Holiday Classics: “Our Vines Have Tender Grapes” (1945)

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes is exactly the sort of heart-warming family drama MGM excelled at. That may make it sound overly trite and sentimental, but the film is crafted with such earnest sincerity, from its skilled performances to its charming vintage production design, in which studio soundstages stand in for rural Wisconsin. That’s where […]

Holiday Classics: “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944)

The Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is a standard during the holidays, and has been ever since Judy Garland first sung it in the 1944 MGM musical “Meet Me in St. Louis”. But if it wasn’t for Garland, it probably would have been a much different song. Martin […]