20 essential classic holiday films to watch this year

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Miracle on 34th Street is both a Christmas movie and a flagrant example of product placement. Heck, the product itself uses the movie in its ads! Let’s back up a bit.

Miracle on 34th Street is written and directed by George Seaton, based off a short story by Valentine Davies. When the movie was produced, the studio collaborated with the major department stores of the time — Macy’s and Gimbels — to use their names for the film’s on-screen department stores as a means of getting WWII-weary audiences to shop again. It just helps that the movie is utterly adorable.

Although it was remade in 1994, the original Miracle on 34th Street follows Kris Kringle (played by Edmund Gwenn) as he becomes the department store Santa for Macy’s. He meets Susan Walker (Natalie Wood), a little girl whose mother has told her Santa isn’t real. Kris makes it his mission to prove to Susan that Santa is real, and that he’s the real Santa!

Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn are pure joy as the little disbeliever and Santa himself, respectively. Wood said she believed for the longest time that Gwenn actually was Santa, and it’s hard not to believe it yourself. Gwenn is jubilant, jolly, and incredibly lovable. You’ll believe he can make any wish come true!

Rent on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and Vudu.