The Enduring Christmas Movies of 1947
Christmas movies we now consider must-see classics came from a very brief period of time in 1947. These movies are so iconic that we cannot see a Christmas season passing without seeing them at least once.
Everyone knows them. Lines are quoted from these movies and trivia games are based on them. These are movies so endearing that talk of remakes are instantly panned.
What are these classics? It’s A Wonderful Life, It Happened on 5th Avenue, Miracle on 34th Street and The Bishop’s Wife.
Can you imagine seeing all these now-considered-classic films in theaters all within a 12-month period? Here’s how it happened:
December 21th, 1946 – It’s A Wonderful Life
The movie considered the most Christmasy of all Christmas movies was produced in 1946 intended for a January 1947 release.
It’s A Wonderful Life was rushed by the studio to theaters because another movie that was intended to be the big holiday season hit just was not ready in time.
It’s A Wonderful Life, though released just before Christmas, was not really considered a Christmas movie.
Seriously. Frank Capra said it was more a story of a man who felt he was a failure and that his intent in making the movie was not to craft an enduring Christmas classic.
The American Film Institute consistently ranks the film as one of the best films ever made, rank it #1 on AFI’s 100 YEARS…100 CHEERS list of the most inspiring films of all time.
The movie made $3.3 million at the box office, bigger than any other so-called Christmas films of 1947.
An enduring myth of It’s A Wonderful Life is that it was a flop. It was not. It just didn’t make money at the time because it was one of the most expensive movies made at that time.
April 19th, 1947 – It Happened on Fifth Avenue
Perhaps the least well-known of the movies on our list is It Happened on Fifth Avenue, a tale of a hobo who takes over the mansion of one of the world’s richest men every year when he heads south for the winter.
Like It’s a Wonderful Life this movie is not expressly about Christmas but it places Christmas central to resolving the movie’s complicated plot.
The movie stars Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, and Gale Storm. It was released for Easter and generated about $1.8 million in box office receipts.
The movie was nominated for Best Story at the Academy Awards but lost out to Miracle on 34th Street.
It Happened on Fifth Avenue did not enjoy as broad of a run on television re-runs each season as the other movies on this list and it all but disappeared from TV around 1990.
It was brought back on home video in the early 2000s and then became available to stream around 2014, reviving the movie’s fame and popularity.
June 4th, 1947 – Miracle on 34th Street
The story of Kris Kringle and his takeover as Santa Claus for Macy’s in post-war New York was the big winner of 1947 earning three Academy Awards and taking in $2.7 million at the box office. Miracle on 34th Street was THE Christmas movie of 1947.
Like It’s a Wonderful Life the movie has ranked well by the American Film Institute as one of their 100 YEARS…100 CHEERS list of the most inspiring films.
Of all the 1947 Christmas movies this was easily the most obvious Christmas-themed movie of the bunch.
How could it not be? Santa Claus is it’s central character and the entire story is based on Christmas.
But studio heads didn’t actually like the movie and thought it would do better as a summer blockbuster than a general Christmas release film.
Original movie posters featured the love story of characters played by John Payne and Maureen O’Hara, with Santa relegated to the background.
That’s in stark contrast to how the movie is promoted these days with Edmund Gwynn’s Santa prominent on covers and in previews.
December 9th, 1947 – The Bishop’s Wife
The Bishop’s Wife is the story of a troubled Bishop so deeply engrossed in building a church cathedral that he neglects his loving wife.
When the Bishop prays for assistance he is sent a dashing angel, played by Cary Grant, who sees the problem a little differently.
Instead of helping with the cathedral he helps instead with the Bishop’s Wife.
The Bishop is played by David Niven and the Bishop’s wife is played by Loretta Young.
The movie had some problems getting released. Test audiences didn’t care for it and rewrites were made to improve it before release.
Initial perceptions were that the film would be too religious and studios feared that would keep audiences away.
Marketing relied heavily on the suave Cary Grant as the handsome and slightly devilish angel.
The movie did better than $3 million in box office receipts. Like It’s a Wonderful Life the movie enjoyed a long run on seasonal viewings on television during the 1970s and 1980s before being made available on several formats of home video.
It was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for sound recording.
Why 1947 Featured Christmas
With the war ending in late summer the Christmas of 1945 is remembered as one of the most epic celebrations of Christmas. But it didn’t include a lot of new movies.
It took most of 1946 for the movie industry to recover from the war and most of the movies above were the first projects their stars, directors and producers took on post war.
The production of Miracle on 34th Street featured scenes from the actual Macy Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City and the film debuted with those scenes about six months later. Nearly all of these movies were rushed.
Was the intent of the time to produce these movies as Christmas classics?
Of course not.
Their featuring of Christmas within their storylines is partially responsible but there are other common elements each of these films share: humor, sentimentality, family, good feelings and overcoming challenges.
1947 was a record setting year for movie goers – more than 90 million movie tickets were sold that year. After years of war, going to the movies was clearly a diversion people really wanted. They were seeking escape and finding it through pent up demand for entertainment that made them feel good.
That’s why some of the heavier themes – the mental health of George Bailey, the freeloading of Aloysius T. McKeever, the attraction of Dudley to the Bishop’s Wife and the scandalous star of Miracle on 34th Street being a divorced single mother – were thought to be impediments to a film’s success. What made all of these movies a success was that audiences found relatable things within these movies, not objectionable things.
In an odd way, these movies projected in a sense how society was changing. Some, like single motherhood, were realities not brought on by choice but rather by world events.
Others, like vagrants squatting or men losing it over empty bank accounts, took on modern realities that may have been covered in shame in earlier times.
All of them did not take themselves too seriously, however. They opted to believe in the better angels within us, which perpetually gives us all the right Christmas feels.
And that is why they endure.
