Miracle on 34th Street

1947's MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET is one of my favorite Christmas movies.  Both warm hearted and knowing from the opening moments, when Kris Kringle informs the man arranging toy reindeer in a window display that he's doing it incorrectly.  It is the perfect introduction to the bearded man who insists he is the real Santa Claus.  Screenwriter/director George Seaton plays with this notion right through to the final shot, finding endless scenarios that become increasingly complex, leading to Santa finding himself on trial. 

Edmund Gwenn makes a perfect Santa, er, Kris.  He not only looks the part but has a certain essence, a screen presence in which the actor disappears.  You can't believe he's not Santa Claus. We're with him every step of the way, from his replacement of a drunk Santa on the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade float to his eventual court appearance.  He will meet Macy's event director Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) and her young daughter Susan (Natalie Wood), a rather serious child taught by her mother not to believe in fairy tales. Thus, how can Kris be anything but a kindly old man in her eyes?

The resolve softens when Susan hears Santa speaking Dutch to an orphan girl from the Netherlands.  How could he do that? Over time Susan will follow his advice to loosen up and use her imagination, even acting out like a wild monkey.  Doris' neighbor Fred (John Payne), a suave bachelor, hopes Doris will do likewise.  Maybe not the monkey part, but you never know. 

Much of the plotting of MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET involves the question of whether Mr., Kringle is insane.  Or at least delusional.  Fred, an attorney, will come to represent him.  Does he really believe? Or just feel that such a positive force should be allowed to think what he wants.  Many others agree, including R.H Macy (Henry Antrim) himself, who thinks Kris' idea of sending customers to Gimbels and elsewhere when his store doesn't have what a kid wants, but fosters goodwill in their parents, who declare they will be loyal Macy's customers thereon.  

Seaton, who adapts Valentine Davie's story (both of whom won Oscars), creates magic in every scene with a perfectly selected cast.  Most are serviceable (including Natalie), not particularly showy.  But really the film lives and dies on Gwenn's performance.  What I feel also makes this more than just some cozy holiday fare are the numerous winks, the acknowledgements of how commercial Christmas has become (even in the 1940s!). My favorite such moment is when Macy takes the witness stand.  We are treated to his thoughts, and they really (hilariously) cut to the marrow.