User reviews

"The day was bright, The air was sweet, The smell of honeysuckle almost knocked you off your feet ..." This is unashamed nostalgia for an idealised America, dating back to an age of innocence before the two World Wars.

It is 1903, and the city of St. Louis is ablaze with excitement as it prepares to host the World's Fair. Here in the geographic heart of the USA, the very pleasant Smith family lives in a very pleasant suburb of the very pleasant St. Louis. We watch the Smiths through the seasons and into Spring 1904 as they fall in love, dress up for Hallowe'en, bottle their home-made ketchup and .... well, ride the trolley.

This is a world of tranquillity where nothing can threaten the homely complacency of Middle America. The evening meal is always a wholesome family gathering, the month of July is always sunny, big brothers are always handsome Princeton freshmen and the iceman's mare knows the neighbourhood so well that she stops at each home on her round without needing to be told. The only shadow which falls across the Smiths' domestic bliss comes when Alonzo, the paterfamilias, proposes to move the household to New York. However, Alonzo soon realises what a terrible mistake it would be to tear his wife and daughters away from their beloved MidWest: he relents, and family harmony is restored.

This heartwarming, exuberant musical is one of the very best ever made, and MGM knew exactly what it was doing in terms of box office success. The film was calculated to cash in on the zeitgeist of 1944, the year in which vast American armies were sent across to Europe and the war in the Pacific turned decisively in America's favour. Millions of young American men found themselves far from home in what was certain to be the last Christmas of the War, and millions of families back home missed them terribly: " Some day soon we all will be together, If the fates allow. Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow ..."

In this idealised America, everyone is prosperous, everyone conducts himself like a good citizen should, old folks are cheerful, healthy and alert, domestic servants feign grumpiness but actually adore their masters, and teenage girls are flirtatious but impeccably proper. There are strong American folk-resonances in the homespun wisdom of the family elders, the strong, straight young adults and the 'down home' hearthside gatherings and dances. It could be argued that the film invokes an America that has never in fact existed. This maybe so, but the Perfect America which we experience here exerts an emotional pull far stronger than any real place could command.

Vincente Minnelli directed the movie with panache. There are many subtle but sure touches - for example, two short scenes which establish the proposition that the family's happiness is inextricably linked to St. Louis. Alonzo announces the move to New York, and with clever choreography Minnelli turns him into a pariah in his own living-room. Esther and Tootie gaze at the snowmen which they will have to abandon in the yard, and we know without any dialogue to help us that the eastward migration isn't going to happen. With similar cinematic economy, Minnelli shows us the happy commotion around the Christmas tree without allowing it to distract our attention from Alonzo and Anna, whose wordless reconciliation sets the seal on the plot. This is directing of rare skill.

In films of the 1960's and 70's a stock device was used: a sepia-tinted photograph would 'come to life' with colour and motion, to show that the scene was laid in the past. Minnelli employs the trick elegantly in this film, and I am not aware of any example which pre-dates this one.

This is a 'formula' movie, but its ingredients are so fine and they are combined with such marvellous skill that the whole eclipses the parts. Among the elements which contribute to the project's success are the songs - and the film contains three classics: "The Trolley Song", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and (of course) "Meet Me In St. Louis".

Judy Garland was 22 years old when she made this film (though she easily passes for a 17-year-old) and it was this movie which cemented her relationship with Minnelli. They married one year later and Liza was born in March 1946.

Predictably enough, the film has a happy ending. The teenage girls Esther and Rose are paired off, and the Smiths get to visit the World's Fair as one big happy family. As they look for the restaurant (once again, a meal signifies domestic harmony) they are distracted by the lighting-up of the city, a filmic metaphor for the approaching end of World War Two. The sisters are filled with awe at America's technological ascendancy, and that such miracles can be achieved by such folksy, simple people - "Right here where we live: right here in St. Louis!"

I suspect I didn't give "Meet Me in St. Louis" the attention it fully deserved.

Sometimes, the words Technicolor, musical, Golden Age don't necessarily hit a sensitive chord and I blame it on the Millennial side of me, too blasé and hungry of modern significance. I could watch "The Wizard of Oz" for its status as an iconic classic, "A Star is Born" for its relevance and place in Judy Garland's filmography. But Vincente Minnelli's ode to Saint Louis never caught my attention despite its more than respectable reputation. And now that I saw it, and that I digested it, I realize how misinformed I was and I suspect this is a film I might want to watch again.

This is one of these pitch-proof movie where you keep waiting for something to happen... yet you realize that's not even the point. Indeed, who needs plot when you have the Smithes? This is a family full of such colorful characters that there's no room whatsoever for any plot or pre-written arc. Why should it anyway? Adapted from the happy memories of Sally "Tootie" Benson (yes, told from the little one's standpoint), the film displays such an exhilarating form of happiness that spoiling it with a plot would be a cinematic sin.

So let's visit the family! Leon Ames is Mr. Smith, father of one son and four daughters including Rose (Lucille Bremer), the second oldest Esther (Judy Garland) and the youngest one, Tootie (Margaret O'Brien), Mrs. Smith (Mary Astor) endure their shenanigans valiantly while they can count on the support of their cool and hilarious grandpa (Henry Davenport). These are the Smiths and as soon as they appear on the screen, we're literally caught in their communicative amiability and optimism with the opening theme of the same title.

"Meet Me in Saint Louis" belongs to these vignette family-themed movies such as "Amarcord" or "Radio Days" where it's just about getting a mood and feeling part of a loving community rather than watching something happening. And just when you think something ought to happen, false alarm, a new song pops up again to lift your spirit up and puts you in the most cheerful mood, even the "straight" sister Rose is fun to watch, especially during her shining moment where she gets quite a brush from her correspondent. And everything's in good spirit, no character is laughed at but rather laughed with.

The closest to a plot comes when Mr. Smith announces to the family that they're going to move to New York and the decision is irrevocable, by the time it happens, we got used to the seasonal enchantment of the city and can't imagine the Smiths anywhere outside St. Louis. Even New York resonates like a place of doom for the family, but it's deliberate since the film is a postcard recollection of middle-upper class family, from the perspective of Tootie, only spiced up with adult and romantic subplot and unforgettable musical numbers that were the perfect vehicles for Judy Garland.

If "Meet Me in Saint Louis" is incredibly catchy, it's nothing compared to the "Trolley Song" and of course the "Have Yourself a merry Little Christmas" that became Hollywood standards and among Garland's signatures. The two songs, listed in the AFI's Top 100, convey two opposite emotions: joy and sheer sadness, the excitement of being part of a city and the resignation before living, the Christmas moment is particularly heartbreaking as it allows Margaret O'Brien to implode her full acting power and make thousands of souls cry with empathetic tears. That the comic relief of the film, that bratty little kid could pull off such a masterful performance is one of the unexpected effects of the film. She would deservedly win an Academy Juvenile Award for her incredible performance.

I can go over and over about the film, its merit is to be so blatantly cheerful, never indulging to cheap thrills, even the love stories are sweetly naïve and idealistic, almost surreal but fitting for a fantasy picture whose purpose is to highlight the real thing about th film: family ties, and the bonds between sisters or parents and grandparents, the film is a non-stop delight, that can be regarded as itsch or campy but I find it more straightforward and honest than Minnelli' "An American in Paris". In a way, it's a fine companion piece to Judy Garland's Wizard of Oz with the same conclusion that there's no place like home... and sometimes, we don't cherish enough the place we live in.

My only complaint is Garland's awful hairstyle, was she trying to imitate Katharine Hepburn or what?

Many would call "Meet Me In St. Louis" to be a classic. I'm not sure I'd rate it that highly, although I'm not suggesting that it's a bad movie by any means. It's a very pleasant movie to watch, full of good old fashioned home town values. It follows the Smith family of St. Louis in the months leading up to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, beginning in the summer of 1903 and focusing very closely on the decision by father Alonso (Leon Ames) to take a new position in New York City and prepare the family for the move that they really don't want to make.

What I found most compelling in this was a couple of the performances. First was that of Judy Garland as Esther, one of the Smith daughters. Garland, of course, had become famous five years earlier with her spectacular turn as Dorothy in "The Wizard Of Oz" - a role that probably overshadowed everything else she did in her very successful career. This would have been her first significant "adult" role, and she handled it very well. Her success in "The Wizard" was no fluke, and this movie provided her with the opportunity to once again showcase her talent, particularly as a singer. The other performance that struck me was that of Margaret O'Brien as Tootie Smith - the youngest of the Smith sisters. O'Brien became a busy enough actress (mostly in television guest roles) but watching her in this made me surprised that she didn't become a bigger player in Hollywood. She was very good as Tootie - and there's one scene in particular in which she's simply spectacular, set on Christmas Eve 1903 as she breaks down into a raging tantrum over the family's pending move. Garland and O'Brien shared a song and dance scene in a performance of "Under The Bamboo Tree." This was also the movie in which Garland met her future husband, Vincente Minnelli, who was the director. There are a number of good musical numbers, and I was actually surprised to discover that it was in this movie that the song "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" debuted.

What's lacking in this movie is any truly compelling story. I suppose the "glue" that holds it all together is the evolution of the romance between Esther and John Truett (played by Tom Drake.) But there's really no single narrative running through this, aside from the family's lack of enthusiasm about their move. But basically it's a series of vignettes moving us through the months from the summer of 1903 to the opening of the World's Fair at the movie's end. And yet, even with a story that isn't all that meaningful, this is an easy movie to watch and enjoy. It features a good cast - including June Lockhart (another well known actress in a very early role) and there's a sense of fun and humour involved in it. I really appreciated the vignettes around Halloween and Christmas in 1903 St. Louis. (7/10)

This movie is sheer delight from start to finish. I'm sure St. Louis in 1904 wasn't really the same as its depicted here...but it should have been! Only the most jaded cynic imaginable could not be charmed by this film.

The songs are perfect, the cinematography, the set direction, costumes, everything really - MGM movie magic at its best! Vincente Minelli did a superlative job of direction, and the cast simply could not be bettered. Judy Garland gives what I feel is the most relaxed and charming performance of her career, and sings like an angel, not like the jittery bundle of nerves she would become in later life. Tom Drake is very winning as the "Boy Next Door" we should all be so lucky to have. But Margaret O'Brien absolutely steals the picture as the adorable but irrepressibly morbid Tootie, a refreshing change from the normally saccharine moppets of Hollywood's golden years. Marjorie Main also swipes a scene or two as the mouthy cook, and Mary Astor and Leon Ames give sterling support as the parents. Their "make-up" scene at the piano is beautifully done.

What a wonderful antidote this movie is when you need to retreat from the harsh world and have your spirits lifted for a while.

This is such a sweet, wonderful movie - a slice of 1900's America that probably was never so perfect, but we would like to think that it was. The storyline is not a love story between Esther (Garland) and "The Boy Next Door" (one of the three timeless classic songs found in this movie). The storyline is really about the whole Smith family, based on an actual family who lived in St. Louis at the turn of the century. The real-life "Tootie" Smith (played by Margaret O'Brien) wrote stories of her life for the NewYorker. These stories were bought and compiled into this classic musical.

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" originated here, and has become a classic yuletide song. It has been sung a thousand times by a thousand artists, but no one could ever capture the heartfelt emotion expressed by Judy Garland. If it doesn't bring a tear to your eye as you listen to her sing the song to little Tootie, I would have to wonder if you have a heart at all.

The most fun song is "The Trolley Song" - you can even see that Judy herself had a ball singing it. That scene was done in one take.

Judy Garland never looked better in any of her films as she did in this one. Perhaps it was one of the happiest times in her life? It is well-known that she married director Vincent Minelli after this picture.

Beautifully directed, depicting with accuracy the passing of the seasons of one year in the life of the Smiths of St. Louis. What a fun, charming, movie. I could never tire of it.

This is one of my favorite movies with Judy Garland in it (the others being 'A Star Is Born' and 'Easter Parade'). She is so superb in it! Vincente Minnelli's direction is pristine and lushly beautiful. The supporting cast of the film also adds flair to the film. Little Margaret O'Brien plays Tootie, Judy's little sister in the film, who is a real standout. Lucille Bremer (a former Radio City Music Hall Rockette, who had a very short career at MGM), plays Judy's older sister who tries flirting with a colonel. The fabulous plot is very simple:

The year is 1903, the town, St. Louis.Tthe Smith family is anxiously awaiting to go to the World's Fair in their hometown. Esther (Judy Garland) has an endless crush on the boy next door Jon Truett (Tom Drake. Then, Mr. Smith (Leon Ames) breaks the news to the family that they are moving to New York City so he can get a job. Mrs. Smith (Mary Astor), Tootie (Margaret O'Brien), Agnes (Joan Caroll), and Esther (Judy), are extremely disappointed. But, on Christmas Eve, they decide not to move after all, and become one of the first visitors to the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904.

This movie is one of the greatest movie musicals of all time, and one of Judy Garland's BEST movies! (She sings the legendary "The Trolley Song", the heartwarming "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", the lovely "The Boy Next Door", and the cute duet with Margaret O'Brien, "Under The Bamboo Tree")

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS WHOEVER LIKES MUSICALS! 10/10

A lot of the Hollywood studios during the War years made these nostalgic films about a simpler time when no foreign foe threatened our way of life. MGM's contribution to these films was not bettered served than by Meet Me In St. Louis. It's a simple story about the Smith family in 1904 St. Louis eagerly awaiting the World's Fair that would take place in their town. And to my knowledge no other World's Fair had as enduring a theme song as the one written for this fair, serving as the title song for the film.

The Smith family consists of parents Leon Ames and Mary Astor and their five children, son Henry Daniels, Jr. and daughters in descending order, Lucille Bremer, Judy Garland, Joan Carroll, and Margaret O'Brien. Grandfather Harry Davenport lives with the clan and so does live-in maid Marjorie Main who functions like Alice in the Brady household. A good meal and an occasional wisecrack to keep everyone in line.

Everyone's excited about the upcoming fair, St. Louis's rival city Chicago had one a decade earlier and Buffalo did three years earlier, but this one promises to be the most extravagant of all. Ames gets an opportunity in business and wants to move the family to New York, but one by one the family has or develops obligations and ties to St. Louis that makes them reluctant to leave. Not to mention they don't want to miss the fair.

Vincente Minnelli directed Meet Me In St. Louis and it was his first opportunity to work with Judy Garland whom he would marry after the film was finished. Judy got to do three of her most identified songs from the Hugh Martin-Ralph Blane score that was blended with some traditional music of the times. The Boy Next Door, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and The Trolley Song all come out of Meet Me In St. Louis and were staple items at Garland concerts for years. One of the Oscar nominations that Meet Me In St. Louis received was for The Trolley Song for Best Original Song. It lost to Bing Crosby's Swinging On A Star that year. The other nominations were for musical scoring, color cinematography, and screenplay.

Margaret O'Brien did a remarkable job in this film, this was probably her best role while a child star at MGM. Not that she was the youngest and most appealing of the kids, she was that. But Minnelli did a great job in directing her. She had all the fears and trepidations of a child growing up and not wanting to leave all she's known and loved in St. Louis. Her acting reached its zenith in the scene where she destroys the carefully made snowmen in her yard and in the Halloween scene where she is induced to play a practical joke on a neighbor the rest of the kids regard as scary. Her number with Judy Garland, Under The Bamboo Tree is a gem.

Meet Me In St. Louis was one of the earliest and best films coming out of the Arthur Freed unit at MGM. It was films like these that gave the Freed unit and MGM its reputation for turning out the best in musical film entertainment. It can never be duplicated because you don't have studios with all that talent under contract.

In its way the film itself is as nostalgic as the time it celebrates. I guarantee your heart strings will go Zing Zing Zing as you hear Judy Garland sing the score from Meet Me In St. Louis.

As old-fashioned as it is charming, this hymn to the American home, in the vein of Little women but substituting the civil war for the universal exhibition, is one of Minnelli's first musicals. Christmas movie paradigm, exalting the virtues of traditional life and the American family, I guess it was never more necessary than in 1944, and the movie was an immense success. It is a sample of musical numbers and their different integration into the plot: from nice children's dances to amuse the audience, musical evenings at the piano, but also numbers that imply the suspension of belief typical of musicals, as in Trolley song number (and well...bordering on cheesy... or falling into corniness).

The film is structured following the rhythm of the seasons: and adapting the plot and style to each of them. But always with an exuberant Technicolor and luxuriant decors.

In the cast, the girl Margaret O'Brien stands out, almost too cute, and Judy Garland who sings the classic Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Judy is fun, impulsive, brave and not as tense as on other occasions. Lucille Bremer as the older sister is suitably bored. The youngsters are frankly forgettable characters: the brother is as healthy and promising as he is supposed to be , and naturally Judy Garland falls for the neighbor, another unremarkable young rugby player from a very good family. The parents are Leon Ames and Mary Astor, they will regain their father and mother roles a couple of years later for Little Women.

There is of course a grandfather and a grumpy cook (the unforgettable Marjorie Main).

A certain nerdiness is unavoidable, but the film is still brilliant and a lot of fun, and contains some great moments, especially those relating to the Fall Halloween scenes, with magnificent use of the most sinister shadows Technicolor can afford.

A very good and entertaining film. Vincente met Judy here.

A film that is firmly ticking all the boxes for those looking for a family classic to admire and tap your feet along with. This delightful musical deals with one family and their struggle to deal with the changing of the times at the turn of the century. When the Father is requested to move to New York permanently with his job, the rest of the family are not that keen to leave their memories and their beloved home in St. Louis, and in to the mix is the varying degrees of blossoming love involving the elder daughters and their respective beaus.

This film is just so gorgeous on many fronts, the colour beautifully realises the tremendous scope director Vincent Minnelli brings with his recreation of the era, the attention to detail is quality supreme. The story is good and earthy, a sort of tale to have the viewer hankering for the good old days before the world got itself in one big hurry. The songs are crackers, enjoy standards such as The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song, and the simply precious Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. The cast are across the board doing good work but it is of course Judy Garland who carries the movie firmly on her slender shoulders, and here she has never been prettier, and her voice is practically as good as it ever was in her career.

A film for all the family to enjoy, a film that is from the top echelons of musicals, and a film that simply demands you relax and enjoy.

Right, I'm off to get a piece of cake... 9/10

This is Judy Garlands second best film, next to the Wizard of Oz. It has the nostalgic feeling of fantasy for a different time & place. Feeling good & no place like home come into play too.

Vincent Minelli directs this Garland starring vehicle & then marries her after the film. Arther Freed, the MGM musical genius produces it. The supporting cast is strong from character actors Marjorie Main & Chill Wills, to Mary Astor & even a 19 year old June Lockhart.

The story is basically about St. Louis & a family living there in 1903. During the first half hour Judy sings several songs. Then there is a musical break for a while before the songs come back as we go from summer to fall. Then in the winter in the last 15 minutes, Judy finally gets to that tune "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." Besides Over The Rainbow, this is her next most famous song.

This Technicolor musical is a good film. Some of the tunes are now dated, but Judys Christmas song is as timeless as any she ever sang & she is in excellent voice. The film features the mandatory happy ending which most films of the period have.

It runs a little short of 2 hours so it doesn't get bogged down which makes it quite watchable & even though it has Christmas in it, it is not broadcast as often as other Christmas films, but is as good as many of the films which are broadcast every year.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this film. It's visually lush, pleasant to watch, and has its heart in the right place. The film was pure escapism for moviegoers in 1944 suffering through the war, hearkening back to a simpler time four decades earlier, and that has a certain magic to it as well. The trouble is, there was just nothing that excited me as I watched it. It was too pleasant, too canned, too wholesome (even if the little girl in the family is delightfully preoccupied with death and killing). There is one exception, and that comes at the 1:40 point, when Judy Garland sings "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." I've always loved that song because it touches my heart knowing the troubles she later went through in her personal life, and there's another layer here when you hear words like "someday soon we all will be together" from 1944, when a lot of family members were so far away and with their lives in danger. That's a 5 star moment for sure, but really the only one for me in the film.

It's funny, when I compare it to a Vincente Minnelli musical from just the year before, Cabin in the Sky, I find myself much more drawn to the latter. It has a completely different feel and much smaller budget, but it has a more interesting plot and much better musical performances, with the one exception I mentioned. I would say try the lesser known film instead.

When Judy Garland was offered the part of Esther Smith in this film, she took it even though she thought her character was lifeless and childish. This turned out to be a good move for Garland, even though the whole movie did turn out to be a thoroughly vapid affair.

The movie tells of the life of the Smith family in turn of the century St Louis through the seasons of the year. The Smiths are presented as the model all-American family going through all-American travails. Esther and her sister Rose spend their time chasing boys, their younger sisters frolic and play, and their father frets over making enough money. His decision to move to New York to take advantage of a job offer thereby disrupting his family's picture-perfect life forms the core of the film, along with Esther's romance with the "boy next door." In the end Rose and Esther get the boys they are each after, the father decides to stay in St. Louis, and the World's Fair comes to town, demonstrating that they don't have to go to a big city like New York to have enjoyable and accomplished lives.

The movie was meant to be the ultimate escape, presenting an idealized, sentimentalized view of the American family during the hard times of World War II, a goal it accomplishes admirably well. Perhaps too well. The characters are oversentimentalized to the point of caricature, and the situations they find themselves in are usually dull or predictable. Though it is commendable for Hollywood to try to escape the then-predominant goal-and-obstacle formula, this film sorely needs a strong narrative to carry its paper-thin characters through its two hour length. The musical numbers are static and uninteresting to watch and do not make the film any better, even though some of the songs are quite good.

The only things that make this film watchable are Margaret O'Brien's as well as Judy Garland's performance and Vincente Minnelli's direction. Like the bright pastel and candy colors the film employs, Meet Me in St. Louis oozes sicky-sweetness; watching it is like eating several pounds of skittles within two hours.

If there was no other reason why Judy Garland married Vincente Minnelli, then this film supplies the reason for how he won her hand. It's a valentine to her talents and, as an example of MGM's gilt-edged manufacture, it's a sold gold entry.

Yes, Tom Drake was a bit wan as Judy's love interest but everyone else in the cast, maybe even including the too-glamorous Lucille Bremer, are just right, especially the inimitable Marjorie Main. Mary Astor, already deep in the throes of her extended bout with alcoholism as the family's matriarch shows nary a sign of her illness, such was the wizardry of the makeup artists, costumers, hair dressers and the cinematographer. And Judy, too, already addicted to the medications that her tyrannical studio bosses used to keep her nose to a very demanding grindstone, looks as wholesome and lovely as one could wish, particularly in the "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" number.

It's one of those Golden Age classics that always repays a return viewing and its naysayers are in a rather lonely minority, in my opinion.

One of the greatest movie musicals, and thus one of the greatest American movies, "Meet Me in St. Louis" tells a story that may appear insultingly inconsequential: a happy family living in turn-of-the-century St. Louis considers moving to New York, but decides against it. Yet Vincente Minelli, working with a wonderful cast and unusually intelligent songs, takes this story and makes it the one really convincing screen refutation of Tolstoy's claim that all happy families are alike, and indeed perhaps the only fully rounded and persuasive representation of a happy family in the history of movies. From the small family conflict over the quality of homemade ketchup that begins the movie, to the agony over moving at the end, the Smiths are a collection of distinctive, vibrant and at times almost incompatible characters bound together not only by love but by a contagious, and very particular, sense of fun.

Minelli's genius for musical numbers in interior spaces--most notably the great party in the Smith home near the beginning of the movie--is complemented here by two unforgettable outdoor sequences, Judy Garland's matchless "Trolley Song" and Tootie's Halloween adventure in the neighborhood, where she shows such vulnerability, such courage,and in the end such diabolical lack of conscience that no one can fail to love her. These outdoor scenes protect "Meet in St. Louis" from the claustrophobia that so frequently limits the power of "family" dramas.

Tootie, at five, is the youngest of the five Smith children, and as played by the great child actor Margaret O'Brien, she is also the center of most of the fun. Her relationship with her older sister Esther (Judy Garland) is captivating in its joy, complexity, and ultimately in its sadness. For even though the catastrophe (!) of moving to New York is narrowly avoided, Esther will still leave home for life with the boy next door, and the powerful unity of these lucky people will ultimately give way to other claims of new love, new suffering and new duty. The happiness the Smiths knew while living together will only increase the pain of each parting. We're blessed, though, to have glimpsed their particular brand of happiness at its glorious peak.

Being a woman's movie, this classic is more appealing to a female than a male. It centers more on romances than on anything else, even though it's probably listed as a musical. Most of the characters, though, were interesting even to me: someone who doesn't like "chick flicks."

Child actor Margaret O'Brien, in her first starring role, is okay but a little annoying with her emoting. She sure was a ham in her child acting career in the 1940s. Judy Garland, meanwhile, well.....I certainly can't knock her voice but she was too strange-looking. Perhaps it was her hairdo, which made the shape of her head look too triangular. She just looked odd.

Leon Ames, as head "Mr. Alonzo Smith," of the household, played the most likable character, followed by Harry Davenport as the grandpa.

As for the music, "The Trolley Song" was my favorite although I admit I found myself humming the title tune for several days after watching this. Although billed as a musical, the stories in here were played up much more than the songs, of which there were only a half dozen.

The costuming of the ladies and of the period (turn of the 20th century) were beautiful, as was the Technicolor. If you enjoy color, this is pretty film to watch.

Movie musicals don't get any better than this! In "The Wizard of Oz" Judy Garland's character, Dorothy, opines, "there's no place like home." In "Meet Me in St. Louis" we are treated to a depiction of exactly what an ideal home, a home to cherish and nostalgically remember, is.

The Smith family lives in a sprawling and lovely house in the nicer part of St. Louis. Three generations of the family live together: Grandpa Smith, Lon (a prosperous attorney )& Anna Smith and their five children: Lon Jr. (off to Princeton), Rose (smitten with Warren Sheffield), Esther (getting to know "the boy next door") and the two youngest girls, Agnes and irrepressible "Tootie" (always up to mischief). Family drama unfolds! The brilliantly talented Vincente Minneli has created in this film an irresistible homage to home and family circa 1903/04 with the added piece de resistance of Judy Garland singing some of her most well-known and beloved songs: "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Beautiful!

Garland is the supreme entertainer of her generation and possibly for all time. She can relate a song to her audience and make them feel what is in her heart. Nowhere in St. Louis is this more clear than in her rendition of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - a carol with obvious tear-jerking sadness and poignancy. However, the film's most exuberant display of joyous passion remains 'The Trolley Song'.

At any rate, enjoy! This is one film that never gets old and Judy Garland was never more beautiful than she was right here.

Meet Me in St. Louis is a movie of bits and pieces which never quite all come together properly. The movie has its charms, it has some very good moments. But there's a bit of a disjointed feel to it. You have the good bits but when you toss them all together you're left with the sense that the movie is lacking something in between. The pieces just don't fit properly, and some of the pieces seem to be missing altogether. Judy Garland is, as you would expect, excellent but she doesn't seem to have quite enough help. One great star isn't enough to make this movie really shine.

The story follows the Smith family of St. Louis in the months leading up to that city's 1904 World's Fair. It's the biggest thing to ever hit St. Louis and everyone is so excited. Well the kids are anyway, it seems the adults could take it or leave it. There are four daughters and one rather irrelevant to the proceedings son in the Smith family. Garland plays the second eldest of the four Smith girls, Esther. She's in love with the boy next door although as the film opens she hasn't even met the guy. The oldest sister, Rose, has a romantic storyline of her own while the two younger girls, Agnes and Tootie, are there primarily to engage in shenanigans. But of course Garland is this movie's big star so it's no surprise her character of Esther is the main focus. Garland gives a very good, very charming performance and has a few memorable songs too. For as much as you appreciate the movie's great star there is at times though that nagging sense that the movie really isn't working as well as it should.

It's a movie in which the first half works better than the second. The setup is better than the payoff. Almost all of the musical numbers are jammed into the first half of the film. Later on, when you're looking for a song to perk things up you're out of luck. The one big song late on in the film, the now oh so familiar Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, is terrific and beautifully performed by Garland. But for as wonderful and poignant as that song is energetic it is not. The lively songs all come and go too quickly for the movie's own good. And those songs are hit and miss anyway. The Trolley Song really works. The title song though sticks in your head more as an annoyance than a pleasure. And even when something works it seems the movie has no idea how to follow it. The Trolley Song sequence is great but as soon as it ends we jump forward months ahead in time to a Halloween sequence which, in the grand scheme of the movie, seems rather out of place, quite pointless. Hadn't that trolley been going somewhere? In fact it had, but the scene that should have been there, with its accompanying musical number, was cut. Which makes it rather jarring when at the end of the film a character refers back to that scene, the one we never saw. Just the clearest example of how disjointed this movie is. A bunch of pieces, some good, some adequate, some disappointing were thrown together and the end result doesn't quite satisfy. It's not a bad movie by any means and well worth watching for Garland if nothing else. But after a promising first half of the picture the film's energy seems to slowly drain away. There's no doubt the pieces were there to make a better movie than this. But in this case those pieces never managed to be put together as well as you would hope.

This was the third time I watched this particular movie and the reason I watched this just now was because it was Christmas and this film had the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" sung by Ms. Judy Garland to Margaret O'Brien. Because I knew this film was made in 1944, part of me wondered when that song was written with those lyrics (much different than the revised ones written for 1957 when Frank Sinatra sang it and others after him would follow suit) during that time whether it was meant to address the audience of that period of their worries of their loved ones being overseas during the holidays and their concern of them ever coming back to them in the future. Anyway, this is such an entertaining musical with such great comedy and drama from not only Ms. Garland and O'Brien but also Harry Davenport as the grandpa and Marjorie Main as the maid. The best sequence involves Ms. O'Brien going out alone on Halloween involving a prank that was common during the 1903 period. Oh, and Ms. Garland also did great numbers like "The Boy Next Door" and "The Trolley Song". Oh, and no wonder she married director Vincente Minnelli after making this as she gets some of her best close-ups here! So on that note, that's a high recommendation of Meet Me in St. Louis. P.S. Great intro on the DVD from Judy and Vincente's daughter Liza Minnelli.

Cute relaxing movie. God knows how it got four Oscar nominations and to me it's understandable why it didn't win any.

7/10

It's interesting to hear from someone who talks about the "ugliness" of the people in this cast. He says she wasn't pretty and didn't have a good voice. If anything, this entire movie counters ugliness. The hearts of the characters, the wonderful mixture of personalities, the songs, which are unique and gentle, were there to counteract the sadness of wartime. Margaret O'Brien gives one of the greatest child performances ever. Her face is so expressive and her precociousness is not offensive. She delights in life in one way--yet has the morbid side to her. Nothing in this movie is anything serious or earth shattering, yet it is about love and about roots and about basic human kindness. No, it isn't a dramatic masterpiece but it deserves a lot.

When I heard Judy Garland sing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to the sad little Margaret O'Brien, my heart melted. The bittersweetness of the song has stayed with me for the twenty years since I first saw this movie. The movie is uplifting and about what is truly valuable in life. Maybe I'm being sentimental, but this is one of those efforts that allows us to feel a little sad, a little happy, and think about the way the world should be.

Classic Hollywood musical from the great Freed/Minelli team, replete with a number of classic show-stopping tunes still with us today. It's very easy to attack the film today for its over-sentimentalised picture of family life in turn of the century America but given its genesis in 1944 when the Allied Forces were still trying to win the war against Germany and Japan (I'm writing this coincidentally on remembrance Sunday), its admittedly overdone message of home town loyalty and family life still strikes a chord.

Yes, you may have a job uncurling your toes after watching the antics of infant-terrible Toots (surely no-one calls their offspring by a name like this, even in America) - her Hallowe'en "adventure" in particular is excruciatingly embarrassing to witness and worse, takes up a good ten minutes or so which could have been filled by another song. And what songs..."The Boy Next Door", "The Trolley Song", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (lovely to hear this as the festive season beckons) and of course the title song itself.

The story takes us through a year in the lives of the family and each quarter is cleverly kicked off with a picture-postcard still coming to life, effortlessly drawing the viewer into the fantasy. Brat apart, the rest of the family are likable enough if too much this side of the unctuous-o-meter. Judy Garland shines far above the rest with a less sentimental approach to the gloopy material, at the same time looking healthy and pretty and singing as only she can.

The ending of course is never in doubt, with everybody living happily ever after. I'll remember it more for the set-pieces which drape those wonderful songs, although Minelli's camera-work is a wonder throughout, imbuing the whole with a magical colour and light you simply don't see nowadays. If only they'd inserted "Toot Toot Tootsy Goodbye..." into the song-list!