Menu
Forums
New posts
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Awards
Log in
Register
What's new
New posts
Menu
Log in
Register
Forums
Entertainment
Movies
What was the last film you watched?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 415497" data-attributes="member: 23"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Meet Me In St. Louis</span></strong> (1944)</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.posteritati.com%2Fposters%2F000%2F000%2F065%2F793%2Fmeet-me-in-st-louis-md-web.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=4488fd4c5351f5c7dcb009aad51b99779b3af304275a1f8838aa89e0eb849141&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 605px" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">I've never watched this, and my main reason for wanting to view it now was to get the full context of the song <em>Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,</em> which was written for this film. It's one of those songs that was long-established as a Christmas standard by the time I was born and to my mind it feels as though it simply always was. It's difficult for me to comprehend a world in which it wasn't heard in some variation each December (and it's a little depressing to consider that Gen Z and even younger Millennials probably feel this way about Mariah Carey's <em>All I Want For Christmas Is You</em>).</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Anyway, I had no idea what the film would be about, other than it involves sisters who each find romance only to find they might have to up sticks and leave their home town. And it turns out that there's not a whole lot more to the main plot than this. There is plenty going on, though, with the focus on the two romances, plus the younger daughter trying to win friends and the house filled with characters such as the forceful cook and the wise old grandad. The little girl becomes borderline cloying at times, but it's all balanced by the ensemble.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">There are lots of gorgeous people in this. The women are true Southern belles, corseted and with Vivienne Leigh hair and gorgeous white teeth (with the era in which the film was made, the Southern locale and the turn of the century period setting I thought of<em> Gone With The Wind</em> several times. How spooky considering Willie was watching <u>that</u> film at the same time). Tom Drake is pushed in some posters as the film's heartthrob discovery, and he is very dashing. Even the parents are most photogenic. Watching Leon Ames as the father was a slightly disturbing experience because he looks for all the world here like a good looking version of Arthur Brownlow from <em>Crossroads</em>. Incidentally, he's also the future big screen Leslie Harrington. Which is even odder since Garland's character kept making me think of a proto Allison Mackenzie.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Judy Garland herself is truly captivating to watch. It's easy to see why she's as big a leading lady as she was, since I found my eyes on her during any scene in which she appeared. I'm not really a musicals person, but the songs all have charm. <em>The Boy Next Door </em>won me over with a line that changed rhythm in order to squeeze in the characters' home address. <em>The Trolley Song </em>is one of those songs I've heard snippets from but have never really heard in full, and it's a nice moment.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Which brings me to <em>Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas</em>. I have seen a video of this scene out of context, but seeing it within the film deepens its meaning. I know <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/original-lyrics-have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas-judy-garland/" target="_blank">the original lyrics were tweaked during production </a> because they were viewed to be too depressing. I like them - they're an antidote for all the festive saccharine, but now I understand even those lyrics more deeply. I've always assumed the original intended line "next year we may all be living in New York" was just a randomly-chosen place to fit the rhyme, but no - it gets to the very heart of the story since that's <u><em>exactly</em></u> what they're all fearing. The final song may have pulled its punches a bit, but at least it still maintains that the present is a bit grim and "we'll have to muddle through somehow". </p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Yikes - it's Eighty years old:</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[MEDIA=youtube]CreWsnhQwzY[/MEDIA]</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The first time I watched this was a TV airing for its 50th anniversary. It was shown over two consecutive nights at 6pm. This cemented the mini-series feeling in my mind.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 415497, member: 23"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=6]Meet Me In St. Louis[/SIZE][/B] (1944) [IMG width="605px"]https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.posteritati.com%2Fposters%2F000%2F000%2F065%2F793%2Fmeet-me-in-st-louis-md-web.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=4488fd4c5351f5c7dcb009aad51b99779b3af304275a1f8838aa89e0eb849141&ipo=images[/IMG] I've never watched this, and my main reason for wanting to view it now was to get the full context of the song [I]Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,[/I] which was written for this film. It's one of those songs that was long-established as a Christmas standard by the time I was born and to my mind it feels as though it simply always was. It's difficult for me to comprehend a world in which it wasn't heard in some variation each December (and it's a little depressing to consider that Gen Z and even younger Millennials probably feel this way about Mariah Carey's [I]All I Want For Christmas Is You[/I]). Anyway, I had no idea what the film would be about, other than it involves sisters who each find romance only to find they might have to up sticks and leave their home town. And it turns out that there's not a whole lot more to the main plot than this. There is plenty going on, though, with the focus on the two romances, plus the younger daughter trying to win friends and the house filled with characters such as the forceful cook and the wise old grandad. The little girl becomes borderline cloying at times, but it's all balanced by the ensemble. There are lots of gorgeous people in this. The women are true Southern belles, corseted and with Vivienne Leigh hair and gorgeous white teeth (with the era in which the film was made, the Southern locale and the turn of the century period setting I thought of[I] Gone With The Wind[/I] several times. How spooky considering Willie was watching [U]that[/U] film at the same time). Tom Drake is pushed in some posters as the film's heartthrob discovery, and he is very dashing. Even the parents are most photogenic. Watching Leon Ames as the father was a slightly disturbing experience because he looks for all the world here like a good looking version of Arthur Brownlow from [I]Crossroads[/I]. Incidentally, he's also the future big screen Leslie Harrington. Which is even odder since Garland's character kept making me think of a proto Allison Mackenzie. Judy Garland herself is truly captivating to watch. It's easy to see why she's as big a leading lady as she was, since I found my eyes on her during any scene in which she appeared. I'm not really a musicals person, but the songs all have charm. [I]The Boy Next Door [/I]won me over with a line that changed rhythm in order to squeeze in the characters' home address. [I]The Trolley Song [/I]is one of those songs I've heard snippets from but have never really heard in full, and it's a nice moment. Which brings me to [I]Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas[/I]. I have seen a video of this scene out of context, but seeing it within the film deepens its meaning. I know [URL='https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/original-lyrics-have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas-judy-garland/']the original lyrics were tweaked during production [/URL] because they were viewed to be too depressing. I like them - they're an antidote for all the festive saccharine, but now I understand even those lyrics more deeply. I've always assumed the original intended line "next year we may all be living in New York" was just a randomly-chosen place to fit the rhyme, but no - it gets to the very heart of the story since that's [U][I]exactly[/I][/U] what they're all fearing. The final song may have pulled its punches a bit, but at least it still maintains that the present is a bit grim and "we'll have to muddle through somehow". Yikes - it's Eighty years old: [MEDIA=youtube]CreWsnhQwzY[/MEDIA] [/CENTER] The first time I watched this was a TV airing for its 50th anniversary. It was shown over two consecutive nights at 6pm. This cemented the mini-series feeling in my mind. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
6 + 4 =
Post reply
Forums
Entertainment
Movies
What was the last film you watched?
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top
