Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

As Good As It Gets

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

When Santa falls down drunk in the Thanksgiving Day Parade, reluctant Macy's supervisor Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) offers the job to a bearded Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) purporting to be the real Santa! During the Christmas season, he shares a flat with Doris's neighbor (John Payne), who has eyes for Doris. Kris hopes to unite the two while winning over Doris's skeptical 6-year-old daughter (Natalie Wood).Many movies and television films have stolen from this film. One movie that stole from the courtroom scenes is the terrible movie "Kidco".This film is well made and is a classic for a reason. "It's Near Perfect"

Hugely bored and depressed by the gloomy french 36 quai des orfevres, that also happens on Christmas eve, i look for something more essential and inspired for 1947 and as soon as i have noticed this one, i knew that was the perfect choice.Maybe Xmas is an universal holiday but i admit that only US understand it right and thus only American movies find this Christmas spirit.Here the story is wonderful: like the Ghostbusters, the real Santa Klaus is sent to Bellevue (NYC mental institution) and only the spirit of justice can save him.It boils with kids joy, human love and there is some great moments: the parade, the store shop, the courtroom.and for sure, the cast is just wonderful with special mention to late Natalie Wood: i left her as a teen in Rebel without a cause and now i found her 10 years before as a kid believing with all her heart in this Holiday!Along Home Alone, it's a really feel good movie that you want to enjoy alone when sad or with your family waiting for the bearded man!

Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) employs a kindly old man to be her Santa Claus both on parade and in Macy's department store after discovering that her intended Santa Claus is intoxicated. Doris is initially happy with her new Santa Claus as he actually looks like Santa Claus (real whiskers and all). However, when Santa Claus (played by Edward Gwenn) starts claiming that he is the real Santa Claus Doris is horrified especially after she's explained to her young daughter Susan (Natalie Wood) that Santa Claus isn't real. Santa Claus AKA Kris Kringle ends up institutionalised as a result of his claims (and also due to the behaviour of unscrupulous psychiatrist Granville Sawyer). Having established enough evidence to believe that Kringle is the real Santa Claus lawyer Fred Gailey (John Payne) takes Kringle's case to court to prove once and for all that he is the real Santa Claus.I think one of the key successes with a film like Miracle on 34th Street is that it is a film that has great appeal to very young children but it also has some themes running throughout the film that adult audiences can also pick up upon. Clearly children are the key target audience here (given the nature of the premise it's probably a film that will work better with very young children). However, if you delve deeper then it's clear that there is also plenty of content and commentary on offer to an adult audience as well.The selling point for an adult audience is that the film also remembers what Christmas is actually about and actually manages to turn negatives into positives - the film focuses on such things as Christmas being far too commercialised, it also focuses on corporate greed and consumerism (department stores trying to manipulate kids into buying items they're overstocked with rather than toys that they actually want). It then turns these negatives into positives by Kringle's notion of being honest with the kids by referring them to another store if Macy's doesn't have the toy that they want. Initially, the head of Macy's department store is angry about the idea of losing business, but Kringle's actions have so much positivity about them that it ends up bringing good PR to Macy's. This leads to a funny moment where the heads of the two biggest department stores are actually encouraging shoppers to buy things from their rivals store which is both ironic and very clever.I think some of the best moments in the film are the scenes between Kris Kringle and Susan Walker (Natalie Wood). As mentioned, Gwenn is excellent here and is probably everything that kids imagine Santa Claus to be - kind, wise, caring, selfless. Considering Natalie Wood was only around 9 years old when this was made I thought her performance here was terrific and at times she almost steals the show from Gwenn. She's neither overly-cute, annoying or bratty and basically just portrays a young girl who slowly starts to believe in something that she's always been told isn't real. The chemistry and warmth displayed between the two characters was a joy to behold. Of course the film had other strengths as well, but Gwenn and Wood were the real stars of the show here.Miracle on 34th Street is a film with plenty for children and adults alike to enjoy. Young children will bear witness to a wonderful interpretation of the mythical man with the white beard who delivers all their presents on Christmas morning. For adults there's a bit of escapism and subtle nods about commercialisation, corporate greed and consumerism and again I liked the idea that these negative aspects were given a positive spin. It's certainly a film I wouldn't mind watching every now and again at Christmas.

Miracle on 34th Street is the enchanting 1947 holiday classic that made a star out of a 10-year girl named Natalie Wood.The film stars Maureen O'Hara as Doris Walker, a no-nonsense executive at Macy's Department Store who has to replace a drunken Santa Claus for the parade and hurriedly hires a replacement (Edmund Gwenn) who identifies himself as Kris Kringle. Though Mrs. Walker temporarily accepts his identification, she is bothered when, even though he is smashing success as the department store Santa, he makes an impression on her daughter, Susan (Wood), who is aware of her mother's job and has already been taught by her mother that there is no such thing as Santa Claus. However, evidence that Kris might be the real thing keeps piling up and when the man won't say he's anyone else, he is threatened with being institutionalized.This film pushes all the right emotional buttons, thanks primarily to the smooth direction of Seaton and his Oscar-winning screenplay with Valentine Davies. Edmund Gwenn also won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Kris Kringle, which fascinates because he actually makes you believe this guy is who he says he is. Natalie Wood is wonderful as little Susan, who somehow manages to make the character mature without being annoying. Wood's performance is probably my favorite performance by a child actor ever. Maureen O'Hara's crisp performance as Doris Walker is a nice anchor to the story and John Payne is charming as Fred Gailey, the lawyer who ends up defending Kris during his sanity trial who also falls for Doris.If you've never seen this classic, it's a must-see that will surely become a holiday tradition. The film was remade for television in 1973 and theatrically in 1994.