Miracle on 34th Street

I forgot to bring my DVD of this wonderful holiday favorite to my familys thanksgiving. Its a tradition we watch this after the parade. I found that Tubi had it.

Their version is 45 minutes. It is horribly cut and speed up. The actors voices sound more like The Chipmonks than people. I will never live down the humiliation of subjecting my family to this butchered version of our favorite holiday movie.

Looks like people are confusing this one with the 1955 TV Movie.

I would love to see this version but I don't think anyone has converted the kinescope copy and posted it online.

If anyone knows where to find this version pls post a review.

The version on Tubi is:

(1955) · 45 min

If anyone knows where to find the 1959 version, PLEASE POST A REVIEW HERE WITH THE INFO.

I'd love to see how Ed Wynn handles the role.

Thanks!

This takes a 97 minute movie and squeezes it down to 45 minutes. That's the problem. It tries to condense a classic movie for the sake of a 1 hour TV show.

While is this is entertaining, it begs the question: Why a 1 hour version of a classic movie? Would you do a 1 hour:

*Citizen Kane?

*2001: A Space Odyssey?

*It's A Wonderful Life?

*The Godfather?

*The Sound of Music?

Probably not! This is a good adaptation of Miracle, but not the best-for that very reason.

PS, Alfred from the original 1947 classic is NOT in this adaptation.

"Miracle on 34th Street" is one of the very best Christmas movies ever made. Yet, despite being practically perfect in every way, there have been at least four remakes...three made for TV and one for theaters. To me, this is like trying to remake the Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo...why bother when the original is so perfect?!

Apparently, this version of the story was played LIVE and in color. Many TV shows were live in the 50s...and you can tell in this one when Ed Wynn flubs his lines in Dutch. While there is no color copy, a black & white copy was recently discovered. This is one of the wonderful things about the internet...as thousands and thousands of supposedly lost TV shows and movies have been recently discovered because collectors all over the globe have been able to share their finds. In this case, YouTube has a copy you can watch for free.

As for the film, it's good...though it's much shorter since it was made for a one hour time slot. Because of this, it feels sped up and many of the lovely touches from the original film are missing. Still, it's not bad at all...just not as perfect as the 1947 movie.

My feeling is that for the average person, this 1959 version is not necessary to watch. But for the curious and unusual viewer, it's a nice little film.