‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ at 80 – Review
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Screenwriter: Irving Brecher, Fred F. Finklehoffe
Starring: Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Joan Carroll, Leon Ames, Tom Drake, Marjorie Main, Harry Davenport
Few performers did for movies what Judy Garland did for musicals. As British film critic David Thomson recounted in 2011 in an article for The Guardian, Garland’s performance in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz ushered in a new kind of movie musical, one whose musical numbers were non-diegetic, thus expressing the inner emotions of the character rather than performances happening literally within the plot. He writes, “Over the Rainbow was an event that changed cinema and introduced a fresh level of belief. It was also a sign of MGM embracing colour and a bold, theatrical quality of production design. The musical might be a world of its own, such as only film could fashion.” The Wizard of Oz was released in August of 1939, mere weeks before Germany invaded Poland. In the intervening years before the conclusion of WWII, Hollywood churned out an unlimited amount of war films, with the intention of boosting morale and strengthening American patriotism. But it wasn’t all propaganda. Sentimental films sought to return audiences to a simpler time, and those MGM musicals, as Thomson said, transported audiences to an entirely different world, far from the realities of war and suffering.
1944’s Meet Me in St. Louis, directed by Vincente Minnelli, is the very embodiment of this time in Hollywood. It is a musical film painted in rich technicolor, that looks and feels like a dream but is not afraid to make you cry. With star Judy Garland in the lead role, Meet Me in St. Louis introduced classic standards like “The Trolley Song,” “The Boy Next Door,” and, of course, possibly the most melancholy Christmas song ever written, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Nominated for four Oscars, with seven-year-old Margaret O’Brien honored with a Juvenile Academy Award, Meet Me in St. Louis was a critical success. It was a commercial success as well, earning the second largest box office of 1944. 80 years on from its initial release, Meet Me in St. Louis remains the gold standard of movie musicals.
Based on a series of short stories by Sally Benson, originally published in The New Yorker magazine, Meet Me in St. Louis follows a year in the life of the Smith family, leading up to the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Expedition, most commonly known as The World’s Fair, in 1904. The film is split into four parts, each representing a season in their lives. Throughout the movie, we follow: Esther (Judy Garland), the second eldest daughter, who sparks a romance with the boy next door, John Truitt (Tom Drake); Rose (Lucille Bremer), the eldest and most refined, who keeps insisting she doesn’t need a beau, despite Esther’s insistence she find a husband like the kind but dim-witted Warren Sheffield (Robert Sully); the good-natured Grandpa (Harry Davenport) with his impressive hat collection, and; the Smiths’ sharp-tongued maid, Katie (Marjorie Main). Of course, the youngest girls, Agnes (Joan Carroll) and Tootie (Margaret O’Brien) are constantly getting up to their own mischief, especially on Halloween, but everyone’s lives are suddenly plunged into chaos when their father Alonzo (Leon Ames) announces that the whole family will be moving to New York after Christmas so he can run his law firm’s office in the Big Apple.
The interactions between the Smith family are the main reason Meet Me in St. Louis is so much fun to watch, especially upon repeat viewings. The banter between everyone makes you forget that the inciting incident doesn’t even occur until halfway through the film. The Oscar-nominated script, written by Fred Finklehoffe, and Irving Brecher, who was also an uncredited writer on The Wizard of Oz, is sharp and funny, and filled with one-liners and quips that the actors deliver flawlessly and with heart, always playing the truth and never the joke. For example, when Rose insists that nice girls don’t let boys kiss them until they’re engaged because they “don’t want the bloom rubbed off,” Esther replies, sincerely, “Frankly, I think I have too much bloom.” Esther’s playful back and forth with John Truitt is also a highlight.
Meet Me in St. Louis was Vincente Minnelli’s third feature film. He would go on to direct several other lavish musicals of the golden age like Ziegfeld Follies (1945), An American in Paris (1951), and Brigadoon (1954). Minnelli’s past work as a costume designer and art director informs every frame of the film, which is filled with rich and luscious fabrics and patterns. The Smith home at 5135 Kensington Avenue, the center of much of the action of the movie, feels loved and lived in, while also operating on a level of vibrancy that only technicolor can produce. The home is decorated in lace and velvet, colorful wallpaper, and deep, dark wood. The lighting throughout the film is warm and glowing, especially whenever Judy Garland is on screen, Minnelli often framing her behind literal window frames. The love that bloomed between Minnelli and Garland during production is tangible when watching Meet Me in St. Louis.
Although Minnelli was a master of style, his literal direction is just as sharp as his artistic vision. Having been a stage director in New York before entering Hollywood, Minnelli in Meet Me in St. Louis showcases his experience with blocking large group scenes. The first ten minutes of the film, in which the majority of the family bands together to trick Alonzo into having dinner an hour early to allow Rose some privacy as she receives a long-distance phone call from Warren, is the perfect example of his ability to maneuver his players within any given scene, creating a seamless flow of movement similar to what you might find on the stage.
As a director of old Hollywood musicals, Minnelli also understands the importance of showing an entire actor’s body during musical numbers and allowing their performance to command the scene, a visual style that is not seen as often in contemporary musical films. This allows certain musical moments to really pop, the emotion jumping off the screen, as it does when Garland sings longingly about her supposed unrequited love for the boy next door. In this sequence, Minnelli rarely cuts to a different size shot or angle, just as is the case when Esther sings “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to Tootie. Garland’s voice is simply so good and so emotive, her eyes wide and full of desire and/or grief, that any other bells and whistles would have been a distraction. Another mesmerizing sequence of note is when Garland sings “Over the Banister,” adapted from a 19th century melody and 1888 poem, after John accompanies her to turn off the lights in the house – it’s romantic and moody and Garland is stunning in it. Her performance in Meet Me in St. Louis notably marked a shift in her public persona: her graduation from young adult roles to leading lady status.
Although Garland’s Esther carries much of the emotional weight of the film, especially through her relationship with Tootie, their father Alonzo might be the closest thing the film has to a main protagonist. After all, he’s the one who starts the film the farthest away from where he ends it. In the beginning, Alonzo is clearly overworked and tired of hearing about the upcoming World’s Fair, which everyone can’t seem to stop singing about. When he announces the family will be moving to New York, he initially doesn’t understand why everyone is so upset – his epiphany, a small moment when Ames manages to convey a whole rollercoaster of emotions with just his eyes, truly solidifies the film’s message: home is where the heart is. It’s a message that remains universal.
While Meet Me in St. Louis certainly plays into the misguided notion of American exceptionalism, especially during a period when Hollywood was focused on bolstering morale during wartime uncertainty, the film also defies conventions of the time by refusing to be aspirational. It instead allows us to indulge in what the heart wants. Its themes of family, love and acceptance make Meet Me in St. Louis a timeless tale that has the power to ease our minds during whatever troubled times we find ourselves in.
Score: 24/24
Recommended for you: There’s No Place Like St. Louis at Christmas
