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Saturday December 22   Miracle on 34th Street      U certificate 93 min
USA, 1947, Directed by George Seaton, Starring Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwynn, Natalie Wood, John Payne, 93 minutes

Miracle on 34th Street is a feel-good family classic that manages to avoid saccharine sentimentality, delivering instead thought provoking and heart warming entertainment.

Doris – Maureen O’Hara - is a world weary and slightly cynical parent, bringing up her 9 year old girl – Susan, played by a young Natalie Wood – to see the world warts and all. Susan’s is a childhood without make believe or tooth fairies – and certainly no nonsense like Santa Claus. 34th street pic.jpgDoris works at Macy’s department store, and hires a mysterious old man – calling himself ‘Kris Kringle’ - to work as the in-house Santa. He is an outstanding success, the embodiment of goodness, generosity and kindness, the Christmas Spirit in person, in contrast to the commercialism around him. He and Susan soon become firm friends. The thing is, Kris maintains that he is Santa Claus – not just a guy in a beard playing a role, but the real thing. He seeks to give Susan the chance to believe and have faith, even in things that you can’t prove or be sure of.

Kris’s unusual qualities make others suspicious of him, and following an altercation with an incompetent psychologist, he finds himself in court on charges of insanity. The court sequences form the most satisfying part of the movie, when views are challenged and put to the test, and the importance of belief is explored. The judge has vested interests in upholding Kris’s claims (he’s a political figure, and there’s a lot of money to be made out of Christmas, after all) and the Defence Attorney is in the tricky situation of having a 5 year old at home who firmly believes in Santa. The genius of the film is that it does not insist that Kris is Santa, nor does it resort to trickery or magic – yet the audience believes all the same. It is a movie about restoring faith and challenging cynicism, yet it succeeds without being mushy or sentimental, managing to be witty, funny and memorable. A magical film, and perfect pre-Christmas entertainment

 

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