Meet Me In St. Louis

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knitwit45
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

Post by knitwit45 »

The two scenes in the movie that make me cry every time are Mother and Father at the piano, and Grandpa telling Esther about Grandma, and asking her to the dance. sniff....
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JackFavell
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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Oh, gee, the music swelling up into Auld Lang Syne at the dance gets me everytime. And about eighty more scenes!

Tootie on the ice wagon can make me cry if I'm in the right mood. Then again, I cry at Miracle of Morgan's Creek. I'm such a doofus. :D

I can't bear to hear Margaret O'Brien outside tearing apart her snowpeople.

Another never fail scene is Leon Ames in the almost empty house - it's so wonderful when a character actor gets the time to really show what he's got - I love the look he gets on his face as he looks up to where the picture has been hanging... pure confusion, and makes his realizations. He's so wonderful it just chokes me up. And then when Mary Astor turns away from the happy family and lets us see how worried and upset she was all the time.... oh golly - the waterworks! And the final scene.... "right here in St. Louis!"

I'm a mess and I haven't even watched the movie. :oops: :oops:
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pvitari
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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I think the Leon Ames in the empty house scene is the one that made me decide to screencap this. I turned on the TV, there was MMISL on TCM, and it was that scene. And it was so beautifully staged and lit, and was so poignant, and *poof* the little light bulb popped on over my head as if to say, "There's the next project!"

I usually need a prozac to get through Judy singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." I may require a handful when I get to that for screencapping.
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knitwit45
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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Paula, just think of that song this way: It's the first and most poignant rendition of what is now a standard. Audiences were hearing and seeing Judy Garland perform this for the first time, and it must have been magical.

It's kind of like Owen Wister's book, The Virginian. What we see and read now may seem hackneyed and cliche'd, but when it was first published, it was thrilling.
The Virginian's pistol came out, and his hand lay on the table, holding it unaimed. And with a voice as gentle as ever, the voice that sounded almost like a caress, but drawling a very little more than usual, so that there was almost a space between each word, he issued his orders to the man Trampas: "When you call me that, SMILE." And he looked at Trampas across the table.

Yes, the voice was gentle. But in my ears it seemed as if somewhere the bell of death was ringing; and silence, ...
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pvitari
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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Paula, just think of that song this way: It's the first and most poignant rendition of what is now a standard. Audiences were hearing and seeing Judy Garland perform this for the first time, and it must have been magical.
Knitwit, are you thinking I don't LIKE "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"????

Because I LOVE that song. I find it ineffably poignant to the point where it's hard to sit through because of the emotions it calls up, which is why I made the joke about Prozac. Judy's rendition of it would crack the stone heart of a statue.

I LOVE standards, period. Sinatra and all those great singers of "The Great American Songbook" as well as Broadway cast albums and movie musical soundtracks constitute a major part of the music I listen to every day. I am a member in longstanding of the Sinatra e-mail list.

Anyway, an old song resung is always fine with me. Last night, before Fort Defiance, I watched the 1935 operetta The Night is Young, with Ramon Novarro and Evelyn Laye. The oldest story in the book (prince meets girl, prince loses girl -- Novarro himself did it before, in Lubitsch's exquisite Student Prince in Old Heidelberg). But it was shot by James Wong Howe and it introduced one of the most beautiful and wistful songs ever written, Sigmund Romberg's "When I Grow Too Old To Dream," and Evelyn Laye was wonderful too. I had a grand time watching it, even if Leonard Maltin thinks it's a "bomb." (He's wrong.)
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knitwit45
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

Post by knitwit45 »

I totally misunderstood! (happens a lot) I thought you had to have the prozac to get thru the song because you've heard it one gazillion times too many. sorry...
feaito

Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

Post by feaito »

I had a grand time watching it, even if Leonard Maltin thinks it's a "bomb." (He's wrong.)
Paula, Maltin and his ghost reviewers have been many times wrong; if I recall correctly he rated "Ladies of Leisure" (1930) with two stars and IMO it deserves ***1/2. He rates Ophüls "Letter from an Unknown Woman" *** and it is a masterpiece! Sometimes they're really harsh on some of the older films...
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pvitari
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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One can never get tired of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," or "The Boy Next Door" or the "Trolley Song" or "Under the Bamboo Tree" or "You and I." ;)

That would be like getting tired of life. :)

Heck, I even love hearing the instrumental version of "Goodbye, My Lady Love" during the Christmas dance. :)

I am actually looking forward to screencapping "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" because I know it means staring at Judy at her loveliest once again for quite a while. Vincente Minelli certainly knew how to make her look incredibly warm and human and desirable... what a valentine the whole movie is to her. :)
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pvitari
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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Feaito, the "bomb" review was in Maltin's *classic* movie guide! ;)

I was expecting something really awful when I read the review before I saw The Night Is Young and boy, what a pleasant surprise! I sure hope it emerges as a Warner Archive DVD at some point. But then, I buy anything they release with Ramon Novarro. ;) I'm waiting for Huddle too because I could listen all day to Ramon singing " 'A vuchella" while accompanying himself on the guitar. If only it wasn't such a brief rendition of that lovely song. :)
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mrsl
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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.
My favorite scenario in Meet Me In . . . is the whole Halloween section. It reminds me of when I was a child and all the neighborhood kids went out together just like in the movie, but we went to trick or treat. It was a great time when we didn't have to have parents around and we could run back and forth without worrying about getting run over because everybody watched out for the kids. It truly was a different world back then.

And then when Dad decides they are not going to move. No matter how many times I see that movie, that scene of him calling the family down always make me mentally clap my hands and holler hoo-ray.
.
Anne


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* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *

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feaito

Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

Post by feaito »

pvitari wrote:Feaito, the "bomb" review was in Maltin's *classic* movie guide! ;)
I have that Guide too! Besides the regular TV Movies Guide....I'm glad to read your positive comments on the film, since Evelyn Laye did not participate in many films.
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JackFavell
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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It is a testament to the power of Meet Me In St. Louis that I have so much of the movie memorized. I am usually the one in the classic film conversation going, "When did THAT happen?" because I have a sieve for a brain, and don't remember details unless they are slapped across my face. But in that movie, I can conjure up whole scenes in my mind without having seen it recently. Not just what the scenes are, or the dialogue, but the sounds in the background, the music playing and how it is orchestrated, what people are wearing, the looks on faces......the way raisins sound when they are dropping on the floor...... :D
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pvitari
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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A quickie before bedtime, just because it's so beautiful.

Image
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JackFavell
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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Beautiful!

Tom Drake never looked more handsome.
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knitwit45
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Re: Meet Me In St. Louis

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That scene, and the one on the porch at Halloween, made a 13 year old girl fall madly in love with Tom Drake. The movie was shown 2 times that weekend, on the "Million Dollar Movie" Saturday and Sunday...he truly was beautiful, wasn't he? and what a gorgeous voice.
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