Vonia Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) Director: Vincente Minnelli Watched: May 2018 Rating: 5/10 Told with four coming-of-age vignettes: Introductions -> Halloween -> Christmas Ball -> The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, Embraces the eponymous city and romanticizes the American family, Lovely costumes, cinematography, and production design, Fun soundtrack- brought us Garland's "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and "The Trolley Song", But a flimsy plot, underdeveloped characters, and unimpressive acting combine to make this not much more than a forgettable feel-good musical. Gogyohka literally translates to "five-line poem." An alternative to the tanka form, the gogyohka has very simple rules. Five lines with one phrase per line. What comprises a phrase? Eye of the beholder- or the poet, in this case. #Gogyohka #PoemReview #Musical

tavm This was the third time I watched this particular movie and the reason I watched this just now was because it was Christmas and this film had the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" sung by Ms. Judy Garland to Margaret O'Brien. Because I knew this film was made in 1944, part of me wondered when that song was written with those lyrics (much different than the revised ones written for 1957 when Frank Sinatra sang it and others after him would follow suit) during that time whether it was meant to address the audience of that period of their worries of their loved ones being overseas during the holidays and their concern of them ever coming back to them in the future. Anyway, this is such an entertaining musical with such great comedy and drama from not only Ms. Garland and O'Brien but also Harry Davenport as the grandpa and Marjorie Main as the maid. The best sequence involves Ms. O'Brien going out alone on Halloween involving a prank that was common during the 1903 period. Oh, and Ms. Garland also did great numbers like "The Boy Next Door" and "The Trolley Song". Oh, and no wonder she married director Vincente Minnelli after making this as she gets some of her best close-ups here! So on that note, that's a high recommendation of Meet Me in St. Louis. P.S. Great intro on the DVD from Judy and Vincente's daughter Liza Minnelli.

moviemattb This review won't be long because I do not have too much to say about this movie. So here it is. "Meet Me in St. Louis" is about the Smith family that are living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904. I don't find anything groundbreaking about this movie, because of the amount of praise it gets. Don't get me wrong, I like the movie but I don't think its a masterpiece or anything like that. For what it is, I think its fine and it is indeed watchable. The cast in this movie are good, especially for Judy Garland; although I like her more when she was in "The Wizard of Oz." I do love the film's cinematography and its setting. I really do enjoy the atmosphere of St. Louis as you go on out and have a wonderful time. The movie is also well directed and well written. The movie itself is not really a Christmas movie, but at the end, it does somehow leave you that Christmas feeling as Garland sings wonderfully with the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas;" the songs in the film are fine too. Again, there is nothing groundbreaking about it but I do think it is a fine relaxation of a movie as you just want to enjoy the atmosphere of St. Louis. So that is what I thought of "Meet Me in St. Louis," and I give it an 8 out of 10.

zoltanzudeck Really? This is what I was waiting for? This film is just a bunch of clichés strung together with some macabre elements. I thought it would be a postcard to St. Louis, but it could have taken place anywhere. The World's Fair was barely relevant. The men were all stereotypes; the lordly-yet-foolish money-focused father who is changed by his family's warmth. The awkwardly formal men, the candied turn-of-the-century nostalgia. Other than Judy Garland's desire to extract a kiss out of her neighbor, the whole film is a silly tribute to normative culture. I guess that's what they hoped the boys fighting in Europe and Asia in 1944 wanted to see.This whole Ivy League worship was nauseating. "I'm talking to a Yale man in New York!" "Princeton is a peach of a school!" ...and the safe "Smith"-like names. The father wanting to move to NY for "money" even though they look pretty damn well off. The oldest sister's beau bursting into their house angrily and demanding that she marry him and he won't take no for an answer or whatever. Then walking out. A masturbatory fantasy for one-dimensional women. The only interesting point was the little sister's mischievousness. It was dark and playful part of an otherwise pointless costume drama.