Miracle on 34th Street (1973) (TV)

Director:

Fielder Cook

Writers:

Valentine Davies (story)
Jeb Rosebrook (writer)

Release Date:

14 diciembre 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

A department store Santa tries to convince a little girl who doesn't believe in Santa Claus that he is Santa Claus...

Plot Keywords:

Single Mother | Medical Malpractice | Color Remake Of B&W Film | Christmas | Courtroom

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Doesn't hold a whisker to the original.

Cast

Jane Alexander	...	Karen Walker
David Hartman	...	Bill Schaffner
Roddy McDowall	...	Dr. Henry Sawyer
Sebastian Cabot	...	Kris Kringle
Suzanne Davidson	...	Susan Walker
Jim Backus	...	Horace Shellhammer
David Doyle	...	R.H. Macy
Tom Bosley	...	Judge Harper
James Gregory	...	District Attorney
Roland Winters	...	Mr. Gimbel
Liam Dunn	...	Reindeer Keeper
Conrad Janis	...	Doctor Pierce
Ellen Weston	...	Celeste
Jason Wingreen	...	Halloran
Burt Mustin	...	Roy

También conocida como:

Milagro en la calle 34 (Venezuela) [es]

Duración:

100 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sonido:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Castle Green - 99 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivialidades:

Sebastian Cabot had to shave off his famous beard for this film and wear an artificial one after makeup artists were unable to whiten and fill his real beard out so that it made him look like Santa Claus.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (#4.21)" (1991)

Doesn't hold a whisker to the original.

Earnest but hardly spirited TV update of the 1947 classic with Jane Alexander, David Hartman and Sebastian Cabot reprising the Maureen O'Hara, John Payne and Edmund Gwenn (Oscar winner) roles, and failing to warm the cockles of our old-fashioned hearts the way the original did. The '47 version had real bite amidst the holiday hokum; this one plays it safe and only nips. I say, you better have big, big ideas if you're gonna challenge a classic. Holiday sentimentalism ain't the kind of drawing power it used to be.

For starters, this 1974 effort makes a fatal mistake in trying to recapture the whimsy of its predecessor, which was a product of its times. Admirable maybe, but now it comes off stilted and dated. And then there are the performances...

Alexander and Hartman fail to register the same kind of romantic chemistry as O'Hara and Payne, the delightfully subtle games played by our original pair are just too pat here. The characters have less friction and are softer around the edges, making them more obvious and less interesting.

Hefty Sebastian Cabot has all the makings of a great Santa Claus, but compared with the twinkle-eyed magic of Edmund Gwenn, well, you find yourself having those nagging doubts all over again. I mean, Gwenn really WAS Kris Kringle; Cabot comes off like a Gimbel's store-front imitation.

Lastly, Suzanne Davidson doesn't hold a candle to darling Natalie Wood. The feisty Wood showed a hard-edged maturity and intelligence far beyond her age. Davidson captures none of the precocious cynicism necessary to pull of this difficult role.

In all, a game try, but still a lump of coal...with the 1994 remake hardly an improvement. If these two versions are all that's offered come Christmas time, may I suggest adding a little extra "nog" to your egg nog before settling in?