DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Meet Me In St. Louis (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). (1 Viewer)

[John Kilduff]

Clang, Clang, Clang
Goes my wallet
Sounds good,
And I know why
I saw it once on TCM
I know that it is a must-buy.

(Sung to the tune of "The Trolley Song")

I've actually only seen bits and pieces of this, but I liked what I saw. I'm buying.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

How will this look next to "Lethal Weapon" in my DVD collection?

 

[Bill Parisho]

I remember that Dick Cavett special. I just don't remember when it came out. 1973? Anybody know?
I agree. Along with Oz,has to be Garland's greatest film. And now the PBS special coming out with Easter Parade?? America! What a country!!!
Bill Parisho

 

[Roger Rollins]

Only 10 days more until MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS is released, and I will certainly be first in line at BEST BUY to get this and all four of the other Garland titles being released that day.

Many kudos to Herb Kane for a thoughtful, and beautifully-written review. Quite comprehensive and very exciting.

From his indications (and the review I just saw at dvdauthority.com it certainly seems like Warner Brothers has pulled out all the stops for this, and rightfully so.
It's a gem of a movie.

I'm most excited about another film receiving this Ultra-Resolution treatment, as well as the 5.1 audio. The stereo track created for the 1994 laserdisc was a revelation at the time, so I can only imagine how much more impressive this new 5.1 will be. Given that it is derived from original multi-channel pre-recordings (like SINGIN' IN THE RAIN was), it certainly has the potential to highly impress.

 

[Derek_McL]

Just a warning to British customers get the region 1. Warner UK in their wisdom have dropped a disc's worth of the extras from the region 2 edition coming in May. St Louis is a wonderful film and I envy those who haven't seen it.

 

[Dane Marvin]

Fantastic review, Herb! I'm only 23 but still consider myself relatively late in discovering the classics. When I blind buy this, it will be my first complete viewing of the film. Blind 2-Disc purchases also included Casablanca, Treasure of the Sierra Madre & Singin' in the Rain, all of which I have absolutely adored.

I eat up the second disc special features on these things every bit as much at the features themselves, but this one looks like one of the most packed Warner SE's yet!! I can't wait to see all this stuff. Thanks for the review; this is mine on release day.

 

[DeeF]

I received my copy.

OH MY GOSH!

It's stupendously done. The movie is peerless, of course, but none of us have ever seen it like this (just watch the documentary, made in 1994, if you want to see what the movie looked like BEFORE).

The quality of the cinematography can't be overly praised -- it is sublime. At one point (in the documentary) Vincent Minnelli says that he thinks a movie stays with you by virtue of a thousand details which are hidden to the audience. This was never more true than in this movie.

On Disk 2 is the pilot for the TV series made in 1965. The show looks pleasant and drab. One is immediately aware of the cheapness of it, the costumes, lighting, and dialogue all ordinary and flat. It really makes you appreciate the movie.

DVDs were invented for this kind of revelatory experience.

Get it!

 

[oscar_merkx]

never seen this before either so will be a blind purchase

 

[DeeF]

It's pristine and perfect, probably a better incarnation of the picture and sound than what audiences saw in 1944. There are details of the film that I've finally seen and understood for the first time, and I've seen the movie quite frequently over the years, including going to revival theaters like the Biograph and the Regency in NYC to see it. In the documentary made in 1994 (included on disk 2), you can see what the movie looked like in 1994, and the difference is staggering.

This movie was a sensation when it opened, starting the golden era of MGM musicals which essentially ended with Gigi, 14 years later. I think MMISL was innovative in its day, mostly for the subtlety of the story, performances, and the glorious details.

I would call it the first Technicolor musical, though this is debateable. The Wizard of Oz came before it. But The Wizard of Oz is really a fantasy, not a musical per se, and the one musical number representing feelings (Over the Rainbow) is in black and white, or sepia. MMISL brings music into real life, people walking around the house singing, singing to other people on the Trolley, and mixing it all up with actual diegetic songs like Under the Bamboo Tree, etc.

The details of color, costume and set design, lighting (particularly in the scene where they walk through the house turning off the gas lamps) really have never been surpassed, even in Gigi. The 1965 TV pilot of a MMISL series looks like high school in comparison.

And the restoration of these things is so important. In an interview I saw some years back, Martin Scorsese said that as movies aged, and became scratched, and duped too many times, bringing out too much contrast, the actual expression is lost, and often things become incoherent to the audience. I noted that I could understand Margaret O'Brien now, though her lines haven't changed. The movie is now so beautifully restored, that the story now seems almost profound in its simplicity.

Vincent Minnelli certainly knew how to photograph Judy Garland. Until this movie, she had always been presented as the bubbly, wisecracking friend with the big voice -- but never the pretty, desirable girl. MGM wanted to change that image, but how? They tried diets and pills, but it took Vincente Minnelli to determine how to present her properly to the audience.

In the movie, she is playing a different role than before, a beautiful boy-hungry girl that people are crazy for. In every one of her songs, she is "framed" by something, either an actual window frame (Boy Next Door, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas), a door frame (Under The Bamboo Tree) or people all around (The Trolley Song) or even specific lighting effects (the stairs when she sings to Tom Drake). Though Judy Garland's eyes were almost
completely black, Minnelli found a way to make them sparkle, by shooting lights onto them FROM THE REAR while she is in profile. It's a remarkable effect which I've never noticed before.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Dee,

now I *really* can't wait to get it! On of my ALL TIME favs. I cry every time I watch it...the "have yourself a merry little Christmas" number just knocks me to the floor. I can't wait to screen this on my new PJ.

-dave

 

[Alex S]

I've never seen it.
Is it a good blind buy ?

How does it compare to Carousel ?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Oh don't get me started. Carousel is a misogynist film about a woman who loves a man who excercises physical violence against her and she does the only "right" thing a woman from the 1950's can do...sticks with him regardless because she doesn't deserve anything better. I get angry every time I even think about it

Not to mention IMO it's a pretty bad movie/musical.

Switching gears...

Meet Me in St Louis is right up there with the all the other classical films from the era (Wizard of Oz, GWTW) and as a musical deserves to be on the shelf next to all the other "staple" musicals like Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Singin' in the Rain etc.

 

[PaulP]

Yeah I know what you mean. I'm 24 and I always think how I have about 100 years of cinema to make up still

 

[DeeF]

I'm not up for the debate, but I think Carousel is pretty... prescient... for a story about a couple living in the 1870s. I don't find it misogynistic at all, but rather about a woman who redeems a man with her purity. But I can understand why people today get angry with her -- it's not behavior that we tolerate today (from either of them).

But a digression... just this week I also picked up Liliom, the play from which Carousel was based. The movie is in French, with Charles Boyer as Liliom! It's hardly been seen in this country.

Directed by Fritz Lang, it is quite amazing to see. From 1934.

Here's what I wrote about it on another board:

If you can imagine the movie M (about a child molester/killer with Peter Lorre) mixed with Freaks (a circus) mixed with Carousel, you can imagine this Liliom.

It is about the darkest movie I ever saw. Everything is photographed on expressive sets. The contrast between the shadows and the highlights is very strong (although this may be a product of the age of the print, which is clearly several generations down). German Expressionism was somewhat over by this time, though Orson Welles aped it in Citizen Kane a few years later.

This is Charles Boyer's last French film before his international stardom. He plays a sneering, leering, lecherous scoundrel of Liliom. During the scene on the park bench with Julie (who is very drab and shy -- it isn't her beauty that attracts him but her utter lack of resistance) Liliom actually fondles her breast. The whole movie is like that -- very sexualized, very 20th Century (the movie's setting is contemporary, not costumed). I was surprised at how Carousel suddenly seemed so sentimentalized -- how did they find that out of THIS?

When Liliom asks Julie if she could face a life with him, her reply is, "If I loved someone, I could face anything. Even death."

When he stabs himself, it is clearly a selfish gesture -- the only means of
escape. After he dies, he is escorted to heaven (called Police Headquarters) by two rough prison guards. Heaven is presented as a vaguely silly place, with little angel dolls and actors with paper wings. Rather than desperately wanting to get "in," Liliom has quite a lot of disdain for the place. The chief "magistrate" is like a local policestation booking clerk.

Just as I felt about my recent experience with My Fair Lady and Pygmalion, I
can't help but think this version of the story is superior.

 

[Brian W.]

Well... I would classify it easily as one of the ten best musicals of all time, if not in the top five -- right up there with Swing Time, Singin' in the Rain, West Side Story, Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, etc.

 

[Chuck L]

What a interesting moment it will be for the sales clerk (at whomever has the best price of course) when they ring up on April 6 this classic film along with Charlie's Angels Season 2!

After this film, my Judy Garland collection will be complete, though short by most Garland fans account. For the WIZARD OF OZ, A STAR IS BORN and MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS are the only ones that I need.

 

[Art_AD]

I am very glad and can't wait to get this and all the musicals being release on the 6th. I am especially glad that this set includes the pilot of the 60's series (I thought I would never get a chance to see that show) and to see the Hollywood documentary as it shows (if I remember correctly) MGM's back lots. Hopefully we will see more TV show movie spin-offs in the future. They missed the opportunity with the Courtship of Eddie's Father, Les Girls and Father Of The Bride (although I still hope for this one). Maybe we will see the The Thin Man, How the West Was Won, Please Don't Eat the Daises, Daktari on with their movie counterparts. I am disappointed that the Meet Me in St Louis 1959 TV movie remake was not included, what a cast that had-Myrna Loy, Walter Pidgeon, Jeanne Crain, Patty Duke, Jane Powell, & Ed Wynn (I guess I will have to what for the "Ultimate Edition", someday.

 

[Jefferson]

I had to stop by to extend my thanks for the review, and to say I am looking forward to owning this set.

MEET ME IN ST LOUIS is a classic, and, to quote
a line from CAROUSEL, "there's nothin' more to say".

 

[Douglas R]

Just got this and Warner Bros have really excelled themselves with a fantastic 2 disc set. Stunning picture quality and a fantastic set of extras which, so far, I've only had time to sample. I love the new 5.1 remix as well. Thanks again Warner Bros!

 

[TonyDale]

Viewed this last night, with the 5.0 track. Honestly, all I can say is "WOW!" Talk about being blown away! I have never seen this film looking this good, sounding this good, but, of course, it is as entertaining as always!

 

[Jeff_HR]

I watched this last night. The DVD is magnificent! Brave WB for a fantastic job done with this film. Judy Garland is stunning. I can see why Vincent Minnelli fell in love with her on this film. It is a crying shame that Hollywood is no longer capable of making a film like this any more. "Meet Me in St Louis" film movie making at its zenith!