This is my seventh year of doing Christmas movie reviews and I still enjoy writing about them just as much as watching them every Christmas Season. I am amazed at how many people in various countries choose to read my Christmas reviews in the heat of summer, maybe just to cool off, don't you think?
"Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to."
Miracle on 34th Street has always been one of my favorites, and I always find it ironic that way back when this film was made in 1947 they had to deal with the commercialization of Christmas too.
The film stars some movie greats from that era: Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, a young Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Kris Kringle. And if you look closely you will even recognize William Frawley who played Fred in the I Love Lucy sitcom of the 60's.
Mrs.Walker, played by Maureen O'Hara, is in charge of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and needs to find a quick replacement for Santa Claus who's a bit intoxicated. And what to her wondering eyes shall appear, but a genuine look-a-like Santa who really goes by the name Kris Kringle.
Kringle does such a great job playing Santa in the parade, and why wouldn't he, Mrs. Walker hires him to play Santa Claus at Macy's department store. Kris Kringle doesn't need to play Santa, because he really is, and that's how this story unfolds.
The entire story revolves around one simple word, a word we all struggle with in various ways, the word believe. Kris Kringle has the inevitable task of convincing the judicial system that he is who he claims he is and needs to get Mrs.Walker to believe in people, but also finds himself having to transform an unimaginative little girl named Suzy (played by Natalie Wood) to believe not just in him, but to believe in anything.
This past viewing of this film made me realize how much Mrs. Walker messed up her child's head.
Mrs.Walker carries with her doubts and fears, doesn't believe in people, and she passes that off to her daughter raising her not to believe in anything. As a second grader, Suzy doesn't believe in anything or anyone because her mother has shut down what all little kids need; to be able to use their imagination. Mrs. Walker in her defense explains that if she allows her daughter to believe in fairy tales she might grow up to believe in anything and everything. It is here that you can tell Mrs. Walker needs help in her parenting skills. The first step in believing as an adult is learning to believe as a child. Whether it's believing in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy, we all need to start somewhere.
"Getting children to believe in something is just the beginning of having them believing in something greater." - Me
Upon first meeting Suzy and learning of her mother's inept ways of raising her, Kris Kringle teaches Suzy how to pretend by using her imagination for the very first time as they pretend to be monkeys. It is at this moment where we can actually see Suzy being able to be just who she really is, a child.
While portraying himself at Macy's, there..I said it, he's really Santa Claus, Santa begins to have an effect on the children who sit on his lap. When one child asks for a fire engine and Kringle says yes, the child's mom steps in and says Macy's doesn't have that toy anymore. That's when Santa gets in BIG Trouble! He suggests to the mother another store to purchase her precious son's toy.
Wait?!! If Kringle really is Santa, why would he tell the boy's mother where to purchase the fire engine? Ha! Never thought about that one, did ya'? On with the story...
At first, Kringle is in trouble for sending customers to different stores, but Macy himself catches on when customers are thanking him and his employees for their kind Christmas gesture, and Macy decides to make it their Christmas agenda. Obviously a marketing ploy to get more business. One of the more noteworthy quotes from this film comes from Kringle during the whole fiasco of sharing Christmas Spirit and helping people get what they need, no matter what store it's from,
"Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind."
Kringle gets sent to a department store psychologist and is given an exam because he thinks he really is Santa and his employment history is checked and verifies him as being Kris Kringle. So now Santa is in a sack of trouble and Mrs. Walker's neighbor Mr. Gailey an attorney, decides to take on the case as Kris Kringle is sent to permanently live at Bellevue Mental Hospital.
This is where we get to really see how messed up Mrs. Walker really is with her human condition. She gets upset that Gailey has quit his prestigious law firm to defend Kris Kringle, calling Gailey's resignation an idealistic binge over some lovely intangibles. Mrs. Walker just has no faith in the common good of people and it shows. But Gailey having spent time with Kringle is convinced that he truly is Santa Claus and tells her that one day she might discover that those lovely intangibles are the only worthwhile things.
This is why I love Mr. Gailey and everything he represents. He has a heart for people, believes in the common good of people, and is willing to stick his neck out to help people. But this is also a result of Gailey having developed a relationship with Kringle. Whereas Mrs.Walker struggled with relationships on all levels due to her own failed marriage, as she so readily admits in this story.
The courtroom trial I always found to be humorous, especially when the prosecutor's young son is called to the witness stand by the defense and is asked to identify Santa Claus in the courtroom, to which young Tommy quickly points to Kringle without hesitation. The judge asks for more physical evidence to prove Santa Claus is real. With all the newspaper headlines filling their front pages with Santa on trial, the post office figures out a way to get rid of all the sacks of letters to Santa they have collecting dust in the basement. They send the sacks of letters to the courthouse.
So Kris Kringle gets pardoned and is declared to be the one and only Santa Clause. But more importantly he's changed Mrs. Walker's heart into believing in people. Some will say it was more important in fulfilling Suzy's desire and Christmas request for a house with a tree swing, which comes into fruition in the end. But I believe it was more important for Mrs. Walker's heart to change because she has many more years of raising her daughter Suzy. Like Mrs. Walker, we too struggle with believing in people. But as Maya Angelou would say,
"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
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