Film

Silk Stockings

Name: Silk Stockings
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 1957
Cast: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Janis Paige, Peter Lorre, George Tobias

Silk Stockings is MGM's glossy 1957 remake of Ninotchka, swapping Garbo's dry wit for Cole Porter songs and the peerless dance chemistry of Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It's Cold War politics rendered as candy-coloured CinemaScope romance - a stern Soviet envoy thawed by Paris, fashion and an American producer's charm. Watch it for the numbers and the stars, not the plot.

TMDb rating

6.9

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The Band Wagon1953

Astaire and Charisse reunite for 'Dancing in the Dark', arguably the most swooningly romantic dance duet MGM ever filmed - no dialogue required, just pure chemistry.

But The backstage plot about a fading star's comeback is thinner than the numbers and drags a little in the middle stretch.

Singin' in the Rain1952

The MGM musical machine at its most confident - Gene Kelly's joy is infectious, the satire of Hollywood's talkie panic is sharp, and 'Make 'Em Laugh' is physical comedy genius.

But You've probably already seen it, and its reputation as 'the greatest musical ever' can make sitting down to it feel like homework.

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Billy Wilder's machine-gun Cold War farce runs the same capitalism-versus-communism comedy engine but drops the songs for pure verbal velocity - Cagney has never been faster or funnier.

But The rapid-fire dialogue and rat-a-tat editing can feel exhausting rather than exhilarating if you're not ready to keep up.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Ninotchka1939

Silk Stockings is a direct musical remake of this Lubitsch comedy - same plot, same Soviet-agent-meets-Western-decadence premise - but eighteen years earlier and without a single note of music.

This is the film Silk Stockings is remade from, and it's arguably better - Garbo's icy comic performance ('Garbo laughs!') does everything the musical numbers try to do with nothing but a raised eyebrow.

But No songs, no colour, no dancing - if what you loved was the spectacle, the stripped-down comedy might feel like watching the skeleton instead of the body.

Funny Face1957

Astaire in Paris again, this time opposite Audrey Hepburn, with a Gershwin score and fashion-world satire that echoes Silk Stockings' own runway numbers.

But The central romance leans on an age gap that plays very differently now, and the plot is featherlight even by musical standards.

Kiss Me Kate1953

Another Cole Porter score, another backstage romance crackling with wit - Ann Miller and Howard Keel bring the same brassy showbiz energy that powers Silk Stockings' best numbers.

But The Shakespeare-within-a-musical conceit takes patience, and it feels stagier and less cinematic than Silk Stockings.

An American in Paris1951

Gene Kelly, Paris and a lush Gershwin ballet make this the gold standard for the 'American charm melts European reserve' romance Silk Stockings is riffing on too.

But The seventeen-minute closing ballet is a big ask if you came for story rather than pure dance spectacle.

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Go back to where Astaire's effortless elegance started - simpler and funnier, built entirely around mistaken identity and the dances that made him a star.

But Black-and-white 1930s pacing and plotting feel thin and slow next to Silk Stockings' widescreen colour spectacle.

The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!1966

A warm, silly Cold War comedy about a stranded Soviet submarine crew on a small American island - the same culture-clash engine as Silk Stockings, played for gentle farce instead of romance.

But It's broader and hokier than Silk Stockings, with a sitcom sensibility that hasn't aged gracefully.

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Robin Williams as a Soviet circus musician who defects inside a Manhattan department store - the fish-out-of-water culture shock Silk Stockings only gestures at, played straight through American eyes.

But It's sentimental where Silk Stockings is glossy, and Williams leans on his own persona more than he disappears into the role.

The Death of Stalin2017

Both use comedy to needle Soviet bureaucracy and ideology, but where Silk Stockings softens its satire with love songs and glamour, this one goes for the throat.

The same 'Soviet rigidity collides with human appetite' comedy, but curdled into something savage - a pitch-black farce about the scramble for power after Stalin's death, with a brilliant vicious ensemble.

But There's no romance, no music and no warmth here - it's frequently shocking and built to unsettle you as much as make you laugh.

The Americans2013

Same defection-by-seduction structure as Silk Stockings - ideological conviction slowly eroded by exposure to the enemy's culture - but told as grim spy drama instead of frothy romance.

A prestige drama about Soviet spies embedded in 1980s suburban America, slowly and dangerously drawn to the country they're meant to be undermining - the Ninotchka premise stretched across six tense seasons.

But It's a six-season commitment full of moral compromise, violence and marital dread - about as far from a musical comedy's easy pleasures as you can get.