MovieChat Forums > Silk Stockings (1957) Discussion > A Question About Silk Stockings

A Question About Silk Stockings

posted 21 years ago by Davejholt
9 replies | jump to latest

I saw Silk Stockings when it was first released and enjoyed it immensely. I have since watched it in reruns on TV and still enjoy it. But, I have a question about what I think is the final dance number. I don't remember the tune but I do remember the setting leading up to the dance and the entire dance.

In the setting the sensual Cyd is dressed in a drab gray suit in which the skirt is one which shows an inverted pleat in the center front and back. This suit is to demonstrate her austere taste as dictated by the spartan tastes of the Soviet communists. She is considering going back to the Soviet Union after cavorting in western fun with the Fred Astaire character.

For most of the dance number Cyd is dancing in this skirt as it billows upward when she twirls and goes through other machinations of the dance number. But, suddenly the film flicks slightly and her skirt suddenly becomes a divided skirt with inverted center pleats front and back. She finishes the beautiful dance number in a different costume than the one in which she started. A costume which kept her upper legs covered. WHY?

I can only think of two possible reasons: 1. The censors wouldn't allow her to show her upper thighs and a skimming view of her panties (this is ridiculous for 1957). 2. She had an injury to her upper thigh(s) that didn't photograph well.

Whatever the reason it has always plagued me that this dance number was so interrupted for a change of costume. If anyone out there knows please let me know. Post here or e-mail me in private ([email protected]).

[–] cythaeron 21 years ago

I too have seen this movie many times, have the laserdisk issue, and enjoy it very much,
The number you refer to is "We Were Fated to be Mated" It takes place on the sound stages where "Josephine" is being filmed. Fred and Cyd dance through several different sets and at each new set is a new number. Near the last number the pleated skirt suddenly becomes a split skirt or culotte. It always seemed to me that the sequences were filmed at different times and who's job it is to check these things overlooked the the change. The skirts look identical till Cyd leaps over something and you see the skirt is split. When earlier it clearly is not.
But a lovely film with an amazingly subtle use of color.

[–] ijonesiii 18 years ago

The number you are referring is called "The Red Blues" and is one of Charisse's most memorable MGM musical sequences. It is featured in THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT II. And what I can tell you is that for the majority of her career, Cyd Charisse's was a censor's nightmare due to her luxuriously long legs which were rarely covered by mostly revealing costume choices and a great deal of cafre was put into keeping Charisse as covered up as possible.

[–] doufus 18 years ago

It is 8 March 2006 and I have just watcher Silk Stockings again for the ...time.
The dance number I referred to earlier in these postings was still intact. But, this time I noticed something that I had never noticed before.

Not only did Cyd Charisse have a split skirt on during the finish of the scene but she had one on in an earlier part of the scene. It was as if she and Fred danced the entire scene where she wore a skirt with front and back inverted center pleats
and then she and Fred danced the entire scene where Cyd was dressed in a cullotte with front and back inverted pleats. Then the scene where she was wearing the cullotte was spliced at times into the scene where she was weqaring the skirt.

This is driving me crazy as Cyd had the most glamorous legs in Hollywood at the time and there was absolutely no reason to keep them covered. It had to be an accident where her legs were bandaged and or otherwise looked horrible to cause the scene to be filmed in such a manner.

Cyd Charisse in cullottes ... Give me a break.

Doufus

[–] cnb 17 years ago

I think I can solve this mystery for you all--I only hope that after all this time, Dave is still around!

There are two brief sequences in the dance "Fated to Be Mated" in which Cyd wears the culottes. In both of these parts of the dance, the dancers are doing knee drops--that is, they drop to their knees and spin around. If one is wearing a knee-length or longer skirt during this maneuver, it will be snagged by the spinning knee and impede the move (not to mention probably tear the garment). Even during most of Cyd's amazing high kicks in this number, and indeed for most of it, she is wearing her skirt. So this was done on purpose and for good reason, and none of it had anything to do with censoring the gorgeous Charisse (though in the "Silk Stockings" number she does, the censor did make her hide behind a chair just after she has put on her silky fitted chemise).

[–] jon5000_66 16 years ago

I always assumed it was done for ease of movement also. What a wonderful dance number - anyone was lucky to get one really good dance number in a movie, and she got four! "I Love The Look Of You" (not sure of the title), the lingerie ballet, Fated To Be Mated" and "Red Blues". I'm really always bowled over by the sheer joy that radiates through her while she's dancing in the faster numbers. She looks like she's just having a ball, and so glad to be there.

"It's as if God created the Devil...and gave him...JAWS"

[–] Mithol 16 years ago

"I love the look of you" are lyrics from the song "All Of You".

Why would they censor her legs? There's a shot in the 'Dancing in the Dark' sequence from The Band Wagon where her skirt flies up and you can see her underwear and her legs.

~Formerly known as "eowynmaiar".

[–] bigwavedave-1 16 years ago

This is my first post on IMDB although I've been a member for quite some time. Thank you for your answer to the mystery of the changing skirt/culottes. It obviously wasn't done for censorship issues. Your explanation makes the most sense. In the "Red Blues" number Cyd wears a very filmy skirt that twirls and shows her legs and the bottom part of her leotard.

The other reason I'm posting is to say how sad it is to read the hateful, mean spirited, and sarcastic posts when someone disagrees with someone else. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Some of the posts on this site make absolutely no sense to me and I don't believe the poster knows what they are talking about but I certainly don't feel it necessary to bash them for it. That's just my two cents worth.

[–] manipool 14 years ago

Yes, ease of movement (rather than Hays involvement or an injury) explains the reason for these two spliced costume changes best. I don't think they should rightly be listed as goofs on imdb.com.

Someone evidently liked the costume she was wearing, or it fit her character and they did not want her to wear something flowy that would better accommodate the dance moves.

[–] lfdow 16 years ago

It's easy to put to rest the matter of not showing her panties. If you look at 1:25:26, which I was able to stop so as to confirm, you do see her panties. A little before this, at 1:25:12, I think you get another glimpse, but I couldn't stop the action at just the right spot to confirm. Also, in the dance scene back in Russia, beginning at around 1:58, there's lots of leg and lots of the bottom of her leotard, which while this isn't panties, shows as much of her body as a 1957 pair of panties would show.