| Miracle on 34th Street | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | George Seaton |
| Produced by | William Perlberg |
| Screenplay by | George Seaton |
| Story by | Valentine Davies |
| Starring | Maureen O’Hara John Payne Natalie Wood Edmund Gwenn |
| Music by | Cyril J. Mockridge |
| Cinematography | Lloyd Ahern Charles G. Clarke |
| Edited by | Robert L. Simpson |
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Production
company |
20th Century Fox
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| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $630,000 |
| Box office | $2.7 million (US rentals) |
Miracle on 34th Street (initially released as The Big Heart in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 AmericanChristmas comedy-drama film written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davies. It stars Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn. The story takes place between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day in New York City, and focuses on the impact of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa. The film has become a perennial Christmas favorite.
Miracle on 34th Street won three Academy Awards: Gwenn for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Valentine Davies forBest Writing, Original Story, and George Seaton for Best Writing, Screenplay. The film was nominated for Best Picture, losing to Gentleman’s Agreement. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”. The Academy Film Archive preservedMiracle on 34th Street in 2009.
Davies also penned a short novelization of the tale, which was published by Harcourt Brace simultaneously with the film’s release.
Although the film is set during the Christmas season, studio head Darryl F. Zanuck insisted that it be released in May, arguing that more people go to the movies in warmer weather. The studio rushed to promote it while keeping its Christmas setting a secret. Fox’s promotional trailer depicted a fictional producer roaming the studio backlot and encountering such stars as Rex Harrison, Anne Baxter, Peggy Ann Garner, and Dick Haymes extolling the virtues of the film. In addition, the movie posters prominently featured O’Hara and Payne, with Gwenn’s character kept in the background. The film opened in New York City at the Roxy Theatre on June 4, 1947. By contrast, modern home video packaging has Gwenn and Wood dominating the imagery, with the DVD release having Kringle in his Santa Claus costume.
O’Hara was initially reluctant to take the role, having recently moved back to Ireland. She immediately changed her mind after reading the script and came back to the United States for the film.
The Christmas window displays seen in the film were originally made by Steiff for Macy’s. Macy’s later sold the window displays to FAO Schwarz in New York. FAO Schwarz then sold the windows to the Marshall & Ilsley Bank of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they are on display every December in the bank’s lobby on North Water Street.
The house shown at the end of the film is a 1703 square foot single family home built in 1943 at 24 Derby Road, Port Washington, New York. The home looks practically the same as it did in 1947, except that the roof line has been altered by the addition of a window.
Rowland Hussey Macy, called R. H. Macy in the film, died 70 years prior to the film (in 1877).
Miracle on 34th Street received mostly positive reviews from critics. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times said: “For all those blasé skeptics who do not believe in Santa Claus—and likewise for all those natives who have grown cynical about New York—but most especially for all those patrons who have grown weary of the monotonies of the screen, let us heartily recommend the Roxy’s new picture, Miracle on 34th Street. As a matter of fact, let’s go further: let’s catch its spirit and heartily proclaim that it is the freshest little picture in a long time, and maybe even the best comedy of this year.” Today, it is considered by many as one of the best films of 1947. The film currently holds a 96% “Fresh” rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.
The Catholic Legion of Decency gave the movie a “B”, “morally objectionable in part” rating. This was mainly due to the fact that O’Hara was portraying a divorcée in the film.
Awards and honors
The film won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Edmund Gwenn), Best Writing, Original Story (Valentine Davies) and Best Writing, Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture, losing to Gentleman’s Agreement.
It was ranked ninth by the American Film Institute on 100 Years… 100 Cheers, a list of America’s most inspiring films. Miracle on 34th Street was listed as the fifth best film in the fantasy genre in the American Film Institute’s “Ten top Ten” lists in 2008.
In 2005, Miracle on 34th Street was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Remake
| Miracle on 34th Street | |
|---|---|
Original theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Les Mayfield |
| Produced by | John Hughes William Ryan William S. Beasley |
| Screenplay by | George Seaton John Hughes |
| Story by | Valentine Davies |
| Based on | Miracle on 34th Streetoriginal screenplay by George Seaton |
| Starring | Richard Attenborough Mara Wilson Elizabeth Perkins Dylan McDermott J. T. Walsh |
| Music by | Bruce Broughton |
| Cinematography | Julio Macat |
| Edited by | Raja Gosnell |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $46.3 million |
Miracle on 34th Street is a 1994 American Christmas fantasy film written and produced by John Hughes, and directed by Les Mayfield (the two would reunite for 1997’s Flubber). It stars Richard Attenborough, Mara Wilson, Elizabeth Perkins, and Dylan McDermott, and is the fourth remake (and the second theatrical version) of the original 1947 film. Like the original, this film was released by 20th Century Fox.
The New York City based Macy’s department store declined any involvement with this remake, so the fictitious “Cole’s” was used as its replacement. Gimbels had gone out of business in 1987; hence it was replaced by the fictional “Shopper’s Express”.
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