Meet Me in St. Louis (NR, 1944)

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS covers the activities of the Smith family during 1903. Alonzo Smith (Leon Ames), a banker, might need to move the family to New York. This distresses his daughters, Ether (Judy Garland) and Rose (Lucille Bremer), who have their eyes set on a couple of young men. Esther has decided to marry "the boy next door," John Pruitt (Tom Drake), even though they have not yet met, while Rose is attracted to Warren Sheffield, and a bit impatient because he has not proposed.

In a cast that includes Mary Astor as Smith's wife, Lucille Bremer as another Smith daughter, and Marjorie Main as the housekeeper, the most fascinating character is played by 6-year-old Margaret O'Brien, who won a special Oscar for her remarkable performance. Its 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.

The movie's pleasures are in the period detail, the glorious songs (including standards "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas") and the loving and nostalgic look at a time of innocence and optimism, where a long-distance call was almost as thrilling as having the World's Fair come to your very own city. We see the family over the course of a year, celebrating Halloween and Christmas, riding the ice truck in the summer and building snowmen in the winter. They face the prospect of having to leave St. Louis so that Mr. Smith can accept a promotion. They wonder whether the older girl's two boyfriends will propose. They treat each other with great loyalty and affectionate tolerance. And then they live happily ever after.