Review of Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) by Ryan M — 25 Apr 2009

I like that the author of the flixster synopsis felt obligated to declare 'Meet Me in St. Louis' "intentionally self-contained". Maybe that was written in order to contrast the film with Minnelli's much looser and endlessly reflexive masterpiece 'The Band Wagon', because while 'Meet Me in St.

Louis' IS glorious, its ambition to be a "living postcard" inevitably makes the film more static than Minnelli's later work. Still, the movie's an embarassment of riches. Minnelli obviously had a great deal of affection for the subject matter here, to the point where the film seems disengaged with everything but its creator's passion (I think few could pretend that 'Meet Me in St.

Louis' engages at all with its historical moment, for example, or with its pretty stock themes -- it's a celebration of nostalgia executed with redeemingly great direction).