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I have been meaning to see Miracle on 34th Street for a long time but the list of films to see was and still is endless but when I noticed that it was on TV, I decided to watch it especially when it was only a couple of days until Christmas. I realised that I needed to see the original film first seeing as that obviously earned better responses and reviews than the remake did. Plus, I have had friends and family who have recommended it and said that it is a Christmas treasure and it certainly was! This is probably the most underrated Christmas film publically but it rightfully deserved the award nominations it got such as Best Picture 1947 and won Best Supporting Actor (Edmund Gwenn), Best Writing Original Story and Best Writing Screenplay.
There are probably loads of people out there who call Miracle On 34th Street a fantasy film because it involves Santa Claus but I wouldn't call it fantasy because it doesn't involve fictional creatures like in Christmas films like Elf, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Santa Clause trilogy but it just involves an old man in a Santa's outfit who claims to be Santa so there is nothing fantasy about that and there is no involvement of mythical creatures or objects. Despite the fact I really liked Miracle On 34th Street, I did find there was actually one very crucial flaw. No, not what was based within the film but the outcome of how people would think about the film. The film is about Santa Claus and it questions his existence and everyone is doubting it, right? Well, it is a children's film and no normal sane child would grow up believing in Santa Claus as a child so I think if children watched this as a child, it ruins the belief of Santa's existence seeing as the characters in the film speak of Santa doesn't exist and saying that this friendly old man is insane for claiming that he's not Santa and that Santa is just a myth. So it does effect its target audience so, to be honest, I am pretty damn glad I never saw this as a child and didn't see it until Christmas 2010 when I know Santa doesn't exist. Well, I have known that for years anyway.
At the Macy's Department Store Thanksgiving Day parade, the actor playing Santa is discovered to be drunk by a whiskered old man. Doris Walker, the no nonsense special events director, persuades the old man to take his place. The old man proves to be a sensation and is quickly recruited to be the store Santa at the main Macy's outlet. While he is successful, Ms. Walker learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and he claims to be the actual Santa Claus. Despite reassurances by Kringle's doctor that he is harmless, Doris still has misgivings, especially when she has cynically trained herself, and especially her daughter, Susan, to reject all notions of belief and fantasy. And yet, people, especially Susan, begin to notice there is something special about Kris and his determination to advance the true spirit of Christmas amidst the rampant commercialism around him and succeeding in improbable ways. When a raucous conflict with the store's cruelly incompetent psychologist erupts, Kris finds himself held at Bellevue where, in despair, he deliberates fails a mental examination to ensure his commitment. All seems lost until Doris' friend, Fred Gaily, reassure Kris of his worth and agrees to represent him in the fight to secure his release. To achieve that, Fred arranges a formal hearing in which he argues that Kris is sane because he is in fact Santa Claus. What ensues is a bizarre hearing in which people's beliefs are re-examined and put to the test, but even so, it's going to take a miracle for Kris to win.
Maureen O'Hara was absolutely fantastic as Doris Walker. She is one of those people who will not stand for any of this Santa and excitable children business about Christmas and she fears it'll rot her daughter Susan's mind about believing and getting over-excited about someone who really does not exist. I guess many could say that Doris is to start with like a female Ebenezer Scrooge (leading character in Charles Dickens's classic Christmas novel A Christmas Carol) or another Mr. Potter from It's A Wonderful Life but when Kris begins to slightly prove that he is the real Santa, then she slightly changes her mind about him. O'Hara originally turned down the role as she returned home to Ireland but when she read the script, she immediately changed her mind and went back to America. John Payne was pretty good as Fred Gailey. Fred is the babysitter of Doris's 6-year-old daughter Susan aswell as an attorney and a neighbour of theirs. Edmund Gwenn was absolutely outstanding as Kris Kringle! He really is exactly what kids around the world would imagine Santa to be like regarding both appearance and personality. He totally deserved that Academy Award and I would say that it is perhaps one of my favourite supporting male performances of all time. Natalie Wood was a child star in this before she rose into fame and despite being a child; it is definitely one of the best child performances that I have seen in a long time.
George Seaton wasn't only the director of Miracle On 34th Street but he was also the screenwriter of it too. The remake of this film has the exact same script so I guess, he was part of that remake as well. Anyway, as for how he did in the original version, I think he was a great director and did a great job of it but because of that crucial flaw I mentioned that wasn't in the film but the outcome that might have rocked it a little bit. If not Seaton, I would have liked a director like Frank Capra, Robert Wise or Victor Fleming to have made it instead even though Seaton was a great director choice. His screenplay was touching and despite we obviously know it is a kids film and it is a Christmas film, we can easily feel the magic of the Christmas season.
Overall, Miracle On 34th Street is a fantastic Christmas film that I will watch every year before Christmas (like It's A Wonderful Life, The Nightmare Before Christmas, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Love Actually). Despite that one flaw I mentioned previously in the review, it is something that I did really enjoy and would recommend as a great Christmas film and one of the best films of the 1940s.
