Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Instant Favorite.

An Exercise In Nonsense

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Is there anyone who has not yet seen the original (1947) "Miracle on 34th Street?" Should there be such a person and he or she comes across this 1955 shortened TV remake of the film, it's worth watching -- but, just barely. This probably never plays on TV anymore, and one can understand why. It's no match for the original. One would have to pity the writers who had to reduce the 96-minute original to way under 60 minutes. There was too much in that original to even try to condense it all. Something had to go, and that usually was the filler that tied the parts together. So, this TV adaptation comes across as choppy. Viewers are robbed of too much information to have the story unfold smoothly, as in the original. Still, there is the semblance of the main story here, and the performance of Thomas Mitchell as Kris Kringle helps make it at least palatable. His performance and a rough but still evident main story are the only reasons why this adaptation deserves even five stars. Note though, that this is a different, rougher Kris Kringle character.Unfortunately, for this film, Mitchell's is the only part worth mentioning. There isn't another performer who comes close to the counterpart performance in the 1947 film. And, the subplots of the film – i.e., the romance between Doris Walker (Teresa Wright) and Fred Gaily (Macdonald Carey) and the transformation of Doris are incomplete and hardly believable. They happen too fast, with so much missing in between. I can excuse some significant changes from the original (i.e., the courtroom scene with reindeer), as an effort to spice up the gutted remnant of a great film. Other changes alter the substance of the story (i.e. Doris having the idea for the Post Office to deliver Santa's mail to the courthouse). I had seen this film on TV long ago, and watched it again recently since it was on my DVD of the original movie. Once the original film's copyright expired and it became part of the public domain (early 1970s), all the remakes before and since then were probably doomed to any future viewing. This second-rate scaled back remake fits in that group.

Like everyone I fondly recall the 1947 version with Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle and can remember seeing it on TV and telling my father "He is Santa Claus Daddy!"and when my father me how I knew that in my childhood innocence i said "I just know that Daddy!"and of course at the end i said "See Daddy I was right!" and even now when ever I have the chance to watch it I still enjoy it and as for the 1955 version since it was less then an hour they did the best they could and it had a great cast with Thomas Mitchell as Kris Kringle ,Mcdonald Carey as Fred Gailey,Teresa Wright as Doris,Sandy Descher as Susan(who had a role as the little girl in Them!In 1954)along with a great supporting cast including Dick Foran,John Abbott,Hans Conried,Ray Collins Whit Bissell and others as well and this was a good version and while they had to cut some things the cast did a great job .And I must take exception to an earlier comment from another reviewer who said that it was a cast of unknowns !While I hate to say this he was wrong because the cast was composed of reliable character actors who all did a fantastic job in the little time they had to work with And I really enjoyed this

One Kris Kringle (Thomas Mitchell), a department-store Santa Claus, causes quite a commotion by suggesting customers go to a rival store for their purchases...So, of course, this is not as good as the original, which has since become one of the all-time Christmas classics. And unlike the original, which had a few names in it, this one really has no stars that anyone has ever heard of. And, yes, it does not look as good as the original because no one has bothered to remaster it.But for what it is, it is not a bad little film. If you want to watch the original story but do not have two hours, here you go: the basic plot in under an hour. I appreciated it, because sometimes you just do not want to invest that much time in television.

This is a television version of "Miracle on 34th Street". In most ways, it's the 1947 film all over again but with a few plot lines eliminated and an insanely fast delivery. The actors literally deliver their lines at break-neck speed--and it makes for a curious and unimpressive film. In no way at all is the film better than the classic version--and in most ways it is inferior. While Macdonald Carey and Theresa Wright try their best, they just aren't as good as John Payne and Maureen O'Hara. The same can be said for Santa. While Thomas Mitchell was okay--he just wasn't as sweet and wonderful as Edmund Gwen. However, the biggest difference is little Susan Walker. While Sandy Descher was competent, she wasn't even close to Natalie Wood--who delivered one of the best performances of a child in any film of the era.So, if this film is based very closely on the original, is VERY rushed and in no way is as good, you may be tempted to say 'why bother watching this 1955 version?'--and I'd insist that you are 100% correct! An odd curio but nothing more.