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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sea - Boo! - Er" data-source="post: 406635" data-attributes="member: 57">Miracle on 34th Street (1959)With Christmas falling in the summer in the southern hemisphere, the concept of "Christmas in July" has become quite popular here in recent years because it allows the enjoyment of traditional Christmas (read "winter") fare such as roast turkey and pudding in a more pleasant environment.In keeping with this sentiment, I thought I watch this alternative version of Miracle, made for television in 1959.Ed Wynn stars as Kris, with some of his Uncle Albert mannerisms, but he's also somewhat underrated as a dramatic actor (see The Diary of Anne Frank made the same year) so does well in the more serious moments as well.The story has been extensively rewritten to fit a one-hour timeslot. Paradoxically, this includes a number of additional scenes to make more explicit themes that develop more slowly in the original. Less forgivable is the shoehorning in of jokes which give it the feel of a fifties sitcom. I kept waiting for the laughtrack to kick in. But at least they kept the scene between the post office employees rather than make it the idea of one of the participants as they do in the other remakes I've seen, thus removing the whole concept of the miracle.</blockquote>

Poison your name this Hallowe'en