‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas . . .’ So sings Esther Smith (Judy Garland) to her sister Tootie as they ponder the prospect of the family leaving behind their loved ones in St. Louis and relocating to New York. It’s the imminent change that undermines the Smiths’ customary happiness over the four seasons leading up to the great Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 – a change too, perhaps, for the wider world as it means the end of an era.

Despite those dark undercurrents however, Minnelli’s tender, witty musical rivals the start of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons in expressing, elegantly and eloquently, a warm nostalgia for an easier, slower, gentler way of American life. The production design, Technicolor cinematography and songs all contribute to the affectionate mood, but it’s the performances and the deceptively light script which supply the emotional substance. As so often, the late, great critic Tom Milne was right in assessing it as ‘one of the great musicals.’ (Notes by Geoff Andrew.)