Miracle on 34th Street (1947) review

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Directed by: George Seaton

Produced by: William Perlberg

Screenplay by: George Seaton

Starring: Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood, Porter Hall, William Frawley, Jerome Cowan, Philip Tonge

What comes to mind when you think of the term “summer blockbuster?” Big action, exciting and adventurous stories, larger than life scales, all of which typically add up to boatloads of box office cash. Well, how about a heartwarming Christmas film? That’s right, despite being known as a wintertime classic, the original “Miracle on 34th Street” was released in June 1947, because Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck believed more people would go to the movies in warmer weather, and the advertising deliberately left out any implied Christmas themes. But in a way it’s strangely fitting, because as the film portrays, Christmas isn’t just a day, but a frame of mind, and that comes across in this collection of tender performances and beautiful conveyances of faith and kindness.

The story begins on Thanksgiving Day, at the annual Macy’s parade in New York City; an old bearded man who calls himself Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) discovers the man assigned to play Santa Claus (Percy Helton) is visibly drunk. When he alerts event director Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara), she persuades him to fill in the role; Kris does so well that he’s hired to play Santa at Macy’s department store for the season. Though conflicting with Macy’s initiative to recommend overstocked items, his goodwill and honesty results in a public relations bonanza; but trouble arises when Doris realizes that Kris believes he really is Santa Claus. This goes against her teachings to her young daughter Susan (Natalie Wood), who’s been raised practically as a product of Doris’s past heartbreak. However, while Susan and various Macy’s executives and employees like Kris, a run-in with the incompetent psychiatrist Sawyer (Porter Hall) results in him being sent to a mental hospital on the grounds of being mentally unstable. So it ends up as a court case, where Doris’s neighbor Fred (John Payne) has to prove to Judge Harper (Gene Lockhart) that not only does Santa exist, but that Kris is the one and only.

When you consider how many acclaimed actors have played Santa over the years, it’s almost impossible not to consider Edmund Gwenn one of the best to ever do it. What I really like about this performance is that it isn’t 100 percent jolly and wholesome; obviously Kris is as genial and caring as you’d expect from the role, with an uncanny ability to relate to children of all cultures and mindsets. But he can be quite stubborn and even a little bit brash about topics he feels very strongly about, but it all comes from a mindset of wanting to do good, and the amount of dignity he feels towards Santa and Christmas in general. When he meets the drunk Santa at the parade, he’s angry and offended, because he knows the kids deserve better than that. Apparently, they filmed Gwenn as Santa in the actual Macy’s parade, and according to the cast and crew, he always had such an authentically happy twinkle in his eye, they started to believe he actually was Santa, especially young Natalie Wood.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about Susan and Kris’s chemistry; when we first meet Susan, she’s polite and well-spoken, but also cynical and unyielding, mature for her age but almost to a fault, lacking imagination to the point where she doesn’t know fairy tales or even how to play pretend. Thankfully, it’s not to such a degree that it’s unrealistic, as there are still moments where she has a childlike sense of innocence and wonder. Wood plays her with a keen shrewdness, particularly in her eyes; the same can be said for Maureen O’Hara as Doris. In a lesser film, I can easily see this character being too hard-nosed and easy to hate; but we understand where she’s coming from, that she feels it’s her responsibility to prepare Susan for an unkind world. Through their situation, there’s a certain joy in watching the characters discover real value in just having something to believe in, no matter how impossible it seems.

Apart from the sentimental nature, the movie also makes time for smart commentary about consumerism, public perception and even mental health. Some of the characters acknowledge that Kris’s belief is most likely a delusion, but a harmless one that shouldn’t prevent him from living his life. If anything, the real delusion is that a big corporation will set aside their capitalist agenda for the sake of Christmas. All joking aside, it’s great how they work it into the story, in that by not focusing strictly on profit, the stores make even more profit than normal. I also really like that the movie never outright states whether or not Kris is the real Santa; it’s more about why his image and reputation really matters, not what’s real and what’s not. It’s a testament to director/writer George Seaton’s dialogue that’s both intelligent and funny, although there are storylines I could do without. I like John Payne as Fred, but his and Doris’s relationship is a bit dull, and Harper’s interactions with his political advisor Halloran (William Frawley) feel needlessly tacked on. Also, while I enjoy the vibe of the courtroom scenes, the way it’s ultimately resolved is absurd, with our heroes winning almost entirely by luck.

I know the topic of Santa Claus can be controversial; should we still teach our kids about the myth of the man who flies around the world and delivers toys by coming down the chimney? In my opinion, as long as it’s clear what he represents—joy of giving, capacity to love and acceptance—I don’t see a fault in allowing the story to continue getting passed down, and that includes the story of “Miracle on 34th Street” as well. Well-shot, well-written and especially well-acted, it’s a movie that by all accounts, everyone involved with it was genuinely happy and proud about playing a part of, so much that O’Hara would always play along whenever children would ask her if she was “the lady who knows Santa Claus.” That kind of enthusiasm and passion is all over the screen, and 75 years later, those qualities deserve to be celebrated, so give this a watch, and allow yourself to believe in Santa all over again.

My rating: 9/10