Don't be deceived by this nostalgic album on the Smith family in 1903 St. Louis, just as they think they may be moving to New York. Sure, it's Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli in the one summer their garden allowed, with “The Trolley Song,” “Under the Banyan Tree,” as well as family arguments over catsup, boyfriends, and who knows best. And it's a wartime film to reassure every soldier that home is still fine and dandy, as in no place like. But the airy seasonal structure lets in so much uneasiness. Halloween is really frightening. At Christmas, Margaret O'Brien is a storm of mixed emotions. And the Smiths do not leave St. Louis. The musical had years more to go, but Meet Me is a turning point in which we can see that the form was open to the depth of America, to tragedy and anxiety as much as feeling good.