The Miracle on 34th Street

To begin with this movie is only 50 minutes long about half as long as the original 1947 version. It moves at a swift clip and feels rushed. I would guess that this made for TV movie was an hour long program with 10 minutes of commercials and 50 minutes of show.

Much of the script is word for word taken from the '47' version. I swear that the scene in which the balloon or a baseball player seen through a window is taken directly from the '47' version. This is not unexpected as this movies production costs were no doubt limited compared to the '47' version.

What I disliked the most was the character interaction. There were good actors/actresses in the film. Teresa Wright, the mother, and Thomas Mitchell, as Santa, have won Oscar's. Ray Collins, the judge, is well known and respected as Lt. Tragg from the PERRY MASON show. Hans Conreid was a recognized supporting actor and an animated voice actor back in his day. Despite these qualifications the actors just don't mingle well. The worst is Thomas Mitchell as Santa. He seems less jolly and more angry. The one story line that leaves the original film is when Santa hits the story psychiatrist with his cane. In the "47" film it is done in private and is more of a smack to the head. In this film Santa clubs the man in from of an audience full of kids and parents. It is almost vicious! I felt no sympathy for this cranky Santa.

However, if you are a fan of the story adding this film to your collection is not a bad idea. It is nice to compare all the different productions of this film. You can obtain it from various auction sites.

This isn't bad. It was typical of those seen in TV anthologies of the day. Thomas Mitchell does well with the script. But Susan Descher shows little emotion as Susan and Macdonald Carey and Teresa Wright have little romantic spark. Ray Taggart ("Perry Mason") is one of the real bright spots as the judge. No one expects this to pass the Edmund Gwenn version. But it's certainly watchable. Watch and enjoy.

It's definitely not the best version which, in my opinion, is the one with Maureen O'Hara and Natalie Wood. That being said, it's not awful. If I had never seen the first one, I might have enjoyed this more. I keep wanting to compare it to the original but that's not fair. For a 45 minute version, give it a go. Try to appreciate it for its own efforts.

One Kris Kringle (Thomas Mitchell), a department-store Santa Claus, causes quite a commotion by suggesting customers go to a rival store for their purchases...

So, of course, this is not as good as the original, which has since become one of the all-time Christmas classics. And unlike the original, which had a few names in it, this one really has no stars that anyone has ever heard of. And, yes, it does not look as good as the original because no one has bothered to remaster it.

But for what it is, it is not a bad little film. If you want to watch the original story but do not have two hours, here you go: the basic plot in under an hour. I appreciated it, because sometimes you just do not want to invest that much time in television.

Miracle on 34th Street (1955)

*** (out of 4)

Made-for-TV remake of the 1947 classic has Thomas Mitchell playing Kris Kringle who gets a job at Macy's where he tries to convince a non-believing mother (Teresa Wright) and her daughter (Sandy Descher) that he is real and there's nothing wrong in believing. This film doesn't come close to the 1947 movie and I'd say it also falls well short of the 1994 version but there's still enough here to make it worth viewing. Clocking in less than an hour, there's no doubt that the film flies by and I think the story itself is just so charming that it would be nearly impossible to mess it up. As with the earlier version, the story itself is just so good that even the most jaded adult will find themselves wanting to believe in Santa and that's why the story itself is so priceless. Another strong thing this version has going for it are the performances. Mitchell, best remembered for IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, does a very good job in the role of Santa. He's certainly looks the part quite well, which shocked me but he's also got that certain charm that was just made for the role of Santa. It also doesn't hurt that he too has the charm to make you want to believe the character really is Santa. Wright is also very good in her role as the mother who doesn't want to believe and Descher is good as the daughter, although her crying scenes aren't that impressive. Macdonald Carey plays the love interest/lawyer and Dick Foran makes an appearance as well. Again, there's certainly nothing ground-breaking about this version and if you must watch only one then it's best to go with the original but if you're curious about all the different versions out there or if this one here is just within reach of you, it's certainly worth viewing.