They say that Christmas comes but once a year, but Christmas films can
come any time you see fit. As Miracle on 34th Street was nominated at
the 1948 ceremony I'd decided I would watch It's a Wonderful Life which
I had to watch online, at the same time.
First up then is
Miracle on 34th Street, a film I'm very familiar with but mainly due to
the 1994 remake. For those who have no idea of the story it's about a
department store manager, Doris Walker, who hires a new store Santa
after she finds her current Santa drunk. The new Santa, Kris Kringle,
believes himself to be Santa and after an altercation ends up in a
mental asylum. Kringle then has to prove he is not insane and Fred
Gailey, Doris' suitor, decides to defend him thanks to a batch of
children's letters to Santa. Meanwhile Doris' daughter Susan is a very
grown-up girl and doesn't believe in Santa but Kringle tries to change
her mind. I do love this story it's all about belief and love and the
true meaning of Christmas. Kringle starts to tell parents where they can
get presents cheaper even if it is not in Macy's, the store where he
works. The incident that leaves Kringle in a mental institution is after
he is goaded by Sawyer, Macy's psychologist who believes Kringle is
insane. Sawyer picks on a young Macy's employee who Kringle has
befriended and once this happens Kringle strikes Sawyer with his cane
and Sawyer exaggerates the injury. I felt this incident was a bit
contrived and preferred the old Santa trying to get revenge which
happened in the remake. Apart from that though this film is full of
old-school warmth and has some great performances. As Doris, Maureen
O'Hara is able to show a woman who finds it hard to trust but melts
after her encounters with Kris and Fred. Edmund Gwenn won a Best
Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Kris and it is a lovely natural
performance while Natalie Wood shows that not all child actors have to
be annoying. This is a Christmas classic whether you watch this version
or the '94 remake.
The other film in this double bill is It's a
Wonderful Life a film that is always associated with Christmas however
only the film's last half hour is set at Christmas time. For the three
people who have never seen the film it concerns James Stewart's George
Bailey who has basically helped out every member of the community in
Bedford Falls but after a lot of money goes missing from his Savings and
Loans business he tries to commit suicide. A kindly but dithering angel
named Clarence
is entrusted with helping Bailey out and showing him what he meant to
everyone. However this comes at the end of the film and most of it is
depicting George's life from a young boy to the present day. This is
shown by Clarence's superiors in order to educate him about George. We
see a man who helped his brother from drowning, his boyhood boss from
poisoning most of the town and from taking over his father's business
rather than going to college. It also shows him marry the love of his
life Mary and have four children together and his many clashes with the
greedy Mr Potter. After Potter convinces Bailey that he isn't worth
anything, George goes off and that's when Clarence shows him how much he
helped people. This is all done on Christmas Eve accompanied by snow
and renditions of various carols. And I think this is why this film has
got so much of an association with Christmas and to be fair it is feel
good entertainment up to a point. This is Frank Capra's last film to be
nominated for an Oscar and his third collaboration with James Stewart
after You Can't Take It With You and Mr Smith Goes to Washington, the
latter of those will be the next entry in this blog. By this point in
his career Stewart showed that he was a more than competent leading man
and gives a great turn as the extremely likeable and hard-working George
ably supported by Donna Reed as the loving Mary. Stewart got the only
acting nomination which is a shame as there are two other brilliant
performances. The first is from Lionel Barrymore, who up to this point
had mainly been seen playing kindly old men, playing the villainous and
callous Potter. The second is from Henry Travers as Clarence who isn't
on screen very long but steals the film most of the time he is. Stewart
and the movie both lost out to The Best Years of Our Lives, but out of
the five films nominated this year this has stood the test of time which
can only be a good thing.
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