I
can't believe we're on the second last day of “The
Pop Culture Addict's Advent Calendar”
already. That must mean that the calendar reads December 24th,
which means that it happens to be Christmas Eve!
On
one hand, I am so excited to see that it is Christmas Eve. Christmas
Eve is probably one of the most magical days of the whole year (well,
right next to Christmas Day, that is). Christmas Eve is a day that is
filled with loads of anticipation over what is to come...especially
when you're a child. I mean, think about it. One more day to go
before Santa Claus slides down the chimney! One more day to go
before you find out what goodies and treasures Santa Claus left
behind for you. One more day before you get to spend well-deserved
time off with your friends and family members.
(Well,
okay...those friends and family members that you can stand to be in
the same room with, at least.)
At
the same time, Christmas Eve is sort of a bittersweet day for me.
I've had a lot of fun with this advent calendar idea. It's really
the first time in the blog's history that I have ever done a feature
that has lasted nearly an entire month, and from what I can tell, it
has been positively received by a lot of you. So, for it to be
almost over...well, it kind of makes me feel sad. I guess it's the
same way that a lot of us feel after the big day is over. I guess
you could call it a minor case of post-holiday depression.
But,
I don't dwell on it for too long. After all, a new year is coming,
and I have got some really neat ideas for 2013. I've actually got a
new idea for a theme month on deck for February 2013, so definitely
be on the lookout for that.
But
since we're still in December 2012, I have at least two more holiday
themed entries left to talk about on the last two days of the advent
calendar. And, why not celebrate the last Monday Matinee of the
advent calendar with a holiday movie that many deem a film classic?
The
question is...which version of the movie do I talk about?
You
see, today's blog subject has no less than FIVE different adaptations
made of it. The earliest was made in 1947...the most recent version
came out in 1994. And, depending on the version of the movie that
you end up watching, you'll see quite a few famous faces appearing in
each one.
For
instance, in the 1955 made for television version of the film,
veteran “Days of our Lives” star Macdonald Carey played the main
character. In the 1959 version, Ed Wynn and Orson Bean had starring
roles. The 1973 film featured Roddy McDowall, Sebastian Cabot, and
Tom Bosley. And Dylan McDermott, Elizabeth Perkins, Mara Wilson, and
Richard Attenborough took on roles in the 1994 version.
I
have not yet seen the 1955 or 1959 versions of the film yet, so I
have no commentary on them. I did not really care for the 1973
version at all, as the character names were changed, and you could
clearly tell that the movie, despite being depicted as being set
during the holiday season was filmed in the summer because of the
greener than normal trees in the background scenes. Oops! As for
the 1994 version, I'll readily admit to liking it a lot. It's not
quite as good as the version that I have chosen to spotlight in this
blog, but I'll sit down and watch it a couple of times at least.
What can I say, that little Mara Wilson was charming back then. It's
too bad she's given up acting.
(And,
it really makes me feel old knowing that Mara Wilson is now 25 years
old!!!)
But
while all of these remakes of a classic film were good and brought
the classic story by Valentine Davies to a different generation every
two decades, none of them would have even been possible without the
original template to base a remake on.
So,
for today's blog entry, I thought we would look at the classic 1947
original motion picture, Miracle
on 34th
Street!
The original film was released sixty-five years ago on (weirdly
enough) May 2, 1947! I know it seems bizarre for a Christmas film to
be released four and a half months after Christmas, but I suppose
back in those days, people didn't really mind all that much. At
least in the country of Australia, the release was held off until
December 18, 1947, which actually made more sense.
At
any rate, the odd timing for release aside, the movie has ended up
winning several accolades over its 65 year history. Just listen to
some of the honours that the film has to its credit.
- Won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Edmund Gwenn) Academy Award
- Won the Academy Award for Best Writing
- Won the Academy Award for Best Original Story (Valentine Davies)
- Won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay
- Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture
- Was named as the fifth best Fantasy Film by AFI in June 2008
- Was selected for preservation in the United States Film Registry in 2005
That's not bad for a movie that
was made on a budget of less than $700,000. Mind you, $700,000 in
1947 was worth a lot more than it is now, but still...it's mighty
impressive. It's easy to see why so many seem to feel that “Miracle
on 34th Street” is one of the best, if not the best,
films of 1947.
Now, let's get onto the casting
for the movie, which has some very interesting nuggets of trivia
included within.
For instance, did you know that
Maureen O'Hara (who played the role of Doris Walker) almost didn't
take the role? She had just moved to Ireland and was reluctant to
come back to America just for a film role. Although she did an about
face once she read the script. It's probably a good thing that she
did too, because I really couldn't picture anyone else in the role.
Another casting tidbit involves
Natalie Wood (cast as Susan Walker, Doris' daughter). Did you know
that this film was Natalie Wood's first major role in a motion
picture? It's true. What's also true is that Natalie Wood was
initially considered to play a role in the 1973 remake...the same
role that Maureen O'Hara played in the original film (albeit renamed
Karen Walker). But when it was suggested that Natalie's daughter
play her daughter in the film, Wood declined the offer, stating that
her daughter was way too young to begin acting.
My guess is that the daughter
in question is Natasha Gregson Wagner...but I don't have absolute
confirmation on this, so just keep in mind that this is only
speculation.
And, of course, Edmund Gwenn
won an Academy Award playing the role of Kris Kringle...and it is his
story that forms the basic plotline for “Miracle on 34th
Street”.
The story begins at the Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, and Kringle seems to
believe that the Santa Claus that has been hired for the parade is
drunk as a skunk, and insists to Doris Walker (the event director)
that he be replaced immediately. Doris agrees, and she gives Kringle
the job. To everyone's surprise, Kringle does a fantastic job. He
does such a convincing job that Macy's immediately hires him on as
the store Santa Claus at their flagship New York location on the busy
34th Street.
Now, one would think that if
one is hired to play a Santa within a retail space that they would
act as a sort of ambassador to the space. I imagine that the Santa
Claus that visits our local mall every December will likely try to
coerce shoppers to visit the several stores inside the mall itself.
Kris Kringle seems to take on a
different approach, actually telling people to shop at other stores
instead of Macy's! One shopper (Thelma Ritter) is actually taken
aback at the suggestion that Kris Kringle gives her, but eventually
comes to realize that Kris was actually trying to help her make the
right choice when it comes to buying gifts, and she promptly tells
the toy manager at Macy's that she has now become a loyal customer.
DISCLAIMER: If you work
in retail, don't try this at your job. You might not get that
pleasant of a reaction!
The children all seem to love
Kris as Santa, as he seems to connect with them better than most
other people. There's just one notable exception.
Susan Walker.
The precocious six-year-old
daughter of Doris doesn't believe in Santa...a belief that was
instilled into her by Doris herself, who raised her not to believe in
fairy tales. So when Fred Gailey (John Payne), a neighbour of Doris'
who also happens to practice law takes her to see Santa, Susan is
only pretending to go along with the charade.
Until she overhears Santa
speaking Dutch to a young girl who cannot speak English, and she
begins to wonder if Santa Claus really does exist after all. Doris
seems to pick up on this and she tells Kris to tell Susan that he
isn't the 'real' Santa. But, Doris is stunned when Kris insists that
he truly is the real Santa Claus. She isn't exactly sure how to
respond to that.
Her first instinct is to
terminate his employment, but rethinks that option after seeing just
how good he is with the children who come to visit him. Plus, his
presence at Macy's has generated a lot of positive publicity for the
store, which has netted Doris a nice Christmas bonus. Still, Doris
has doubts about the man, and arranges for Granville Sawyer (Porter
Hall) to give him a psychological evaluation. Kris passes...but by
the end of the evaluation, Granville ended up being the one who may
have needed it more!
Now, this is where the story
takes an interesting turn. Kris continues to do very well in his
job, even going as far as being the catalyst in a sort of peace
treaty between the owner of Macy's and the owner of rival department
store chain, Gimbel's! At the same time, while Doris is constantly
reassured that Kris is safe to be around children, Kris and Fred end
up making a deal with each other. Kris will work on getting rid of
Susan's cynical attitude towards Christmas and Santa if Fred will do
the same with helping Doris overcome the bitterness she has towards
the failure of her marriage.
(Keeping in mind that divorce
was considered to be a somewhat taboo subject in the late 1940s.)
Of course, Susan doesn't make
Kris' job easy. What Susan wants for Christmas more than anything
else in the world is a house for her and her mother to live in...a
rather large request for anyone to honour...even Santa Claus. But,
Kris makes a promise to her that he will do his best.
Unfortunately, Kris discovers a
rather shocking truth about Mr. Sawyer. It turns out that for
whatever reason, Sawyer is threatened by a young employee of Macy's,
and he somehow convinced him that he was mentally ill. The only
thing that the employee was guilty of was perhaps being a little too
kind and generous. And, there was no way that Kris was going to
stand for it.
So, he confronts Granville
Sawyer and after a verbal scuffle he grabs his cane and lightly taps
him on the head! This persuades Granville to fake the seriousness of
the injuries that he received, and as a result, Kris gets committed
into a hospital for the mentally ill!
So, what will happen to Kris?
Will Fred manage to find a way to get him out? Will Doris ever get
over her divorce and start to see things in a brighter light? Will
Susan ever believe in Santa Claus? Will Sawyer get his comeuppance?
You expect me to tell you?
Like a wrapped up Christmas present, you're going to have to unwrap
the ending yourself. But take it from me, it's a beautiful way to
wrap up a classic movie!
And, that wraps up our
Christmas Eve entry.
Tomorrow marks the final day of
the advent calendar...and all I will say is that it is a Tuesday
Timeline. That's coming up on Christmas Day.
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