Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
A department-store Santa insists he is the real thing — and a courtroom has to decide.
When Macy's hires Kris Kringle to play Santa, his claim to be the genuine article delights children and horrifies the store's lawyers. A skeptical little girl, her no-nonsense mother, and a young attorney end up putting Christmas itself on trial. The original, and still the warmest version of the story.
The studio was so unsure about a Christmas movie that it released the film in the summer of 1947 and hid the holiday angle in the advertising — an irony the film itself would appreciate. Edmund Gwenn won the Academy Award playing Kris Kringle with such gentle conviction that eight-year-old Natalie Wood reportedly believed he really was Santa. The story's courtroom question — can a department store Santa be legally sane while claiming the job is real? — lets the film argue for faith with logic, and the Macy's-versus-Gimbels rivalry uses two real New York institutions.
From the Film
The Facts
- Year
- 1947
- Director
- George Seaton
- Runtime
- 96 minutes
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Family, Classic
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Maureen O'Hara | Doris Walker |
| John Payne | Fred Gailey |
| Edmund Gwenn | Kris Kringle |
| Natalie Wood | Susan Walker |
| Gene Lockhart | Judge Henry X. Harper |
Good to know: Won three Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle.
Where to watch Miracle on 34th Street
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More from the 1940s — or browse the full A–Z catalog.
