If you've been following the chronology of these uploads, you undoubtedly realize this page is being posted on July 25, 2003; colloquially known (at least to certain retailers and the occasional cable television network) as "Christmas In July".
So what better film to feature at this time than the original "Miracle On 34thStreet"?
"What?", you may well be saying to yourself. "Why wouldn't Thanksgiving be a more appropriate time to post this page?"
Ok, you've got a point. And a darn fine point it is. Nonetheless, this really isn't such an inappropriate time, as at this point in 1947, it was playing in theaters across America.
As was reported in an AMC documentary on the film, the studio really didn't know what to do with the thing. Couldn't figure out how to market it. Couldn't figure out how to categorize it. They were completely baffled by it. How unusual for Hollywood, eh...???
So, they decided to bury it, releasing it May 2, 1947. Then the phenonmenon that studios try desperately to buy, but all too often can't - word of mouth - kicked in. And the movie hit. Ran through the summer, through the fall, through the holiday season.
"God bless us, every one", indeed...
(I know it's the wrong movie...haven't you people ever heard of creative license? Geez...)
Don't know why they were confused, though. I mean, really, how can you go wrong in a Christmas-themed movie when you start out with a shot of this face?
Edmund Gwenn took home an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Kris Kringle. This was no sugary Santa, though...Gwenn's Kringle had no qualms about getting in your face - with or without his omnipresent cane - if he thinks you've been extremely naughty, as here with a drunken Claus at the Macy's Parade.
