Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

George Seaton

Writers:

George Seaton (writer)
Valentine Davies (story)

Release Date:

2 May 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

Capture the spirit of Christmas with this timeless classic!

Plot:

When a nice old man who claims to be Santa Claus is institutionalized as insane, a young lawyer decides to defend him by arguing in court that he is the real thing.

Plot Keywords:

Santa Claus | Macy's | Thanksgiving | Lawyer | Christmas

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Maureen O'Hara	...	Doris Walker
John Payne	...	Fred Gailey
Edmund Gwenn	...	Kris Kringle
Gene Lockhart	...	Judge Henry X. Harper
Natalie Wood	...	Susan Walker
Porter Hall	...	Granville Sawyer
William Frawley	...	Charlie Halloran
Jerome Cowan	...	Dist. Atty. Thomas Mara
Philip Tonge	...	Julian Shellhammer

Also Known As:

The Big Heart (UK)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Dutch

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | UK:U | Germany:o.Al. (DVD) | South Korea:All | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #12122)

Filming Locations:

Macy's Department Store - 151 West 34th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The scenes at Macy's were shot on location at the main New York store on 34th Street itself. Shooting was complicated by the fact that the crew's power needs exceeded the store's electricity capacity and required additional power sources arranged in the store's basement.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kris is finishing up his examination, Dr. Sawyer is portrayed in a combination of three camera angles. As the angles change his hands go from raised above the desk to palms down on the desk to folded on the desk. The hands change positions continually throughout the scene.

Quotes:

Susan Walker: You mean it's like, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.'
Doris Walker: Yes.
Susan Walker: I thought so.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

National Emblem

Holiday Combination That Works Well

Still among the most worthwhile of the familiar holiday movies, this classic version of "Miracle on 34th Street" has a combination of cast, story, and production that works well. Maureen O'Hara, young Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn would probably have carried it pretty well by themselves, and they are joined by a very good supporting cast. The screenplay is nicely done, bringing out the fantasy elements of the story without letting it become trite.

Gwenn, who played many solid character roles, gets the chance here to play a role for which he was ideally suited, and it works very well. O'Hara and Wood make a good pair to balance him out. The supporting cast gets some very good moments of their own, especially Gene Lockhart and William Frawley, whose scenes are entertaining while also offering some occasionally pointed commentary.

The style of the production is well-suited to the material, offering an innocently upbeat story without overdoing it on sentimentality. For all that this style of the production and acting are out of fashion, they are able to capture a theme like this in a worthwhile way that is simply not possible with the kind of false "sophistication" that permeates so many present-day movies.

That's not to say that this is some kind of masterpiece, which it is not and did not try to be. Instead, it's a light, enjoyable, positive movie that does make a worthwhile point or two. That kind of feature will always find an appreciative audience somewhere.