8 Great Movie Musicals To Watch This Holiday Season

8. Meet Me In St Louis

Watch With: Your grandparents. Perfect viewing on a cold afternoon with a hot drink. 1944 hit movie musical Meet Me In St Louis is a feel-good uplifting movie, originally designed to boost the morale of the American people during the Second World War. Seeped in nostalgia, the movie charmingly, if not accurately, recreates St Louis, Missouri in the early 1900s. Shot in glorious Technicolor, featuring a star-turn by Judy Garland and awash with stunning costumes and catchy songs, it is little wonder Meet Me In St Louis remains one of the most best-loved movie musicals of its era. If you are worried the feel-good factor and the joyous musical numbers render the movie over-sentimental, you need not worry. The principal plot revolves around the proposed relocation of the Smith family from St Louis to New York and the threat the move poses to their future happiness. Older daughter Esther (Garland) sees the move destroying her bourgeoning relationship with 'The Boy Next Door', younger daughter Tootie (an Oscar-nominated Margaret O'Brien) cannot bear to leave St Louis and the entire family regrets the fact they will not see their home city host the Great Exhibition of 1904. Meet Me in St Louis' emphasis on family and winning balance between humour and pathos makes the film great holiday viewing. Perfect for the young, the old and everyone in between, even those members of the family normally adverse to 'cheesy films' might find themselves enjoying this musical classic.