Man, oh, man. Christmas movies simply don't get much better than this. Now, there have been a lot of movies made in which Santa Claus showed up, claimed himself to be the jolly ol' elf and was doubted. This one puts all of them to shame. Also, there have been at least two remakes of this film. Forget about those, too -- the original one was perfect and stands as a legitimate, honest-to-goodness classic.

Not only is the film downright hilarious and absolutely brilliant in execution. Heck, there's even a thinly-veiled message here which folks ought to take time to consider this time of year. Well, I'll get back to that later.

The film centers around Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn), a well-spoken fellow with a beard who looks like a stereotypical Santa Claus might. He happens upon the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and encounters a drunk hired to play Santa in the parade. The "drunken Santa" gets sent packing by Macy's official Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) and, naturally, Kris Kringle gets hired to play Santa Claus.

Kris proves so appealing, in fact, that Walker hires him to play Santa in the Macy's Department Store (the one in New York, of course). However, Kris starts to stir up controversy in a hurry. The controversy starts when he sends a Macy's shopper to another store to buy a toy (explaining that pleasing children is more important to sales), and causes Macy's officials to panic. Ah, but the "promotion" turns out to be great, and none other than R.H. Macy (Harry Antrim) praises the idea as something which will increase the public's opinion of the store and make him more profits.

Ah, but all isn't well in the life of Kris Kringle. First of all, he makes an attempt to get both Walker and her child, Susan (Natalie Wood) to believe in his message. Kris advocates utilizing imagination, having faith and forsaking commercialism and mechanical practicality in favor of generosity, kindness and other "intangibles" which the career-minded Walker has abandoned.

Secondly, there's Macy's in-house psychiatrist, Mr. Sawyer (Porter Hall) who believes Kris to be nuts because the jolly old man claims to be Santa Claus. Sawyer seeks to have Kris slapped in a mental institution, and starts the legal proceedings to have him put away and removed from society.

But, Kris does have at least one ally -- lawyer Fred Gailey (John Paine). Paine throws his support behind Kris and defends him in a commitment hearing in court. Now, the court sequence is downright brilliant. I won't give too much away, but suffice it to say Kris' case is bolstered by the interests of Macy (who doesn't want to be quoted in the newspapers as saying his Santa is fake), Judge Harry X. Harper (Gene Lockhart -- who doesn't want to face the political ramifications of ruling there is no Santa Claus) and even district attorney Thomas Mara (Jerome Cowan -- who doesn't want to tell his son there is no Santa Claus). The 20-minute court sequence, frankly, has to be one of the most touching and gently amusing sequences ever filmed.

I really think I've said a bit too much about the plot. Go see the movie for yourself and pay particular attention to the impact Kris has on everyone who comes to believe in him. While you're doing that, think back to the New Testament and notice the amazing similarities between Kris and Jesus Christ. After all, Kris entered into a mean ol' city, spread his message of kindness and giving, won some followers and was put on trial to prove his identity.

That sounds like a Christmas movie to me, anyway, and one that is heart-warming but never resorts to cheap, sentimental tricks to invoke an emotional response in the viewer.

Are there some problems in the film? Well, yes. First of all, it's in black & white and the sound on my DVD is mono. That doesn't bother me a bit, but this movie just "sounds" thin on my home entertainment system because I'm used to movies encoded with surround sound. Second, there was no attempt at all to stick with established rules of judicial procedure in the court scenes. I doubt most people won't notice that, however, as I have a unique curse -- I went and got a law degree and practiced for four years. I abandoned the law practice a long time ago, but I still can't help but notice minor details about court sequences in films such as this one.

On the whole, Miracle on 34th Street is a Christmas classic and one worth watching during the holiday season.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4