HOLIDAY MAGIC: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

“I believe, it’s silly, but I believe…”

Macintosh is the resident Grinch in the Macintosh & Maud extended family. Christmas trees and presents have always brought a little bit of bah humbug out from him. But this Grinch’s heart seems to have grown three sizes this year and watching this Christmas classic just confirms that transformation. 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street is a remarkably natural, relaxed take on the meaning of the holidays and has timeless themes and performances from the majority of its lead characters. There’s no messy Depression-era themes to wade through, nor any cynical or incessantly rational takes on Santa Claus. This movie is just pure joy all the way through, and a perfect way to kick off our coverage of Christmas movies this year.

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Intro and outro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

Jingle bells effect taken from “Jingle bells.wav” created by user ‘juskiddink’ on the Freesound platform. Licensed under an Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) license. To get additional information or download the sound, visit Freesound.