The Cozy Brilliance of Meet Me in St. Louis

Meet Me in St. Louis is not a Christmas movie. Or rather, it’s not just a Christmas movie — it’s also a Halloween movie, and a summertime movie, and one of cinema’s purest celebrations of Americana. It would be easy to regard director Vincente Minnelli’s musical as a corny expression of old-fashioned values. But its earnestness is what makes it so appealing, and Minnelli undercuts the sentimentality with melancholy, so that even though the members of the Smith family are shining examples of Midwestern wholesomeness, they’re never smug or condescending. And neither is the movie.

Released 80 years ago this week, just in time for the beginning of the Christmas season, Meet Me in St. Louis has become a holiday staple thanks primarily to its penultimate segment, which takes place during Christmas 1903. That’s when star Judy Garland’s Esther Smith sings “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” the haunting, bittersweet song that subsequently joined the Christmas musical canon, albeit with slightly altered lyrics. In the movie, the song is an expression of longing and regret, and Esther’s little sister Tootie (Margaret O’Brien) has tears streaming down her face the entire time that Esther is singing.

The contrast between lovely music and conflicted emotion defines Meet Me in St. Louis, which is colorful and bright but also wistful for a time and place that probably only existed in the minds of its creators. The St. Louis of the movie is a wonderland of quaint turn-of-the-century America, but of course it’s really soundstages and studio backlots, a place just as artificially constructed as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (better known as the World’s Fair) that the characters are so excited to visit in the finale. With the eye-popping sets and costumes, Minnelli plays up that artificiality without allowing it to come across as phony.

Even the family name of Smith is more archetypal than grounded, although the stars make sure that the characters feel like real people and not just symbols. Garland deservedly gets the most attention for her portrayal of the eager, sly Esther, but O’Brien as tiny proto-goth hell-raiser Tootie and Lucille Bremer as Esther’s patient older sister Rose are equally engaging, and there’s an immersive family warmth and togetherness even during the (mostly mild) disagreements. It’s not surprising that TV producers attempted to adapt Meet Me in St. Louis as a traditional sitcom in 1966, but it’s also not surprising that they failed, because the Smiths are not a wacky sitcom family.

The movie opens with family matriarch Anna (Mary Astor) and cantankerous maid Katie (Marjorie Main) arguing over the proper balance of sour and sweet in homemade ketchup, and it turns similarly mundane concerns into fodder for grand musical numbers and intense emotion. There’s not much of a plot to the movie that chronicles a little less than a year of the Smith family, starting in summer 1903 and ending in spring 1904. Esther and Rose pursue low-key romances, and there’s a gentle but looming threat of their lawyer father Alonzo (Leon Ames) moving the family to New York City.

Mostly, though, they engage in small-scale small-town activities, despite their insistence that St. Louis is a big city just like New York. The street in front of the Smith house still isn’t paved, and there are more horse-drawn carriages than automobiles driving on it. Katie derisively refers to the family’s telephone as “an invention,” and Leon threatens to have the troublesome thing removed. Esther courts John Truett (Tom Drake), the boy next door, by inviting him to accompany her as she turns out all the lights in the house, in a moment that is all the more romantic for its absurd chastity.

All of this is pleasant enough, but Meet Me in St. Louis truly comes to life during its wonderful musical numbers, with a mix of traditional compositions and originals by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” those songs often express the complex emotions behind everyday activities, and Garland leads the way in giving them depth and style.

People remember “The Trolley Song” for its upbeat tone and onomatopoetic hook, but Esther also envisions an entire romantic arc with John in the lyrics, before they’ve even revealed their feelings for each other. Garland’s vivid facial expressions tell the whole story, while John sits oblivious in the seat next to Esther.

The most discordant moment for the Smiths comes when Alonzo announces his unilateral decision to take a job in New York City and bring the family with him, but they quietly come back together as Alonzo and Anna perform a duet of “You and I” at the family piano. Each person slowly trickles in, taking their place in the living room and picking up the cake and ice cream they previously discarded in a huff. It doesn’t actually solve the problem, but it shows the tender care that the Smiths always have for each other.

Minnelli never lets that tenderness curdle into toxic nostalgia, even while looking back at what some might label a simpler time. Like film versions of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women or Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story, Meet Me in St. Louis takes the personal reflections of its source material (Sally Benson’s short stories) and makes them into something both specific and universal. Meet Me in St. Louis may not be a Christmas movie, but it’s perfect for the holidays because it always feels like home.

“Meet Me in St. Louis” is streaming on Tubi and is available for digital rental or purchase.

Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He's the former film editor of 'Las Vegas Weekly' and has written about movies and pop culture for Syfy Wire, Polygon, CBR, Film Racket, Uproxx and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.

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