Miracle on 34th Street (Blu-ray)

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What better way to prepare for the annual Macy´s Thanksgiving Day Parade than to watch the original 1947 classic "Miracle on 34th Street" and the John Hughes´ penned 1994 remake sharing the same title back to back. It wasn´t until I was older that I came to appreciate the George Seaton directed original adaptation of the Valentine Davies story. The film was always dull to me and I didn´t care much for either the romantic subplot or a house for the little girl. As a young boy, Christmas was more about the toys and the parade itself. I loved Santa Claus, but nothing behind the jolly white-bearded Kringle mattered in the film beyond the more commercial elements of Christmas. It was great to see Santa Claus in a movie and the film was proof that Santa had to exist. I´m far older now and sensibilities and beliefs change.

Edmund Gwenn won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Santa Claus and to this day, when I think of how Santa Claus should look I think of Gwenn and his portrayal in "Miracle on 34th Street." He was the ´photographic´ evidence of Santa growing up and when you are a young impressionable youth it is hard not to believe that Gwenn was indeed Kris Kringle. His performance is fantastic and over sixty years later he is still, at least in my mind, the definitive Santa Claus. The film was nominated for four total Academy Awards and brought home both "Best Writing" categories in addition to Gwenn´s win, but it failed to take home the Best Picture Oscar. Regardless, Gwenn is perfectly cast in "Miracle on 34th Street" and will always be Santa Claus to me.

The George Seaton screenplay begins with Kris Kringle coming across the Macy´s Thanksgiving Day Parade Santa Claus (Percy Helton). He is drunk and should not be riding the sleigh down 34th Street to mark the beginning of Christmas and Kringle seeks out the Parade´s director, Doris Walker (Maureen O´Hara), and informs her that her Santa Claus should not be permitted in the Parade. She agrees and talks the very willing Kringle to be the new Parade Santa Claus. After the Parade, R.H. Macy (Harry Antrim) has Doris hire Kringle to serve as Santa for their nine-story department store in New York City. Early during his tenure as Santa, Kris causes a commotion when he sends a customer to the competing Gimbel´s department store for a better item that what is sold at Macy´s. This new approach to salesmanship excites customers and is embraced by Macy.

Doris enjoys the job done by Kringle as Santa Claus, but she has long taught her daughter Susan (Natalie Wood) to not believe in make-believe things and this includes Santa Claus. However, her neighbor Fred Gailey (John Payne) babysits young Susan at times and had let her watch Kringle in the Parade. Susan becomes more and more curious about Santa Claus and questions arise between Susan as to whether or not Santa exists. She witnesses Kringle speak in Dutch to a foreign girl and then is challenged by Doris to ask Santa to deliver her something difficult for Christmas that only Santa Claus could bring her in order to discover if Kringle really is Santa Claus. Doris expects her daughter to be disappointed and Susan asks Kringle for a house for her and her mother.

When Doris first asks Kringle if he is Santa, he insists that he is and this prompts her to fire the potentially mentally-challenged Kringle. This prompts Macy to insist that Kringle be brought back, but put under tests by the store psychologist Granville Sawyer (Porter Hall). Kringle passes the tests with flying colors, but comes under scrutiny by Sawyer. Later on Kringle discovers that Sawyer has caused a young man who dresses as Santa a great deal of stress and Kringle approaches Sawyer to defend Alfred (Alvin Greenman). The confrontation ends when Kringle beans Sawyer in the head with his cane and sends Kris off to court in a high profile case where he is defended by Seaton in front of Judge Henry Harper (Gene Lockhart) and against District Attorney Thomas Mara (Jerome Cowan). All of New York City is in a stir over the case to prove that Santa Claus does or does not exist.

There are a number of other subplots in the film and the primary one has Fred Gailey having strong romantic interests in the lovely and emotionally distant Doris. Gailey gives Kringle a place to stay while he works at Macy´s and the two plot to prove to Doris that Santa exists and Gailey hopes to win her heart. There are a number of issues surrounding the trial and this original film wholly argues about the existence of Santa Claus. The film does not stray into the religious undertones of the Hughes remake and keeps things simple enough to be enjoyed by all. The scene where tens of thousands of letters are delivered to the courtroom for Kringle is a memorable scene and one of the uplifting holiday moments.

I´ve already mentioned my belief that Gwenn is the man I remember as Santa Claus. The rest of the cast is superb. Maureen O´Hara is best known for her starring roles in the John Ford and John Wayne films including "The Quiet Man," but the attractive Irish woman is very good as the young American businesswoman in this film and Natalie Wood was launched into stardom after her role in the film and comparing Wood´s performance against that of Mara Wilson in the remake is completely unfair as Wood was a great talent from a young age onwards until her tragic death at the age of forty three. John Payne had starred alongside O´Hara in a few films and he is best remembered for his part in "Miracle on 34th Street." While Payne doesn´t stand out, he is nicely cast against O´Hara.

Part of the beauty of "Miracle on 34th" street is its ability to escape to a simpler time. Post-war New York City was busy, but nowhere near the overcrowded metropolis it´s become today. I´ve ridden up and down the wooden escalators in Macy´s and been in the store during the crowded Christmas holiday shopping season. It is no longer a place where you take young children to sit on Santa Claus´s lap and Gimbel´s is no longer in existence. The family and personal aspect of Macy´s is long lost and a marketing manager can certainly not earn a bonus big enough to afford a house in the outlying reaches of New York City and commute into downtown Manhattan. The streets are now gridlocked and Christmas lights are easily outshined by the massive buildings that have sprung up over sixty years of time.