My Review of Miracle On 34th Street (1947)

Written by George Seaton And Valentine Davies

Directed by George Seaton 

Fred: "Faith is believing things when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles."

For the first time the other night, I actually watch this. I've been a fan of the 1994 version since I was a child and I've always wanted to catch up with this one. This week I finally did.

The movie started with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and you've got the Santa sloshed, much to the annoyance of event director Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara). Fortunately there's Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) and he's more than qualified to assume the role of Santa Claus.

In fact, Kris was so good in the role that Doris's own daughter, Susan (Natalie Woods) started to believe in Santa Claus and she was convinced by her mother that he didn't even exist. All Susan wanted was a family and her mother's friend, Fred Gailey (John Payne) as her stepdad. Fred wanted that too.

Within this film we saw Susan tell Kris Kringle her wish for a bigger family while preparing herself for Kringle to be unable to deal. Then there's the altercation with the disgruntled Granville Sawyer (Porter Hall) that nearly ruined Kris's reputation. Of course the court scenes only further added to Kris's credibility about being the real Santa.

The ending of course was mostly Susan getting her wish. I mean both Doris and Fred got together as she wanted and the house of her dreams. It was enough for Fred to consider the idea of Santa being real after all.

- In this version of the movie, Kris spoke Dutch to an adopted girl.

- Macy's and Gimbels only agreed to be featured in the movie after seeing a cut of it. If they hadn't, the movie would've been rewritten.

- Standout music: Jingle Bells and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

- Chronology: Thanksgiving up to Christmas Day in New York.

This version of Miracle On 34th Street, I think it's a classic after seeing it. Brilliant performances and a wonderful sense of magic to proceedings to boot. You really will believe in Santa Claus after watching this.

Rating: 8 out of 10