Miracle on 34th Street
One popular small-talkish question is, "What is your favorite movie?" For years now, I've answered the same way, Joe vs. the Volcano and Miracle on 34th Streen. If I'm feeling particularly loquatious, I might add Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Joe and Sky Captian are unlikely to make anyone's top 10 lists of favorite movies, hell, they are unlikely to make anyone's top 100 lists (yes, there are people who have top 100 lists). Because today is Boxing Day, 2023, I will discuss Miracle today and leave those other two treasures for some other time.
When I refer to Miracle I am referring to the 1947 original motion picture and not the 1955 made for TV version, the 1973 made for TV version, or the 1994 remake. I have never seen these remakes so I'm in no position to judge their quality save to say they are abominations and the guilty have, so far, escaped punishment for their sins.
The 1947 Miracle on 34th Street is a perfect movie. Our heroine, Doris Walker, works for New York department store, Macy's. Doris, played by Maureen O'Hara is all business, a divorcee supporting her daughter, 6-year-old Susan (played by the adorable Natalie Wood). She's the only woman who works in Macy's upper management and has no time for nonsense or "fairy tales," an attitude she's passed on to Susan who doesn't play "pretend" with the other children and doesn't believe in Santa Claus, knowing that her mother will buy her any presents she wants, "as long as it is sensible."
Across the hall from the Walkers lives Fred Gailey, an idealistic young lawyer with a bit of a crush on Doris. He befriends Susan and together they plot to finagle an invitation from Doris for Thanksgiving dinner so the two adults can get to know each other. Love begins to bloom!
One of Doris's responsibilities for Macy's was to organize the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Parade which always ends with Santa on the last float. But the Santa she hired shows up drunk ("I fella's got to do something to keep warm!). She is saved at the last minute because a kindly old gentleman (Edmund Gwenn, who won an Oscar for the role), who looks exactly like Santa is there and take over the job at the very last minute. So impressed is Doris that she hires the kindly gentleman so play Santa at Macy's for the whole Christmas season.
The Macguffin is that it turns out that the old gentleman claims he really is Santa Claus! He lists his name as "Kris Kringle" on his employment card (and his age as "As old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth). Doris moves to fire him, thinking he's deranged, but he's so popular as Santa that Mr. Macy himself forbids it. The rest of the movie revolves around the issue of whether or not the old man really is Santa. Kris, with Fred's help, takes on the task of convincing Doris and Susan to believe, even though their common sense tells them not to: "Faith is believing things when common sense tells you not to." Things escalate on various fronts until events land in court where the issue needs to be legally decided. Gosh, I wonder how things will turn out? No spoilers here.
Now look, I'm an atheist. We raised our kids without Santa because lying to them about it made us feel icky. But I love this movie unreservedly. While I don't really embrace "faith" neither do I embrace "common sense." Hell, in 1947, I'm sure every man's "common sense" told them that a woman had no business being in Macy's upper management, so lay down "common sense" as if it was a trump card because it definitely is not.
What is masterful about Miracle is the way it balances between "faith" and "common sense." As people embrace Kris as the real Santa Claus, we can see their motivations for doing so aren't always clean ones. Mr. Macy claims Kris is Santa because Kris's popularity is making the profits of the toy department soar. But, Macy also sees how much the children who visit Kris love his kindness and thoughtfulness. Fred pushes for Kris being Santa because he sees it as a possible way to break through Doris's hard-headed opposition to romance and idealism. The judge doesn't immediately commit Kris to Bellvue because he's facing re-election and his political advisor tells him there's no way he can win the election by ruling there is no Santa Claus:
Charles Halloran: But you go ahead Henry, you do it your way. You go on back in there and tell them that you rule there is no Santy Claus. Go on. But if you do, remember this: you can count on getting just two votes, your own and that district attorney's out there.
Judge Henry X. Harper: [shaking his head] The District Attorney's a Republican.
The toughest nut is six-year-old, Susan. Raised by her mother not to tolerate nonsense, she is entranced by Kris, who teaches he to use her imagination, but thinks he's just a nice old man with long whiskers. But then she sees him speaking Dutch to a little refugee girl (remember this is right after World War II) and begins to entertain the possibility that Kris really is Santa. Finally she sets up a test for Kris to pass, which he apparently fails to do. And then, apparently, succeeds to do.
The movie is also hilarious, which character-driven comedy and snappy one liners. Mr. Shellhamer, head of the toy department trying to convince Doris not to give Kris the sack, "But... but maybe he's only a little crazy like painters or composers or... or some of those men in Washington." Mrs. Shellhamer, who only appears for about 30 seconds, steals the scene by agreeing to let Kris stay with them: "We'd looove to have your Santa Claus come and stay with us! We think it would be simply chaaarming!" Or this:
Kris Kringle: You know what the imagination is?
Susan Walker: Oh, sure. That's when you see things, but they're not really there.
Kris Kringle: Well, that can be caused by other things, too.
The thing I like best about Miracle is that it never decides for you about whether or not Kris really is Santa. Just when you think the issue is decided, a new twist appears, right up to the final shot. And, is it Santa that is the question or love and kindness? As Fred tells Doris, "Look Doris, someday you're going to find that your way of facing this realistic world just doesn't work. And when you do, don't overlook those lovely intangibles. You'll discover they're the only things that are worthwhile." Hard to argue with that.
jpj stories by John Jackson is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
