The Real Santa Claus🎅

Merry Christmas everyone! Miracle on 34th Street is the last Christmas movie to be nominated for Best Picture. Winning for Best Original Story, Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor Edmund Gwenn. Oddly enough, Miracle on 34th Street came out one year after It’s a Wonderful Life. Which was also nominated in the same category. In terms of which one deserves the title of greatest Christmas movie of all time, I’d say they’re about even. Miracle on 34th Street is just a lot more focused on Christmas. Using it for the entire movie. Instead of just the moral and third act. The only problem is something someone did to the movie long after its release. Miracle on 34th Street was one of the first full-length black & white films to be colorized. It was a terrible process that ruined all the classics with stiff unnatural color. You’re a mean one Mr. Turner. Luckily the process ended after the guy considered doing the same with Citizen Kane. I’m so glad my mom told my brother and I to seek out the original Miracle on 34th Street. It’s so much better…

Susan (right) comes to see Santa Claus (left)

Miracle on 34th Street begins with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. A kindly older gentlemen using a cane agrees to fill in to play Santa Claus after the previous actor turns up drunk. He’s so good that he’s also hired to be Macy’s mall Santa on 34th street in New York. Why is he so good? It’s because his name is Kris Kringle and he is, in fact, the real Santa Claus. Edmund Gwenn is the best actor ever to take on the role of Santa. His genuine warmth is everything Santa should be. Not everyone believes Kris though. The woman who hired him, Doris, raised her daughter Susan not to believe in fairy tales since she herself is recently divorced. This was Natalie Wood’s first starring performance and she brings a lot of maturity to the her role. While also showing Susan’s innocence when she asks Kris for a house for her mother on Christmas. Even though Kris’ beard is real, he’s able to communicate with a little Dutch girl, and he suggests other places for people to shop (just so they can get what they need). His kind behaviour still manages to get him institutionalized. Eventually leading to a court case deciding once and for all if Kris Kringle is Santa Claus. With Doris’ neighbor Fred acting as Kris’ lawyer. It’s one of the best court battle’s in film. That’s where the iconic moment where people bring in bags of letters addressed to Santa into court comes from. In the end, it’s never made explicitly clear if Kris is Santa, but I think we all know what to believe in our hearts. Making Miracle on 34th Street a Christmas movie that can never be duplicated or improved on. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Kris joins Susan and her mother for Christmas