MovieChat Forums > On Moonlight Bay (1952) Discussion > Meet Me in St Louis magic

Meet Me in St Louis magic

posted 15 years ago by laxlon
6 replies | jump to latest

In the years after the huge success of "Meet Me in St Louis" all the studios were trying to replicate the turn of the century family magic of MMISL. Most of those efforts failed, including MGM's own effort, "Ah Wilderness" with Mickey Rooney.

I think this film comes the closest to the level of MMISL. Even has Leon Ames playing the dad. The rest of the cast is first rate, and Doris Day is every bit as wonderful as Judy Garland.

What this film lacks was the talent of MGMs experienced music department. I don't think Warners did as many musicals at this time as MGM, and MGM just did them better. The budget for this film looks smaller than MMISL. I haven't seen this in a while but I think they just sang songs from the era in this film. No new hits like "The Trolley Song" here.

Still I have just recently thought about this film and want to see it again, soon, to see if all I've remembered above is true.

[–] Itsamoomoo 14 years ago

I would pretty much agree. "On Moonlight Bay" is indeed the closest thing to "Meet Me In St. Louis." But despite a first rate cast there is a bit of the magic missing. I hope you've seen it since your posting as I'd be interested in your additional comments.

[–] milliedil 13 years ago

It was shown on TCM last evening and what a delight it was. Lovely tunes, attractive cast, a nostalgia-inducing pleasure to watch and enjoy. Doris and Gordon were terrific together, as they had been in the earlier West Point Story, which I cannot recommend highly enough.

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[–] Eightythreeyearoldguy 13 years ago

Just got it from the library and will be showing it a week from Saturday to my group. They quite enjoyed Doris Day in SEND ME NO FLOWERS, so I bet they'll enjoy this earlier film.

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[–] killerrabbitmp 12 years ago

Yeah. While its not quite as good as Meet Me In St. Louis, it does have a very similar feel.

[–] scarletto_hare 10 years ago

I can't remember where I read but On Moonlight Bay wasn't intended as a an all out musical unlike the sequel.

If you look at the trivia on the sequel "the song and dance numbers are played like a traditional musical, while the original film incorporated the songs more organically within the story."

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[–] dmnemaine 8 years ago

MGM's musical version of "Ah! Wilderness" was titled "Summer Holiday". It's not a great film, but it's not too awful. Rooney was getting a little too old to be still playing teenagers by this time. A couple of interesting trivia facts. In the non-musical version of "Ah! Wilderness" that was made in the 30s, Rooney played the youngest son. Also interesting is that the same year as "Summer Holiday" was released, Rooney played the adult role of Lorenz Hart in "Words And Music". There was a musicalized stage version of "Ah! Wilderness" that was successful in the 1960s called "Take Me Along". That was due mainly to the presence of Jackie Gleason in what was supposed to be asupporting role but ended up a starring role.