100 Movies Every Catholic Should See #91: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Directed and written by George Seaton. Starring Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, and Natalie Wood.

If you are anything like me, you often face two conflicting feelings as Advent draws to a close. On the one hand, you have a deep longing for the joy of Christmas and the coming of the Christ child. On the other hand, you feel a Grinch-like exhaustion with all the noise, noise, noise, NOISE that comes with 21st century American Christmas.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel!
And ransom captive Israel
From Coca-Cola, Feed the World,
Mariah Carey and Rudolf!

One beloved Christmas figure in particular evokes decidedly mixed feelings when I am in a Grinchy mood: good Old Father Christmas himself, Santa Claus. I love his saintly roots and the spirit of selflessness and gift-giving that he traditionally represents. And yet it is hard not to view him these days as the Silenus riding along with our annual wintertide Bacchanalia. Add in the dilemma of whether or not to perpetuate the cultural hoodwinking of our children as to the source of their precious toys and you have a jolly old elf whose continued relevance I sometimes begin to rue.

Whenever such feelings come upon me, I know that it is time to get back out my DVD copy of Miracle on 34th Street.

Miracle on 34th Street follows the story of a mysterious man named Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn), who is asked to sub in for the inebriated Santa Claus actor at the center of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He’s the perfect man for the role and gets offered a continued job at Macy’s through the holiday season, but there’s just one problem: he claims to be the real Santa Claus. As he interacts with ad exec Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara) and her skeptical daughter Susan (Natalie Wood), we start to get the feeling that this guy might just be the genuine article. Unfortunately, a world which has outgrown “childish” beliefs cannot stand for the true coming of Good Saint Nick and hauls him into court, seeking to get him put away in an asylum. It takes the faith of his friends (and the timely intervention of the United States Postal Service) to vindicate Kris Kringle and send him back to his mission of generosity just in time for Christmas.

This premise very easily could have just turned into a commercial for Macy’s, but instead we get a thoughtful critique of a rapidly secularizing society and a call to regain lost faith. Macy’s is, in fact, criticized for being consummate woke capitalists; as W. H. Macy proclaims: “we'll be the store that puts people over profits! And consequently, make more profits than we've ever dreamed of.” In fact, most of America's major institutions are portrayed as the real phonies, whereas Santa Claus, a cultural and religious symbol, is the one real and genuine thing in the movie. Business, politicians, courts, the federal government, lawyers, quack psychiatrists: all are playing an angle, portraying themselves as something they are not. And thus they are constantly trying to find Kris's angle, and when they discover he does not have one, they assume he must be crazy. Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas, is utterly simple in his goals and perfectly good in his motivations, thus being the one person in the film who deserves our faith.

The absolute best moment in the movie is when Kris is told that the next child in his line at Macy's is a Dutch orphan who does not know English. He takes her on his knee and starts conversing with her in Dutch, laughing and singing a Dutch "Sinterklaas" song with her. The change in expression on her face from disappointed, lonely sadness to absolute ecstatic joy is simply beautiful. I don't think it's a coincidence that Sinterklaas is much more explicitly linked to the religious St. Nicholas than America's commercialized Santa Claus is. Joy, Love, and Kindness are universal, or dare I say Catholic, virtues, and this moment portrays the catholicity of St. Nicholas. Kris Kringle, the character, radiates Christian charity and compassion in this moment, and brings absolute joy to this young girl who was expecting some fumbling American mall santa who would need her Christmas wishes translated to him. Instead, she met Sinterklaas. That's the magic of St. Nicholas, and that's the joy, wonder, and love of Christmas.

Miracle on 34th Street invites all of us to join that little Dutch girl and place radical faith in the saintly Kris Kringle. The movie is absolutely brilliant by not making it absolutely clear that Kris Kringle is actually Santa Claus. There's no winking, nodding moment where Kris flies across the sky with his reindeer confirming to the audience and the characters that he is the REAL fat man in the red coat. So too, there’s no moment for the “adults” in the audience where we are told that Kris Kringle isn’t Santa, but just some kindly gentleman trying to bring joy to gullible children. We have to choose to believe in Santa, just as much as the characters of the movie. We have been evangelized, so to speak, and given all that we need to make the leap of faith, to put our belief in someone who exemplifies the Good, True, and Beautiful. That’s what brings real peace and joy at Christmas, that belief in something greater than yourself who brings a benevolent love to the world. This film, of course, does not overtly connect belief in Santa with belief in Christ, but in my opinion Miracle on 34th Street is an excellent allegory for the bliss that comes when we remember the true meaning of Christmas.

So whenever you’re feeling Grinchy this Christmastide, remember the true reason for the season and revive the faith, joy, and peace that the coming of Christ brings to this weary, phony, sinful, beautiful, beloved old world. And maybe save a smile and a few words of gratitude for St. Nicholas this year; he has to put up with so many drunken imposters, it must be nice when someone actually remembers and appreciates the real him.

From all of us at 100 Movies Every Catholic Should See and Reconquista Media, have a very Merry Christmas.