Meet Me in St. Louis
d. Vincente Minnelli, 1944
Not much of a musical, but still quite a wonderful movie. Meet in St. Louis tells the story of the Smith family from summer 1903 to spring 1904. Each of the four seasons - all punctuated by a title card - brings about different problems for the family, most of them comical. In its nostalgic mood, the film recalls other works like Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (sans Technicolor). Judy Garland plays Esther, the Smiths' teenage daughter who is in love with her next door neighbor, John Truett (Tom Drake). Late in the film, Mr. Smith (Leon Ames) receives news that he has been offered a better job in New York, which would mean the family leave right after Christmas day. As is to be expected, the family complains, mostly because they've been looking forward to the St. Louis Fair of next spring. In the end, everyone gets what they want. Rose, the eldest daughter, gets married, Esther ends up with Truett, and the family stays in St. Louis. But what else would you expect from an MGM family movie from 1944?
