91. Miracle on 34th Street

George Seaton, 1947

There are three films that I need to watch every Christmas or it just doesn’t feel like Christmas. I don’t know what it would feel like instead. Probably Arbor Day. Anyway, one of them appears higher up on this list. Another is Ernest Saves Christmas, and thank God that we can rely on the stout heart of one Ernest P. Worrel to save Christmas each year. The other, and most recent addition, is Miracle on 34th Street. For those of you who haven’t seen it, and you should be ashamed, this is the story of a man named Kris Kringle who shows up at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and is appointed the store Santa. He proceeds to be the best Santa ever, telling parents where to go to buy toys that Macy’s doesn’t have, even to Gimble’s. Damn you, Gimble! Soon, Macy himself comes around to Kris’ way of thinking and Kris gets no more hassle. Meanwhile, he’s staying across the hall from Maureen O’Hara and her disbelieving daughter, all the while teaching them to believe in things again. Yes, that thing is Santa, but the film is clearly implying renewed belief and faith in general. So, you know, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Chanukah Zombie, Arbor Al, Jesus, etc. Thing is, Kris, who usually lives at a funny farm, low security no worries, up state, really believes he’s Santa. This leads to a court case in the third act to determine whether or not this man is legally Santa. Great stuff.

Really, this is an amazing and thoroughly genuine movie almost sixty years after the fact. Damned heartwarming is what it is. But the reason it ranks so highly for me is a lot like the reason I like Superman: The Movie so much. It takes a popular, (clear the room of children) fictional character and strips him down to his core qualities, all the while reinforcing what makes him so beloved around the world. With Santa, that means crafting the nicest, kindliest old man who ever lived. Yeah, it might be a little femmy of me, but I don’t care. I leave this movie, every year, just digging Santa and remembering why it was so much fun to believe in the Jolly One as a child. And that’s just what this movie does. For an hour and a half, you get to believe in Santa again, you get to be a little kid on Christmas morning and its an amazing accomplishment for any film. This wouldn’t be possible without Edmund Gwenn’s masterful performance as Kris, bringing a glow, a wisdom, and an absolutely contagious mirth to the character. Finally, I’d like to share with you all my favorite moment from this film. Does it choke me up a little? Maybe, I’m not sayin’, but what it does do, without question, is get at that absolute core of who Santa is. So, Kris is sitting there in Macy’s holding court before a bunch of little kids when a woman brings up the next little moppet. One problem, though, she tells Santa that the kid is Dutch. Doesn’t speak a lick of English, but she insisted on coming to see Santa. He, she believes, will be able to understand her. Now, it’s important to note that, at this point in the film, the other characters and the audience all see Kris, not as the One True Santa, but as an amiable cook. We love him, but he ain’t Santa. This is reinforced within the movie itself by Natalie Wood, disbelieving nine year old watching from the sidelines. Anyway, Santa has the Dutch girl on his lap and, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle, he starts speaking to her in Dutch. The woman who brought her is amazed. The little Ducth girl’s face lights up with joy, but not with surpass. After all, she knew Santa would understand her. So, there’s Kris Kringle, supposedly a crackpot, sitting there and singing a traditional Dutch Christmas song with this little girl. Natalie Wood sees it all and she comes to the same conclusion we do. Kris Kringle is Santa Claus and that’s a miracle.