Meet Me In St. Louis

Margaret & David on their TV show have a segment where they review an old film. A couple of months ago they did a review of 'Meet Me In St. Louis'. So when the chance came to see it on the big screen I just had to see it.

There are older films which have that nature of being 'of the time'. You could imagine them only being made when they did. This is a very sweet good natured film. I think if released today as it is, it would not appeal to modern audiences because people would find it far too sweet and good natured. The story is very much like a musical version of a Jane Austin novel. A group of young women looking to meet a man to spend the rest of their lives with. I can see a lot of similarities with 'Pride & Prejudice'. The film does give off a great deal of charm which means you can't help but like it. The songs are very familiar so you know what your getting. Vincent Minnelli directs them really well too so you can't help but love them. The film does have a dark moment though. There is a Halloween sequence involving the families youngest daughter Tootie going trick-or-treating with the neighbourhood children. They do some very strange things which is stands out a bit to the rest of the film.

I'm ashamed to say that the only other Judy Garland film I've seen is 'The Wizard Of Oz'. She is an excellent musical performer who can also act when required. Judy can definitely play the sassy rebel type nicely. Lucy Bremer is wonderful as her sister. Margaret O'Brien is very cute as the young sister. She pretty much steals the show from everyone. While the men play secondary characters a few like Harry Davenport as Grandpa being the most delightful.

It is always nice to go back in time cinematically speaking and see how they used to make films. It makes a refreshing change to some of the films we get these days.