NFR Project: 'Meet Me in St. Louis' (1944)

 

NFR Project: “Meet Me in St. Louis”

Dir: Vincente Minnelli

Scr: Irving Brecher, Fred F. Finklehoffe

Pho: George J. Folsey

Ed: Albert Akst

Premiere: Nov. 22, 1944

113 min.

This film is a valentine to days gone by. Specifically, it takes us to St. Louis in 1903-1904, an innocent and wholesome time when everyone (everyone white, that is) lived in harmony and plenty and only the affairs of the heart seemed important.

It’s the story of the Smith family, a mother (Mary Astor), father (Leon Ames), and five children – one boy. (Henry H. Daniels Jr.) and four girls, Rose (Lucille Bremer), Esther (Judy Garland), Agnes (Joan Carroll), and “Tootie” (Margaret O’Briend). Grandpa (the always reliable Harry Davenport) lives in their big house, too. Everyone is terribly excited about the coming opening of the St. Louis World’s Fair, due in the spring. 

Father is a lawyer; his firm seeks to relocate him to New York City. His entire family protests – this ruins all the girls’ romances, as well as their future plans. As the film moves through the seasons of summer, fall, and winter, we see the life of the family through the eyes of the children, particularly Esther, who’s in love with the boy next door, and Tootie, who suffers from holiday traumas. She endures a terrifying Halloween, and breaks down and destroys her family’s snowmen at Christmastime, bereft at the prospect of moving.

The film boasts an excellent score, some songs of the period, and some new songs by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, including the classics “The Boy Next Door,” “The Trolley Song,” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.

This was director Vincente Minnelli’s first big hit. He had a wonderful way with color cinematography – all the costumes are gay and colorful, and the scenes in the neighborhood are vibrant. In particular, Minnelli was adept at getting nighttime scenes on the screen in Technicolor – the process was notorious for needing massive amounts of lighting to bring out the colors, but the cinematography by George Folsey is top-notch.

All in all, this nostalgic memory piece is the perfect kind of entertainment for a war-time America that needed a respite from the hard facts of the conflict. It continued Judy Garland’s status as one of the nation’s top performers, and it set Minnelli on a path to mastery of the American musical film.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Memphis Belle.