A treasure trove of quaint domesticity loving brought to the screen with a light nimble touch, Vincente Minnelli's Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) is the quintessential 'teenager in love' movie musical from the 1940s. More than that: it is a vintage snapshot of turn of the century Americana finely wrought and meticulously crafted. Based on Sally Benson's serialized Kennsington Stories the film is Minnelli's first in Technicolor and it illustrates the director's keen and adaptive eye for sumptuousness.
For Meet Me In St. Louis Minnelli brought his true sense of color to bear on his already well exercised cinematic fluidity and camera movement. Everything, including the hues used in each scene, are in service to heightening the impact of the story. Minnelli opens each of the four seasons with a still portrait of the Smith family home as it might appear in a picture by Currier & Ives.
Judy Garland stars as Esther Smith, pining for the affections of John Truett (Tom Drake), the handsome boy next door. Esther lives with her mother (Mary Astor) and father (Leon Ames), her two younger sisters, Agnes (Joan Carroll) and Tootie (Margaret O'Brien), brother Lon (Henry H. Daniel), grandpa (Harry Davenport) and their maid, Katie (Marjorie Main). But the family's serenity is threatened when Mr. Smith's law firm decides to move him to New York.
'There's no place like home' was a popular message of another Garland classic: The Wizard of Oz and it resurfaces in Meet Me In St. Louis. Clearly, it was a message MGM's mogul, Louis Mayer took to heart.
Clearly Meet Me In St. Louis is a showcase for the film's star, Judy Garland. And yet Garland almost did not do the film. Tired of playing girls, Garland had had her first taste of playing 'women' opposite Gene Kelly in For Me And My Gal. She was also perhaps concerned that her performance would be overshadowed by the scene stealing antics of pint size Margaret O'Brien. Whatever her concerns, Garland was eventually coaxed to do the part. Her relationship with Vincente Minnelli began apprehensively at the start of the shoot. By the end they were hopelessly in love and soon to be married.
Viewed today, Meet Me In St. Louis retains its elusive magic. Irving Brecher and Fred Finkelhoffe's screenplay is a doting stroll through a year in the life of the Smith family. Hugh Martin and Ralph Blanes' four original songs augment the vintage catalogue of standards, heightening the poignancy of the entire score.
Warner Home Video's Blu-ray is curious. It seems the DVD was so impeccably mastered that the Blu-ray's improvements are negligible at best. Side by side comparisons reveal the obvious: a tightening up of the image with marginal improvements to fine detail. But color fidelity looks about the same and occasionally even appears a tad garish on the Blu-ray - adopting a reddish hue. The audio is a DTS remastering of the 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks used on the DVD but here too the accoustic differences are indistinguishable.
I'm not sure what ticks me off more - Warner's disastrous cover art (that replaces the vintage stylized calligraphy with some truly awful photo shopped lettering and a stock image of a house that IS NOT the Smith family home) or the fact that the back jacket DOES NOT list even a third of the extra features included.
Just to be clear: the Blu-ray contains ALL of the extras from Warner's 2 disc DVD (The Making of An American Classic, Hollywood: The Dream Factory, Becoming Attractings: The Films of Judy Garland, an audio commentary, isolated score, stills gallery and trailers). Only the audio commentary, 40 page booklet and CD sampler are listed as extras.
The 40 page booklet is deceiving. It's big on artwork but scant on behind the scenes info - pretty to look at but none too engaging overall. The CD sampler is, frankly, a waste of time and disc space. We get four songs totalling less than 15 min. Warner has repeatedly included such CD's as 'extra' content on deluxe and vintage Blu-ray titles.
Personally, my philosophy is that only complete soundtracks should be included. I understand the marketing behind Warner doing it their way. Whet the consumer appetite with a few 'samples' and hope they run out to buy the complete soundtrack album. More money. I said, I understand it. I don't respect it - especially since buying the complete soundtrack renders this 'sampler' moot - a Frisbee disc.
Bottom line: Meet Me In St. Louis is a cinematic treasure. It belongs on everyone's top shelf. But if you already own the 2 disc DVD there's really no rush to double dip for the Blu-ray. Wait until it goes on sale.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
5+
VIDEO/AUDIO
4
EXTRAS
4
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