cole Porter's 1955 Broadway musical and the 1939 film Ninotchka; Astaire's last MGM film and Mamoulian's final movie." }