Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
- Starring:
- Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, (more)
- Director(s):
- Vincente Minnelli
- Category:
- Music & Performing Arts
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Sally Benson's short stories about the turn-of-the-century Smith family of St. Louis were tackled by a battalion of MGM screenwriters, who hoped to find a throughline to connect the anecdotal tales. After several false starts (one of which proposed that the eldest Smith daughter be kidnapped and held for ransom), the result was the charming valentine-card musical Meet Me in St. Louis. The plot hinges on the possibility that Alonzo Smith (Leon Ames), the family's banker father, might uproot the Smiths to New York, scuttling his daughter Esther (Judy Garland)'s romance with boy-next-door John Truett (Tom Drake) and causing similar emotional trauma for the rest of the household. In a cast that includes Mary Astor as Ames' wife, Lucille Bremer as another Ames daughter, and Marjorie Main as the housekeeper, the most fascinating character is played by 6-year-old Margaret O'Brien. As kid sister Tootie, O'Brien seems morbidly obsessed with death and murder, burying her dolls, "killing" a neighbor at Halloween (she throws flour in the flustered man's face on a dare), and maniacally bludgeoning her snowmen when Papa announces his plans to move to New York. Margaret O'Brien won a special Oscar for her remarkable performance, prompting Lionel Barrymore to grumble "Two hundred years ago, she would have been burned at the stake!" The songs are a heady combination of period tunes and newly minted numbers by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin, the best of which are The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. As a bonus, Meet Me in St. Louis is lensed in rich Technicolor, shown to best advantage in the climactic scenes at the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 113 mins
Complete Cast:
- Judy Garland - Esther Smith
- Mary Astor - Mrs. Anne Smith
- Tom Drake - John Truett
- June Lockhart - Lucille Ballard
- Harry Davenport - Grandpa Prophater
- Joan Carroll - Agnes Smith
- Robert Sully - Warren Sheffield
- Mary Jo Ellis - Ida Boothby
- Donald Curtis - Dr. Terry
- Robert E. O'Connor - Conductor
- Mayo Newhall - Mr. Braukoff
- Helen Gilbert - Girl on Trolley
- Victor Cox - Driver
- Margaret O'Brien - "Tootie" Smith
- Lucille Bremer - Rose Smith
- Marjorie Main - Katie the Maid
- Leon Ames - Mr. Alonzo Smith
- Henry Daniels, Jr. - Lon Smith, Jr.
- Hugh Marlowe - Col. Darly
- Chill Wills - Mr. Neely
- Sam Harris - Mr. March
- Leonard Walker - Conductor
- Darryl Hickman - Johnny Tevis
- Belle Mitchell - Mrs. Braukoff
- Ken Wilson - Quentin
- Victor Kilian - Baggage Man
- Director(s):
- Vincente Minnelli
- Writer(s):
- Irving Brecher, Fred F. Finklehoffe
- Producer(s):
- Arthur Freed
- Categories:
- Music & Performing Arts
- Closed Captioning:
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- Subtitles:
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- 1993 - Meet Me in St. Louis - Library of Congress - U.S. National Film Registry
- 1944 - Meet Me in St. Louis - National Board of Review - Best Acting
- 1944 - Meet Me in St. Louis - New York Times - 10 Best Films
