Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Simply Perfect

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

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.

Frankly, I had never even heard of this condensed TV version (the first of four remakes!) of the original 1947 Oscar-winning classic when I chanced upon it at my local DVD rental shop.While understandably not up to the standards of the earlier film, a capable director leads a rather remarkable cast: Thomas Mitchell, Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey, Hans Conried, Dick Foran, Ray Collins, Don Beddoe and Whit Bissell. The child actress playing the little girl seemed awfully familiar to me even though her name – Sandy Descher – didn't ring any bells; it eventually transpired that she had been the girl dumb-struck by the giant ants' attack at the beginning of the sci-fi classic THEM! (1954) – which, ironically, starred the original Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn)! Although I quite liked this made-for-TV version overall, I think the brief 45-minute running time ultimately worked against it – as the narrative seemed awfully rushed in spots! Besides, the cast – while commendably entering into the spirit of the thing – seemed somewhat less sympathetic than the performers of the previous version (Gwenn, Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, etc.) had been.

I haven't seen this in quite some time, but when my wife spotted the DVD in the $1.50 bin at a party store (and then 50% off because it was after Christmas) it seemed like a no-brawnier. The title, "Meet Mr Kringle" was used, but the photo is from the theatrical 1947 Miracle on 34th Street. That is more than a little misleading, but I wanted to know if this was the TV version I had seen so many years ago and it was worth 75 cents to find out. If you're interested in owning a little part of early remake history troll the $1 bins at your local Wal-Mart or Target or check the DVD's at the Dollar stores.Enjoy.

To begin with this movie is only 50 minutes long about half as long as the original 1947 version. It moves at a swift clip and feels rushed. I would guess that this made for TV movie was an hour long program with 10 minutes of commercials and 50 minutes of show.Much of the script is word for word taken from the '47' version. I swear that the scene in which the balloon or a baseball player seen through a window is taken directly from the '47' version. This is not unexpected as this movies production costs were no doubt limited compared to the '47' version.What I disliked the most was the character interaction. There were good actors/actresses in the film. Teresa Wright, the mother, and Thomas Mitchell, as Santa, have won Oscar's. Ray Collins, the judge, is well known and respected as Lt. Tragg from the PERRY MASON show. Hans Conreid was a recognized supporting actor and an animated voice actor back in his day. Despite these qualifications the actors just don't mingle well. The worst is Thomas Mitchell as Santa. He seems less jolly and more angry. The one story line that leaves the original film is when Santa hits the story psychiatrist with his cane. In the "47" film it is done in private and is more of a smack to the head. In this film Santa clubs the man in from of an audience full of kids and parents. It is almost vicious! I felt no sympathy for this cranky Santa.However, if you are a fan of the story adding this film to your collection is not a bad idea. It is nice to compare all the different productions of this film. You can obtain it from various auction sites.