Hi, Welcome back!
For the final few entries in my review series, I shall be looking at a lot of the time- honored classics. For this installment, I will be looking at one of the most beloved Christmas films: ‘Miracle on 34th St.’ Made in 1947, it was directed by George Seaton, and stars Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara, and a young Natalie Wood,
The story actually starts on Thanksgiving, at the Macy’s Parade. A jolly old man known as “Mr. Kringle,â€(Gwenn) heading through the city, is disgusted to see that the man playing Santa Claus in the parade had been drinking on the job. Because he looks a lot like Santa, Mr. Kringle takes his place in the parade, and is such a huge hit that Mr. Macy and Mrs. Walker (A decent yet cynical woman played by Maureen O’Hara) hire him to be the official Macy’s department store Santa. Eventually, many people such as Mrs. Walker’s daughter Susie (Natalie Wood) begin to suspect that Mr. Kringle actually is the real Santa Claus.
Mr. Kringle at one point says that he has for many years been concerned that the commercialism of the holidays and general business of current society has caused people to forget about the importance of Christmas. He decides to help Mrs. Walker and Susie (A heavily rational girl who doesn’t like fantasy and is in danger of becoming as cynical as her mother) learn to open their hearts as a way of seeing if the world itself can be changed for the better in such a way. He does start to make a positive impact on them, and on a lot of other people, but an altercation with the heartless Macy’s mental examiner Mr. Sawyer results in Kringle being thrown in the nuthouse.
Determined not to let Kringle be permanently committed, Mrs. Walker’s lawyer friend Fred Gailey (John Payne) decides to defend him in court. From there, it proceeds into a case in which the very existence of Santa Claus is under debate.
As much of a classic as ‘Miracle on 34th St.’ is, it has a few hang- ups. One is that some have said that, in the end, the sort of loophole that Gailey uses to help win Kringle’s case wouldn’t have worked in real life. Another one (Though this is an understandable one) is there’s a quite touching scene early on in which, when Kringle is doing his thing in Macy’s, a little orphaned Dutch girl who can’t speak a word of English comes up to him, but undaunted, he speaks to her in perfect Dutch, and the two have a friendly talk. Problem is, there’s no subtitles, so you have no clue what they’re saying. I guess it’s ok, though, since subtitles probably weren’t big in movies back then, if they were even around at all. Also to kind of remedy this, a few days ago I found on Youtube a video which includes a full translation of what they say in that scene, which turns out to be quite a nice little conversation. I’ll include the link to it (The translation is provided in the video description):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9U1-Lb1qKMThat being said, it still is plain why ‘Miracle on 34th St.’ is now a yuletide classic. It’s funny, heartwarming, and gets a lot of good messages out about being compassionate to others, genuinely caring more about people than about monetary success, and not judging those who seem a bit strange.
As far as performances go, Edmund Gwenn is absolutely marvelous as Kris Kringle. He’s friendly and warm- hearted as usual for a Santa actor for the most part, but he’s also capable of being assertive and even angry at times, such as when he tells off the drunken parade Santa in the beginning of the film and stands up to the mental examiner Sawyer a bit later on. By the end, you’re left not entirely sure if he really is Santa Claus as he claims, or just a nice old man. I can see why Gwenn won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for this role.
For the rest of the cast, Maureen O’Hara as Mrs. Walker is a bit annoying but sympathetic, and seeing her warm up to Kringle and the others as the story goes on is really nice. Natalie Wood is sweet and enchanting as Susie, a girl who is clearly very intelligent for her age, yet still has trouble with simply using her imagination. Like her mother, she undergoes a great change that is delightful to see. As Mr. Gailey, John Payne makes for a likable hero, always going out of his way for others, and finding himself believing in Kringle more and more each day. You know he’s inevitably going to end up with Mrs. Walker, but seeing it happen is still fun.
There you have ‘Miracle on 34th St.’, a wonderful film well- deserving of its classic status. I’ll try and get one more review out tonight, but it’ll be a short one.
