As a follow up to the pairing of Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in The Bandwagon (1953), Silk Stockings is a monumental disappointment. The musicals of the early 50's had reached a pinnacle of innovation and slick professionalism that was never to be seen again. What followed was not so much a decline as a wall forever imprisoning the magical world of fantasy and dance in the past, in a time where television had not yet bled the cinema of much of its mystique. True, there were moments of greatness to follow--Gigi (1958), Oklahoma! (1955), and The Sound of Music (1965)--but there was also the tragically flawed Brigadoon (1954), which even the exquisite ballet of Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse can't save from its own mediocrity. Like Brigadoon, Silk Stockings promises its audience an escape from the humdrum into a world of exotic romance, and utterly fails to deliver the goods.
