Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Classic Movies - Christmas Classics: Miracle on 34th Street

At the Macy's Department Store Thanksgiving Day parade, the actor playing Santa is discovered to be drunk by a whiskered old man (Edmund Gwenn). Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara), the no nonsense special events director, persuades the old man to take his place. The old man proves to be a sensation and is quickly recruited to be the store Santa at the main Macy's outlet. While he is successful, Ms. Walker learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and he claims to be the actual Santa Claus. Despite reassurances by Kringle's doctor that he is harmless, Doris still has misgivings, especially when she has cynically trained herself, and especially her daughter, Susan (Natalie Wood), to reject all notions of belief and fantasy. And yet, people, especially Susan, begin to notice there is something special about Kris and his determination to advance the true spirit of Christmas amidst the rampant commercialism around him and succeeding in improbable ways.

**Trivia Question for Today: How many mail bags are carried into the courtroom at the end of Kris Kringle's hearing in Miracle on 34th Street?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: For the scene in It's a Wonderful Life that required Donna Reed to throw a rock into the window of the Granville House, Frank Capra hired a marksman to shoot it out for her on cue. To everyone's amazement, Donna Reed broke the window with true aim and heft without the assistance of the hired marksman!

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