Meet Me in St. Louis

Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 musical film that is based on a series of short stories by Sally Benson that was originally published in The New Yorker magazine as 5135 Kensington. It stars Judy Garland, Margret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart and Joan Carroll. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli, who became Garland's wife afterwards.

Plot
This film follows four beautiful sisters on the threshold of the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. The film spotlights the sisters' struggles with the way of life and about love, via the cute boy next door. By the conclusion, love, a lot of singing, dancing, happiness and heart conquers it all.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The film has plenty of good songs such as the main theme, Meet Me in St. Louis, the upbeat, Trolley Song, and the emotional, ''Have Yourself a Merry Christmas'.
 * 2) The film cleverly balances emotional melodrama and cheerful musical elements, plus a bit of Halloween horrors into the mix, to make an marvelous movie.
 * 3) The film has good performances from Judy Garland, Mary Astor, and child actress, Margaret O'Brien.
 * 4) The film is split into different seasonal vignettes which is very astounding and very original.
 * 5) The film has some pretty emotional moments such as Tootie destroying her beloved snowmen in anger.
 * 6) The film has a clear understanding of how a family works as well as making St. Louis accurately look like it was from the 1900s.
 * 7) The film has some very beautiful set designs and backgrounds, for example, the exterior of the house in different seasons.

Reception
The film garnered critical acclaim from critics and moviegoers alike as it has a rare 100% rating from Rotten Tomatoes, on a average score of 8.69/10. It was also a New York Times Critics' Pick, for which Bosley Crowther said that it was "a warm and beguiling picturization based on Sally Benson's memoirs of her folks."

Trivia

 * The film has a deleted song that was pre-recorded called "Boys and Girls Like You and Me".
 * A few years later, after the film's release, some of the lyrics from "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" were changed for singer Frank Sinatra, who had an issue with the song's generally sad tone.