Miracle on 34th Street

[Adam H. Kerman]

I found this on HBO On Demand. It's in b&w and the correct aspect ratio!
It's still a wonderful movie, and I didn't have to think about the election
for an hour and a half.

I dearly loved Maureen O'Hare.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nvu6kd$t35$3...@dont-email.me>,

HBO ran a movie in 1:33? With sidebars??

--
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[Adam H. Kerman]

anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote:
>"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:

>>I found this on HBO On Demand. It's in b&w and the correct aspect ratio!
>>It's still a wonderful movie, and I didn't have to think about the election
>>for an hour and a half.

>>I dearly loved Maureen O'Hare.

>HBO ran a movie in 1:33? With sidebars??

On the HD from On Demand, yes. I didn't check the SD version.

[Michael Black]

IN grade five or six, the teacher read us the book, at the end of the day
in that period right before Christmas holidays.

I didn't see the movie until later, both are good.

Actually, I saw the 1974 made for tv version, with Sebastian Cabot, before
I saw the famous version. It just happened that way. And even in recent
years, that tv version has aired on French language tv here, I have no
idea why, except maybe since it's already dubbed they just keep using it.

Michael

[Adam H. Kerman]

I must have seen that version but I can't remember it. Mr. French!

In the 1994 version, I remember that from the theater. Richard Attenborough
was doing his cute old man bit, same as he did in Jurassic Park.
Mara Wilson was very good in the Natalie Wood role.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <nvuba1$9hf$1...@dont-email.me>,

Today is truly opposite day.

[Adam H. Kerman]

anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote:
>"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:
>>anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote:
>>>"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:

>>>>I found this on HBO On Demand. It's in b&w and the correct aspect ratio!
>>>>It's still a wonderful movie, and I didn't have to think about the election
>>>>for an hour and a half.

>>>>I dearly loved Maureen O'Hare.

>>>HBO ran a movie in 1:33? With sidebars??

>>On the HD from On Demand, yes. I didn't check the SD version.

>Today is truly opposite day.

Heh

[Michael Black]

On Wed, 9 Nov 2016, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

> Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
>> On Wed, 9 Nov 2016, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>
>>> I found this on HBO On Demand. It's in b&w and the correct aspect ratio!
>>> It's still a wonderful movie, and I didn't have to think about the election
>>> for an hour and a half.
>
>>> I dearly loved Maureen O'Hare.
>
>> IN grade five or six, the teacher read us the book, at the end of the day
>> in that period right before Christmas holidays.
>
>> I didn't see the movie until later, both are good.
>
>> Actually, I saw the 1974 made for tv version, with Sebastian Cabot, before
>> I saw the famous version. It just happened that way. And even in recent
>> years, that tv version has aired on French language tv here, I have no
>> idea why, except maybe since it's already dubbed they just keep using it.
>
> I must have seen that version but I can't remember it. Mr. French!
>

Yes, and it wasn't that long after Family Affair had been on, so he was a
"hot commodity".

> In the 1994 version, I remember that from the theater. Richard Attenborough
> was doing his cute old man bit, same as he did in Jurassic Park.
> Mara Wilson was very good in the Natalie Wood role.
>

I don't think I've sat through all of the 1994 version.

What I liked about the original version, and the book, was the kid who
couldn't speak English, clearly a war orphan, and of course Kris Kringle
was able to talk to her in her language. That's a topical bit that
wouldn't have come up if the movie was made later. And in 1994, the girl
is not a war orphan, just a fairly average child who doesn't speak
English.

I got a fancy DVD version of the original movie. And the extras include
two made for TV versions of the movie. Right from around that period, I'm
not quite sure why they made them. Edmund Gwenn actually plays Kris
Kringle in one of them, so what's the point?

Michael

[Adam H. Kerman]

Lux Video Theater? In the early days of television, they didn't play movies,
but they had movie-adaptation anthology shows as they had on radio. That
didn't last too long.

[A Friend]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,

Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:

> I got a fancy DVD version of the original movie. And the extras include
> two made for TV versions of the movie. Right from around that period, I'm
> not quite sure why they made them. Edmund Gwenn actually plays Kris
> Kringle in one of them, so what's the point?

They used to do the same thing on radio: a shortened version of the
film with some, even most, of the original actors. (Lux Radio Theater
did Miracle on 34th Street with Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn, John
Payne and Natalie Wood in December 1947, about seven months after the
film hit theaters.* Gwenn returned for another radio adaptation seven
years later.) It was promotional. The studios thought if you heard
the short version, you'd go to the theater for the whole thing.

The other version you're talking about is (probably) the 1959 version,
an hour-long live TV special from NBC the day after Thanksgiving. That
one was a straightforward adaptation of the movie, with Ed Wynn as
Kris, and Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy (a then-famous husband/wife
team from radio and films) as Fred Gaily and Doris Walker.



*Yes, the film was released in May. The studio head, Darryl F. Zanuck
(a self-proclaimed genius), thought it would flop, so they released it
'way early to get it out of the way. It turned out to gross four times
its budget and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Zanuck still
thought he was a genius.

[Michael Black]

On Wed, 9 Nov 2016, A Friend wrote:

> In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
> Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
>
>> I got a fancy DVD version of the original movie. And the extras include
>> two made for TV versions of the movie. Right from around that period, I'm
>> not quite sure why they made them. Edmund Gwenn actually plays Kris
>> Kringle in one of them, so what's the point?
>
>
> They used to do the same thing on radio: a shortened version of the
> film with some, even most, of the original actors. (Lux Radio Theater
> did Miracle on 34th Street with Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn, John
> Payne and Natalie Wood in December 1947, about seven months after the
> film hit theaters.* Gwenn returned for another radio adaptation seven
> years later.) It was promotional. The studios thought if you heard
> the short version, you'd go to the theater for the whole thing.
>

Thanks,it still seems like an odd process. I know Woody Guthrie wrote a
song that capsulates "The Grapes of Wrath", but a shorter version of a
movie seems more like it would cannibalize the movie rather than bring it
more viewers.

> The other version you're talking about is (probably) the 1959 version,
> an hour-long live TV special from NBC the day after Thanksgiving. That
> one was a straightforward adaptation of the movie, with Ed Wynn as
> Kris, and Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy (a then-famous husband/wife
> team from radio and films) as Fred Gaily and Doris Walker.
>
>

I should watch them both again this year, I did at least glance at them
when I got the DVD.

>
> *Yes, the film was released in May. The studio head, Darryl F. Zanuck
> (a self-proclaimed genius), thought it would flop, so they released it
> 'way early to get it out of the way. It turned out to gross four times
> its budget and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Zanuck still
> thought he was a genius.

Did they have Christmas movies back then?

So is it the film where they promote it as various things, without
mentioning Christmas? I can't remember, I do have a movie ad either on
this DVD or "It's a Wonderful Life" where various celebreties speak about
the film without ever mentioning the Christmas aspect. Wikipedia says it
was Miracle. So that bit is one of the extras too.

Michael

[A Friend]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,
Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:

> Did they have Christmas movies back then?

Sure. In fact, the only three Christmas movies ever nominated for a
Best Picture Oscar were all made around the same time: Miracle on 34th
Street, It's a Wonderful Life, and The Bishop's Wife.

[Michael Black]

On Wed, 9 Nov 2016, A Friend wrote:

I realize I was ambiguous there, and I can't remember what I was intending
to say.

But wasn't "It's a Wonderful Life" also released at a time other than
Christmas?

Michael

[A Friend]

It premiered in New York on 21 Dec 1946 and opened wide the following 7
Jan. Although it grossed twice its budget in the U.S., it wasn't
considered a success. I first saw it on late night TV around 1971; it
was part of a package bought by some of the stations that didn't run
The Late Show. PBS affiliates started picking it up in the early '80s,
which is when the film became popular.

I don't like it that much. It's too long (by at least half an hour);
George is victimized for decades by everyone in town and yet no one
sees anything wrong with that; even though his record is unblemished,
George is threatened with arrest for the embezzlement of $8000 that had
gone missing that very day; and, last, this bullshit accusation of
theft deranges the clearly fragile George so badly that he runs off to
commit suicide.

I do like Donna Reed, though. She's the best thing in the movie.

[Michael Black]

You're right about the length. I have watched it, though I think
originally in bits and pieces. But every year I look at the schedule and
think "that's a long movie" and don't watch it.

But I have it on DVD now, just a dollar at a book sale last month, so I'll
sit through it this year, though maybe in more than one session.

Michael