★Miracle on 34th Street (1947) DVD★

Director : George Seaton                                    

actors : Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Hara, John Payne        

Subtitles : English, Korean

【Storyline or Review】

# Won 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination.

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 ... 

# Miracle on 34th Street (1947) User Review

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This work has been a comedy joy for over sixty years now, and has even been redone on television a few times - but the original is still the best. It takes a totally fantastic situation (the possible existence of Santa Claus) and looks at it from the real world's point of view.

It has been said that the eventual recognition of Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn, in his Oscar winning role) as Santa is due to the necessity of people and organizations in society that can't decry the Christmas spirit. It's too unpopular to do that. Mr Macy (the fictional owner of the Department store) is not going to denounce Santa, who helps bring holiday shoppers into his store at Christmas (neither - although he is not involved in the court case - would his fictional rival Mr. Gimbel). The wisdom of the entire matter is summed up in a great speech by Charlie Halloran (William Frawley), the political wizard behind Judge Harper (Gene Lockhard). If Harper decides to deny the existence of Santa he'll make enemies of merchants, toy manufacturers, kids and their parents, and others who get some satisfaction from the material side of the holiday season - Harper will ensure his total defeat at the polls! It is a lesson the astute Judge takes to heart.

I suppose that the materialism of Christmas is to be denounced by purists, who think of the spiritual aspects frequently forgotten at Christmas. But the film reaffirms that the materialism of the holiday actually is an engine to the meaning of the holiday. In celebrating the birth and life of Jesus Christ, one is affirming a belief (ultimately) in the goodness of mankind and the truth of love. To show love frequently means sacrifice - here in expensive gifts to loved ones. If the pressures of modern advertising make this materialism too visible, the underlying purpose of gift buying is not to be materialistic but to show one cares for those one loves.

Oddly enough Kris himself is willing to advertise the materialism to a point. At the Thanksgiving Day Parade he is last seen telling the children in the crowd that there are plenty of toys to be bought at Macy's (which, by the way, would be what he or the original "Santa" (Percy Helton) would have had to say in any case). Only later is Kris able to show more selective honesty here - he does tell one customer (Thelma Ritter) where she can get a toy at a cheaper cost than at Macy's. As a result the Department Store picks up on this and starts a policy of guiding people to other stores. In the real world I must admit it would not occur, but one likes the concept and wishes it would.

The characters (for the most part) are likable, the one exception being Sawyer (Porter Hall) the obnoxious store "psychologist". Sawyer misuses his so-called knowledge to make people feel mentally ill(telling one nice guy that his yearly stint at an orphanage as Santa is really from some bad act of his from many years past). Kris tells off Sawyer very easily, separating this vicious quack from genuine therapists who can help people.* 

(*Kris tells his friend Fred Gailey that he can easily control his visits with therapists, because he knows the answers to their questions which are usually the same ones. Actually this happens to be a common problem in therapy when dealing with criminals in prison who know what the therapists want to hear. But Kris actually does know what good they do, and how Sawyer is misusing his power. By the way, Kris/Gwenn makes a mistake in showing how he knows the right answers. He says John Quincy Adams' Vice President was Daniel D. Tompkins. Tompkins (who was Governor of New York in the War of 1812) was James Monroe's Vice President - Adams' Veep was John C. Calhoun.) 

The real spiritual sense of the holiday is shown in the relationship of Kris and Fred with Doris and Susan Walker (Maureen O'Hara and Natalie Wood). Fred begins the process by softening the divorced Doris with his own version of kindness to her and Susan. But it is hard to reach Susan at first (though she likes Fred) because Doris is so determined to make her daughter a realist. It is only when Fred realizes that Doris does not like fancy or the outlandish because of her own hard fall into reality through her marriage that he shakes her up regarding what exactly makes life worthwhile (and it is not an adherence to reality all the time).

As for Susan, her view is softened by Kris, who becomes a surrogate grandfather to her. The snagging point is that her world would be complete if she had a home, not a cramped apartment with her mother. Kris is concerned about the possibility of granting Susan that wish, but does not give up on it. And (as it turns out) it does complete the relationship between Doris and Fred - who will probably marry and move into such a house. We never see this, but we see (in the last shot) a symbolic approval of such a plan from Kris to the young couple. Again an affirmation of love, the center of the Christmas holiday. 

[Miracle on 34th Street (1947) DVD Spec]

Language: English 

Menu: English 

Subtitles: English / Korean 

Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Full Screen

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0

Region: All Regions 

Length: 96mins