Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Irving Brecher (screenplay) and
Fred F. Finklehoffe (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

January 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

A cast of favorites in the Charming . . . Romantic . . . Tuneful Love Story of the Early 1900s !

Plot:

In the year before the 1904 St Louis World's Fair, the four Smith daughters learn lessons of life and love, even as they prepare for a reluctant move to New York.

Plot Keywords:

Boy Next Door | Cooking | Piano | Formal Dance | Precocious Child

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Judy Garland	...	Esther Smith
Margaret O'Brien	...	'Tootie' Smith
Mary Astor	...	Mrs. Anna Smith
Lucille Bremer	...	Rose Smith
Leon Ames	...	Mr. Alonzo Smith
Tom Drake	...	John Truett
Marjorie Main	...	Katie - Maid
Harry Davenport	...	Grandpa
June Lockhart	...	Lucille Ballard
Henry H. Daniels Jr.	...	Lon Smith Jr.
Joan Carroll	...	Agnes Smith
Hugh Marlowe	...	Colonel Darly
Robert Sully	...	Warren Sheffield
Chill Wills	...	Mr. Neely

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:G (Ontario) | UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #10050) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The Halloween sequence on the street outside of the Smith home was primarily filmed from low angles, so that the movie audience would experience the Halloween night as though they were seeing it through the eyes of a child. When Tootie (Margaret O'Brien) embarks on her adventure to the Braukoff home, the houses appear to be large and looming.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Esther and Tootie perform "Under the Bamboo Tree", Tootie's bedroom slippers are pink at the beginning of the number...but change to blue in the "cake walk" finale.

Quotes:

'Tootie' Smith: Nobody's going to have them, not if we can't take them to New York! I'd rather kill them if we can't take them with us!
Esther Smith: Oh, Tootie, don't cry. Don't cry, it's all right. You can build other snow people in New York.
'Tootie' Smith: No, you can't! You can't do any of the things that I can do in St. Louis!
Esther Smith: No, no, Tootie, you're wrong. New York is a wonderful town. Everybody dreams about going there, but we're luckier than lots of families because we're really going. Wait till you see the nice new home we're going to have, and the loads and loads of new friends we're going to make. But the main thing is, Tootie, that we're all going to be together, just like we've always been. That's what really counts. We could be happy anywhere as long as we're together.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Glorious Technicolor (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Goodbye, My Lady Love

Judy Garland never looked better

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.