I love Natalie Wood's face reacting to Kris Kringle blowing a bubble with the gum...it's perfect!
Also...the drunk Santa: "A man's gotta do SOMETHIN' to keep warm!"
And Thelma Ritter, who I love. "I don't get it!"
Live, live, live! Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!share
I liked the court scene with the mail carriers bringing in all the letters to Santa. But even the first scene with the titles where you see Kris' back as he strides down Broadway is effective. E wuld hmbly suggest there is not a bad scene in the movie.
Ethan: You can dream about things and they might not turn out, but you have to at least try.
Alfred: There's a lot of bad "isms" floatin' around out there, but the woist is commoicialism. Even in Brooklyn it's the same! Just make a buck, make a buck.
shareFavorite scenes are
Fred Gailey's triumph in the courtroom when the judge tells him to put the evidence right there on his desk and then the guards come in and bury the judge in letters.
when the prosecutor's son is put on the stand "Isn't that right, Daddy?"
When Kris sings dutch with the girl.
My favorite lines are
"Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to."
and
"Maybe he's only a little crazy like painters or composers, or some of those men in washington."
Gene Lockhart as the officious, politically concerned judge telling Fred to "put them (the letters) on the desk...."
shareOther than the obvious last ten minutes, I love the part with Tommy as a witness, the singing with the Dutch girl, and the whole imagination/monkey scene. After going over all the things she can do with her imagination and asking "Wouldn't you like to be able to do that?", the look of complete awe on her face as she nods always makes me smile.
"You used up... All the glue... ON PURPOSE!!!"
I love it when the doctor looks at his card that says he's as old as his tongue and a bit older than his teeth.
And of course I also love it when they bring in all those bags of letters into the court room.
There are so many great lines but off the top of my head:
"I don't care if he thinks he's the Easter bunny"
Susan says that the imagination is when you see things that aren't there and Kris says, "Well, that can be caused by other things too."
"You think so, those women think so, but will Mr. Macy (gesturing to upstairs) think so?"
"And in your Christmas envelope you will find a more practical expression of my gratitude."
"Black....with a little cream."
I can't believe no one else said this, but the scene where Mrs. Shellhammer (I think that's her name) is drunk.
"How silly of me," and "Yes, we would love to have Santy Claus come and stay with us!" are two of the best delivered lines in the movie.
"...It would be simply chahhhrming!"
I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!
The whole scene where the judge's political advisor is saying 'do it your way.'
"Oh-ho Henry, you're gonna be an awwwful popular fella!"
And then...
Judge, shaking his head, "The district attorney's a Republican."
Also
"Mama wants to thank Santa too."
"I'd better get the meat."
"But this is MY house mommy! It is! It is!"
The courthouse scene with the letters is a given.
The singing with the Dutch girl is my other favorite scene.
Although it has been mentioned several times, it's worth repeating: the scene where Kringle sings in Dutch with the girl!
You have to love the joy that she expressed when she realized he really was Sinter Klas.
For some reason, I always laugh when Kris says, "You, Alfred?" in reply to Alfred's telling Kris that he dresses up as Santa Claus, too.
Also, Mr. Shellhammer (within earshot of the injured Mr. Sawyer): Perhaps we'd better get a competent psychiatrist.
Mr. Mara, the attorney: Your Honor, I'm sure we're all gratified to know that the post office department is doing so nicely...But it hardly has any bearing on this case!
Mara: Where do you live?
Kris: That's what this hearing will decide.
I know it's already been stated, but any of the scenes with Mrs. Shellhammer...
"Hellllooooo?"
There are so many wonderful scenes in this movie it is hard to narrow it down.
The singing between Kris and the little dutch girl is really heart warming, especially so since she was an orphan and says she doesn't need a present because her adopted family is her present.
I also like the courtroom scene, especially the way William Frawley (judges's political advisor) and Gene Lockhart (the judge) handle the situation. Politics as usual.
It wasn't until this year, watching this film and Christmas Carol with my own daughter who is 6, that I realized that in both films it is Gene Lockhart giving wonderful performances. We also enjoyed his performance in Bonzo goes to College which is an entertaining film for little kids.
We're starting to watch a lot of older films since those are the kind of films you can watch with children and I'm realizing how many wonderful older films there are.
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Love the scene where Natalie shows Kris the picture of the house.
Kris: You mean a dolls house like this?
Susan: No! A REAL house! If you're really Santa Claus you can get it for me. If you can't you're just a nice old man with whiskers like mother said.
Also love the Mrs. Shellhammer scene.
Thank you dear. How silly of me. Hellooo!!!??? Why we'd love to have Santa Claus come and stay with us. Mmmhmm. We think it would be simply charming!
Yes its funny how people dont mention that one much. I just watched the movie again and that scene really cracks me up. I love how she takes the phone twice from her husband and still talks into it upside down both times. SHe does it so natural and doenst look at all like it was on purpose.
IM also with the majority about the Dutch Girl. I can watch it and then watch it again 10 min later and it still brings a tear to my eye.
The courtroom scene I also agree with the majority. Another crackup scene is when Tommy says "Hello Daddy" plus everything he says on the stand and then "Bye Daddy" What I found neat about his stuff on the stand is when the grown actor on the DVD extras says they couldnt think of a line and he himself suggested the line "because my daddy told me so" and the director loved it.
The ending of course is great like most say with the house but I thought today when they look at each other after they saw his cane like "no it cant be". If they just would remember he was the one that handed them the directions for an alternate route they would know he sent them that way on purpose.
It's also cute and brings a smile when Susan is trying to get her mother to invite him over to dinner and she says "Didnt I ask alright" which gives him away.
Natalie's expressions throughout the entire movie are just priceless, her incredible maturity and also her ability to convey cynicism. She was amazing.
there are so many wonderful scenes in this film, most of my absolute favourites have been mentioned already. But I think the one moment of the film that I love most is when Doris adds "I believe in you too" to the bottom of Susan's letter. It's the whole point of the film summed up in two seconds and five words.
shareWhen the William Frawley character is talking to the judge in chambers, explaining how if he rules there is no Santa Claus that toy makers would be out of work, "union men, now you have the A.F.of L. and the C.I.O. against you."
sharei like the lady shoppper who tells her kid to run along because she wants a word with santa.
shareThe scene where Kris has been handed a check by Mr. Macy and muses that he can buy an X-Ray machine for Dr. Pierce (paraphrasing):
Gimbel: That's not going to be enough. I'll make up the difference.
Macy: Buy it through the store and I can get you a 10% discount!
Gimbel: I can get it for you wholesale!
(all 3 laugh)