Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Not Rated
Starring Edmund Gwynn, Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood, John Payne
Directed by
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
Rated PG
Starring Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Mara Wilson, Dylan McDermott, J. T. Walsh,
The Story:
Mrs. Walker runs the Thanksgiving Day parade for New York's biggest department store. When her Santa turns up drunk, a kindly gentlemen named Kris steps in and becomes Santa Claus. However, Mr. Kringle insists that he is the one and only Kris Kringle, and winds up in court defended by a lawyer who believes in Kris as much as he believes that he loves Mrs. Walker and her daughter, Susan.
Will he be able to pull off the biggest courtroom shocker of all-time?
That pretty much sums up both movies, though for some reason, they insisted on changing Fred Gailey (Payne) to Bryan Bedford (McDermott). Who knows, maybe someone complained that you can't use the name Gailey without offending people?
:)
So naturally, I'm a big fan of the original. I'd say I've seen it at least 20 times or so, it's one that gets played usually every other year or so at the house.
The remake?
I saw it yesterday for the first time.
Nowhere near as bad as I had feared.
Like Macy's, I really wanted nothing to do with this remake whatsoever.
But, it's streaming on Netflix, and Tis the Season and all that. :)
So I watched it, and I smiled at some of the jokes.
The best parts were those that were lifted nearly intact from the first film.
While Kris (Gwynn) doesn't sing in Dutch, Kris (Attenborough) does know sign language and communicates with a deaf girl.
Both are sentimental heart-string moments in their respective versions.
It seems like the updated version very much wanted to make it clear that Darcy (Perkins) and Bryan would date, fall in love, and get married.
Exploring their relationship more was a nice updated touch, but when she spurns him at the end of their date...
That's just a level of spite that makes Mrs. Walker seem utterly cold, and actually rather unlikable.
It seemed too much like this film had to get to the happy ending, and they were determined to make it happen, no matter what came in front of it.
There is no crisis of conscience like in the original when Mrs. Walker (O'Hara) thinks Santa is insane, then realizes her mistake and wants to do anything she can to help.
It's at that point that she truly begins to believe, and I don't feel it in the remake.
Likewise, with Susan (Wood / Wilson) you see her change of heart as the film moves on, until the end when she is heartbroken that Kris isn't Santa, and then elated when she realizes it's him.
The remake, Susan waffles in her emotion in nearly every scene, either looking depressed or elated, with very little range in between.
With both versions of the film, my favorite parts are the courtroom scenes. Both versions contain some great interplay among the characters, and both believable and fun ways in which, yes indeed, the law could very much confirm that Kringle is the real deal.
That said, it seems like they shorten up the newer courtroom scene and just confirm that Santa exists, and Kringle is him.
Oops.
Spoilers.
:)
The original did it in a much more inspired way, but it's hard to beat the original sometimes, so steering clear and trying something new isn't a bad option.
But this is one case where I'll stick with the original, every time.
Final Grades:
1947 - A
1994 - C+
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