{"id":13148,"date":"2010-12-22T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2010-12-22T11:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=13148"},"modified":"2014-11-15T08:43:32","modified_gmt":"2014-11-15T13:43:32","slug":"miracle-on-34th-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=13148","title":{"rendered":"Miracle on 34th Street (1947): A True Christmas Holiday Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Miracle<\/a><\/p>\n

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)<\/p>\n

On Thanksgiving,\u00a0my family usually keeps the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade on, with my dad yelling for all of us to see a float or something now and then.\u00a0My mom has always enjoys watching the Rockettes and gets a kick out of their kicking.\u00a0But nowadays my siblings and I usually wander off and play RockBand and come shuffling in when dad yells that Santa\u2019s on the TV. There was always a part of me that dreaded Santa Claus in his sleigh at the end of the parade waving in the Christmas season.\u00a0I was never one for holiday spirit, Christmas cheer or holly jollies. I was that cynical kid who realized Santa was just a lie told to little kids to guilt their parents into buying them gifts at the end of the year to keep our American capitalism rolling. Today, I realize why I never understood Christmas: I had never seen Miracle on 34th Street<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gasp! \u00a0Shock! I know; \u00a0Somehow my anti-Christmas spirit would put on some horror or sci-fi movie instead. Santa Claus\u00a0Conquers the Martians<\/a> was about as jolly as I could get without puking candy canes.\u00a0But now, at the nearly-too-late-for-Christmas-wonder age of\u00a025, I\u2019ve finally seen Miracle on 34th Street and realize that Christmas can be magical if you just set your cynicism aside for a while.<\/p>\n

The film starts on Thanksgiving, when Kris (Edmund Gwenn<\/a>), a kind old man who looks like Santa Claus, stumbles upon a drunk man about to play St. Nick in the Macy\u2019s parade.\u00a0He brings the appalling situation to Doris Walker (Maureen O\u2019Hara<\/a>), the parade\u2019s director, and she asks if he can play Santa. Kris does such a wonderful job that he is asked to be Santa in Macy\u2019s store.\u00a0He helps parents find the toys their child asks for, even if Macy\u2019s doesn\u2019t carry it. At first, this enrages the executives at Macy\u2019s, but once they realize that the honesty will bring the customers back, they make it their policy to be most helpful.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Doris makes an odd discovery concerning their sweet, helpful Santa. His employment card reads Kris Kringle, his address is listed as the North Pole, and his next of kin are eight reindeer. She\u2019s suddenly very concerned, thinking that the old man is crazy and believes he really is<\/em> Santa Claus.\u00a0Macy\u2019s decides to give the man a few tests to see if he is stable and he passes wonderfully.\u00a0But one slip up puts Kris in an institution, and soon there\u2019s a competency hearing that becomes a trial to prove or disprove whether\u00a0he is who he says he is.<\/p>\n

\"Miracle<\/a>No-nonsense Doris has a young daughter following in her footsteps.\u00a0Little Susan (Natalie Wood<\/a>) is a very serious girl who does not like to play pretend with the other children and has no belief in Santa, partially because her mother believes in telling her daughter the truth, rather than having her believe in fairy tales.<\/p>\n

When Susan meets Kris, he starts to convince her that he is the real Santa.\u00a0Susan witnesses a magical moment where he speaks to a little Dutch girl in her own language and even knows a Dutch Christmas song.\u00a0When Susan is still not entirely convinced she tells Kris what she wants for Christmas, but it\u2019s a tall order, even for Santa.<\/p>\n

This film is just wonderful.\u00a0It\u2019s filled with Christmas spirit and sweet moments that feel like magic. \u00a0All these moments, from Kris telling the man setting up a display that he has the reindeer in the wrong order to the big happy ending, are just perfect. There\u2019s just the right amount of awe that pulls at your heart but it never gets to sweet or too cute.<\/p>\n

I believe that this film is so likable simply due to Edmund Gwenn\u2018s performance as Kris.\u00a0He plays such a kind, sweet and genuine old man, never overselling the fact that he is Santa Claus. There\u2019s a hint of mystery he keeps about his real identity, which I remember wanting in lesser Christmas films as a child. When\u00a0faced with Susan\u2019s scrutiny he naturally turns it around, shows her the importance of an imagination and even gives her lessons on pretending.\u00a0It\u2019s the simplest moments, where he seems to just casually breeze into enlightening moments with the other characters, that are most heartwarming and magical. He made me believe he could really be Santa. Anyone that can make me<\/em> believe in Christmas has got to deserve his acting Oscar.<\/p>\n

The whole film just feels like it is naturally full of wonder. I love that we only see Kris as a sweet old man in New York.\u00a0The only time he dons the red-and-white suit\u00a0is when he is playing\u00a0Santa in the parade or in the store. We\u2019re never taken to a silly-looking toy shop in the North Pole or shown reindeer flying or elves in ridiculous costumes running around.\u00a0We are simply shown realistic images of the Christmas spirit, not the children\u2019s myth.\u00a0The best part about this is that if you have one of those cynical kids who can poke holes in every other Christmas movie (Those reindeer aren\u2019t really flying!), they can\u2019t do that in Miracle on 34th Street. Santa is already on trial here, with grownups and children alike hanging on a verdict to see if he is real.\u00a0No snarky eight-year-old can find a loophole in the logic. Just try it on your little Scrooge and see.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Christmas isn\u2019t just a day, it\u2019s a frame of mind\u2026 and that\u2019s what\u2019s been changing. That\u2019s why I\u2019m glad I\u2019m here, maybe I can do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now, get in on the magic of Miracle on 34th Street with the original theatrical trailer from 1947:
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