NBC Friday Night Special Presentation s1e09 “Miracle on 34th Street” (1959)
Retro Review #41: Yet another TV anthology pared-down remake of a feature film. But this one is better than most such efforts and worth watching.
NBC Friday Night Special Presentation s1e09 “Miracle on 34th Street” (1959) — Yet another TV anthology pared-down remake of a feature film. But this one is better than most such efforts and worth watching.
+ TV episode, <bw> (original color version is lost), 52m
Project #2: 2024 Christmas Leftovers
Project #5: 2025 Christmas Leftovers
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B+^
Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | TV-PG
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable
+ Based on feature film, Miracle on 34th Street❗🔙🔜 ⭐ story by Valentine Davies, screenplay by George Seaton
+ Episode #9/? of NBC Friday Night Special Presentation ⭐
+ Episode #9/? of NBC Friday Night Special Presentation, season 1 ⭐
NBC Friday Night Special Presentation s1e09 “Miracle on 34th Street” (1959)
Grade: B+^ (5.0) / HOF: 0
EQ 👍B+ | 📖A- 👥B+ 📽️B+ 🎼B
DW 🚫6.7 | 🌚6 🌝9
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R ☮️n/a ◀️n/a ▶️n/a 🛐n/a
Here’s another television remake of the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street. I’ve also reviewed the film’s first TV remake.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) — Might be more aptly titled Santa on Trial.
This episode of NBC Friday Night Special Presentation returns to the original sans-“the” title, “Miracle on 34th Street”, and is still derived closely from the screenplay, so the main plot remains the same, but the verbatim scenes are fewer than the first TV adaptation.
By now, I’m assuming my readers don’t need another story premise recap. Look up my previous reviews if I’m assuming incorrectly.
This remake is much better than the first TV remake, but still not as good as the movie. Once again the cuts make the end result both less dramatic and also less comedic. Drunk false Santa is back in, but only briefly, making him slightly less offensive than in the original movie. Ed Wynn is excellent as Kris Kringle, even as the rest of the cast falls short of their cinematic counterparts.
There was a key cut I was delighted to see: the screenplay writers’ characterization of faith as “believing in something when common sense tells you not to”.
In this version, the adaptation writer does not define faith from a romanticized point of view, falsely suggesting that faith is necessarily at odds with common sense. Instead he contrasts imagination and logic. He uses those concepts effectively to stand in for the hope brought by true faith, as opposed to the fear and self-protection involved when using logic as a shield from being hurt by others or their opinions.
The contrast of hope and self-protection, and some other touches added by the writer of the teleplay, serve to make the drama and the adult romantic sub-plot, as well as the pro-marriage-and-family message, just a bit stronger here than even in the original movie.
This episode can be viewed on two different YouTube channels that I’ve linked below. One is just the movie, but the other comes with an interesting trivia-laden intro by uploader Brian Lynch. The latter also includes an additional seven minute of live commercials, bringing the length to 60 minutes. It’s interesting to view commercials from the late 1950s, but when your free YouTube account directly follows antique commercials with modern ones, it can be irritating, so choose whichever upload sounds more entertaining to you.
If you are a fan of the original movie and have the time, I think you will enjoy this remake. Check it out after watching only the one recommended scene from the first remake!
Onwards!
+ last viewed (2) 2026-01-04, sd7, 1.33, 1D
+ first viewed 2024-12-28, sd7, 1.33, 1D
+ 👨👩👧👦🎈🦃🎄🎅⚖️🦄🧙😏😥🥸
Family Suitability Detail
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | TV-PG
+ 😡+4 😵💫+2^ 🤬+4 🫢+4 🫣+4
Judeo-Christian Values Detail
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable
+ ✝️ +1 ➕❤️💒🩸🥴 ➖😍
+ ✡️ +0 ➕🤍 ➖😍
+ 🗽 +0 ➕🇺🇸⬜(🚓)🏛️ ➖😍💻💲
Watch on YouTube:
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