Editorial Review:Description:St. Louis 1903. The well-off Smith family has four beautiful daughters, including Esther and little Tootie. 17-year old Esther has fallen in love with the boy next door who has just moved in, John. He however, barely notices her at first. The family is shocked when Mr. Smith reveals that he has been transfered to a nice position in New York, which means that the family has to leave St. Louis and the St. Louis Fair.
Amazon.com essential video:One of the finest American musicals, this 1944 film by Vincente Minnelli is an intentionally self-contained story set in 1903, in which a happy St. Louis family is shaken to their roots by the prospect of moving to New York, where the father has a better job pending. Judy Garland heads the cast in what amounts to a splendid, end-of-an-era story that nicely rhymes with the onset of the 20th century. The film is extraordinarily alive, the characters strong, and the musical numbers are so splendidly part of the storytelling that you don't feel the film has stopped for an interlude.
--Tom Keogh
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The CD was as advertised. The price was terrific and with free delivery it beats going shopping at a retail store. Meet Me In St.Louis is a classic, great family film and should be shown in every grade school.
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It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
Vincent Minelli's period musical is about a family to whom . . . well, nothing really happens in this movie. But if you can give yourself over to its message that (once again) there's no place like home, you'll see that this picture is a thing of pure beauty.
A wonderful score, the most beautiful use of Technicolor you may ever see, and Judy Garland. What's most remarkable about this movie is the complexity of its delivery. Yes, it presents a rose-colored picture of good old days that may never have been. But the cast believes in it. Everything is just a bit heightened -- the colors are rich and seductive, the lighting casts deep shadows and textures across the screen, the banter among family members is more clever than it would ever really be, and the sense of importance around the moments in this year in a family's life make them feel like little jewels to be treasured. Without making too big a point of saying so (ok, so every scene opens with a framed photograph), Minelli presents us with a picture book of memories. This may not be how things ever were, but it is how people would like to remember them.
Music advances the story in ways few musicals manage to pull off. And it certainly doesn't hurt to have Garland deliver the most memorable ones: "The Trolley Song," "The Boy Next Door," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
Our point of view keeps shifting between those of our two main characters -- Judy Garland's Rose and Margaret O'Brien's Tootie -- and there's a persistent sense of seeing things the way they might have . . . or the way they might look back on these memories. O'Brien's Halloween night is not simply beautiful -- dark and moody, lit by moonlight and bonfires -- but it allows you to see and feel as she might, or as she might remember that night. The camera is low and tracks with her, looking up at houses and adults and the dark tree tops.
And yes, it's a perfect movie for the holidays. Sure, the story's climax takes place on Christmas. But, most importantly, it's the movie's perspective on the fond memories of childhood that makes this an especially good fit for the season.
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Meet Me in St. Louis DVD
Meet Me in St. Louis is a favorite movie of mine & to get it on DVD for
such a good price was really a treat...it arrive safely wrapped in record time & I am pleased to use Amazon again. JLKV
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movies
this is a great movie, go it for my moms b-day. love it! and it got here fast
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Nostalgic period musical
This movie is a Valentine to the "good old days",days that are viewed through gold tinted lenses and I defy all but the most curmudgeonly not to yield to its pleasures.It features a near peak Judy Garland impeccably directed by Vincente Minnelli in a movie that looks at a year in the life of an affluent middle class St Louis family .The father ,and head of the family (at least notionally)is Alonzo Smith (Leon Ames).The family consists of mother Anne (Mary Astor),two older daughters named Ethel(Garland)and Rose (Lucille Bremmer)and two much younger ones Agnes (Joan Carroll)and the baby of the brood Tootie(the winsome and charming Margaret O'Brien),and a son Lon (Hank Daniels).Completing the household are the capricious grandfather (Harry Davenport)and the faithful family maid Katie played by the scene stealing Marjorie Main.Marriage is on the mind of the two eldest daughters;Rose is being courted by one beau at home and is corresponding with another who is away at college in the East while Ethel is attracted to the boy next door John Truett (Tom Drake).Agnes and Tootie are still mischevous children
The movie looks at the life of the family over a year ,a year in which the city prepares to play host to the 1904 World's Fair ,the scenes of which are beautifully recreated by the art team under the skilled direction of Cedric Gibbons .Indeed the art team deserve special kudos for their work on the movie -the interiors are also sumptuous ,rich in colour and detail so this is amovie that always looks beguiling .events covered include Halloween and Christmas ,a season overshadowed by family tensions as a move to New York is in the offing .This gives a memorable bitter sweet tinge to Garland's moving rendition of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas ,a song which gains added complexity from its placement in the movie.The other musical highlight and the big production number is The Trolley Song ,and also memorable is the Skip To My Lou sequence.
Plot is not the strong point of the movie ,and these are provided by a stellar cast ,period detail and a string of tuneful ,melodic songs,all bathed in a warm lustous technicolor.
This is one of the warmest and most charming of musicals ,a portrait of an altogether more innocent and less cynical era ,a triumphant celebration of middle clasa Americana
Unashamedly nostalgic ,this is a lovely movie and should be seen by those wanting a warm hearted celebration of the past and family values
