1947 glurge, dir. George Seaton, John Payne, Maureen O'Hara:
IMDb /
allmovie. If you don't
believe in Santa Claus you're an old meaniehead.
But the strangest decision in this film is its casting: you want
a romantic pairing. You've got Maureen O'Hara, one of the great
swashbucklers, who takes over a set merely by being in it. And you
cast against her… John Payne, who is made entirely of cardboard.
O'Hara's Doris Walker is a divorcée, which led the Catholc Legion of
Decency to rate the film "Morally Objectionable In Part", but even
though she is entirely happy that state can't be allowed to persist.
So Payne's Fred Gailey, knowing that he has no chance with the lady by
playing fair, gets into her life by watching her carefully and
conspiring with her young daughter (Natalie Wood at 8 years old). Got
a job and life you're happy with? Tough luck, lady, you gotta be a
wife-and-mother, and you're going to like it.
As for the actual Santa Claus stuff, there's a strange dissonance
between the lies for children and reality. The judge goes along with
the obvious falsehood because he doesn't want to be in the papers as
the man who broke the illusion; the post office forwards the letters
only because of a passing mention in a newspaper article. And the rest
is mostly standard comedy business, feeling much more like a filmed
stage play than most talkies.
In other words it's not out to convert people to being nice, it's
there to make them look silly if they don't go along with the knowing
lie. It may appeal hugely to people who think this is a good thing.
Har har, I can't win an argument against my wife so I'm going to get
her drunk.
I talk about this film further on
Ribbon of Memes.
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