New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

Follow Me

• Ajami ***
• The Girl on the Train ***
• Greenberg **1/2
• Mother
• Repo Men **1/2
• The Runaways
• More

• Armored
• Astro Boy
• Broken Embraces
• Dillinger Is Dead
• Fallen Angels (Blu-Ray)
• The Fourth Kind
• Ninja Assassin
• The Princess and the Frog
• Undead: The Vampire Collection
• Wonderful World
• The 25 Best DVDs of 2009
• More

• 2009: The Year's Ten Best Films
• The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
• My 2003 Interview with Brittany Murphy
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2009
• Richard Linklater
• John Woo
• Jared and Jerusha Hess
• Essential Halloween Movies
• Michael Stuhlbarg
• Jane Campion
• Bobcat Goldthwait
• Hugh Dancy
• Kathryn Bigelow
• Willem Dafoe: The 2009 CineVegas Interview
• David Carradine
• A 2002 Interview with Edward Asner
• Vinessa Shaw
• Henry Selick
• 2008: The Year's Ten Best Films
• The San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2008
• The 25 Best DVDs of 2008
• Bruce Campbell
• Darren Aronofsky and Marisa Tomei
• Josh Brolin
• A Tribute to Paul Newman
• Steve Coogan on Hamlet 2
• Manny Farber (1917-2008)
• Bernie Mac (1957-2008)
• Emily Mortimer
• Brad Anderson
• Don Cheadle at CineVegas
• Abel Ferrara at CineVegas
• Tina Sinatra
• My Top 100 Films [Updated]
• My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
• The Top 50 Movies of the Past Ten Years (1997-2006)
• Terry Zwigoff on the new Bad Santa Director's Cut
• Alfonso Cuarón Interview
• Guillermo Del Toro Interview
• Christmas Movies
• Combustible Celluloid's Big Guide to Halloween & Horror Movies
• Cult Movies
• Actress Interview Gallery
• The Top 100
• More Features and Interviews

• Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
• James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
• Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
• Guide to Essential Movies, by Joe Leydon
• Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, by Robert S. Birchard
• Profoundly Disturbing, by Joe Bob Briggs
• A Third Face, by Samuel Fuller
• Dark Lover, by Emily Leider
• Agee on Film, by James Agee
• Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks
• Negative Space, by Manny Farber
• 5001 Nights at the Movies, by Pauline Kael
• More Books

• Home
• Reviews A-C
• Reviews D-F
• Reviews G-J
• Reviews K-M
• Reviews N-Q
• Reviews R-T
• Reviews U-Z

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Rating: 4 Stars (out of 4)

Claus for Celebration

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Miracle on 34th Street on DVD

For some reason, most Santa Claus movies are flat-out stinkers, from the low budget Santa Claus (1959) and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) to the big budget Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), the remake of Miracle on 34th Street (1994) and Tim Allen's two Santa Clause movies. The only really good one is this gentle, yet modern tale of what happens when the real Santa, a.k.a. Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn), visits New York. He meets a busy Macy's event planner, Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) and her practical daughter Susie (Natalie Wood), who doesn't believe in Santa Claus. So Kris takes a job as the season's department store helper to set things right. John Payne co-stars as the slightly uninteresting, but charming, love interest for Doris. Directed by George Seaton, the film begins at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and continues through the busy, Christmas shopping season, and it still feels current as well as nostalgic. It captures the hectic mood as well as the little moments of happiness that occur throughout, such as a nice chat or a cup of hot coffee. The characters are smart, the situation is clever, and the pacing is tight, adding up to a terrific perennial holiday classic. The wonderful Thelma Ritter co-stars in a terrific little scene ("I just don't get it!"). The film took home three Oscars; Gwenn won for Best Supporting Actor (how could anyone beat Santa Claus?), while Valentine Davies won for his original story and Seaton won for his screenplay.

DVD Details: For some reason, I really like the simple, lovely animated menus on Fox's 1999 DVD; snowflakes dissolve into other images of snowflakes to the tune of distant Christmas carols. Otherwise, there are no extras other than a few langugae and subtitle options.

Starring: Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood, Porter Hall, William Frawley, Jerome Cowan, Philip Tonge, Theresa Harris, Thelma Ritter
Written by: George Seaton, from a story by Valentine Davies
Directed by: George Seaton
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 96 minutes
Date: December 9, 2005