Six year old Susan has doubts childhood’s most enduring miracle Santa Clause. Her mother told her the “secret” about Santa a long time ago, so Susan doesn’t expect to receive the most important gifts on her Christmas list. But after meeting a special departement stare Santa who’s convinced he’s the real thing, Susan is given the most precious gift of all – something to believe in.
In this Christmas classic, an old man going by the name of Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) fills in for an intoxicated Santa in Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade. Kringle proves to be such a hit that he is soon appearing regularly at the chain’s main store in midtown Manhattan. When Kringle surprises customers and employees alike by claiming that he really is Santa Claus, it leads to a court case to determine his mental health and, more importantly, his authenticity. The story takes place between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day in New York City, and focuses on the impact of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa. The film has become a perennial Christmas favorite.
“For all those blas skeptics who do not believe in Santa Claus–and likewise for all those natives who have grown cynical about New York — but most especially for all those patrons who have grown weary of the monotonies of the screen, let us heartily recommend the Roxy’s new picture, Miracle on 34th Street. As a matter of fact, let’s go further: let’s catch its spirit and heartily proclaim that it is the freshest little picture in a long time, and maybe even the best comedy of this year.” — The New York Times
“Probably no actor on earth could have done more handsomely by the role of Kris Kringle than Edmund Gwenn, who plays it without a trace of archness and makes sure that things are kept within the realm of credibility when the script becomes too fanciful for its own good. Mr. Gwenn gets sturdy support from everyone else in the cast…The most appealing of the lot, it seems to me, is a girl named Natalie Wood, who turns in a remarkably accurate performance as a progressive-school product indoctrinated against the whole idea of Santa Claus. My guess is that you’ll find yourself nicely refreshed by this neat little fantasy.” — The New Yorker
Starring Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood.
Note: Miracle on 34th Street helped make the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade an American institution. The parade had been around since 1924. However, before the film, the parade was a local New York City tradition that was broadcast locally over television beginning in the 1940s. With its on-location opening scenes, Miracle on 34th Street brought the parade into the national consciousness. National television coverage began for the parade in 1948, the year after the film’s release, and has remained a part of American popular culture ever since.