The New Pictures

Miracle on 34th Street (20th Century-Fox) is brought about by a well-beavered, somewhat pixillated old gentleman (Edmund Gwenn) who calls himself Kris Kringle and isn't kidding. So far as he is concerned, he is the original, the one & only Santa Claus. As such, he is well pleased to take the throne in R. H. Macy & Co.'s toy department. His employer (Maureen O'Hara) regards him as a harmless old lunatic and her grimly progressive little girl (Natalie Wood) is sure he is an outright fraud. Kris stakes his earthly failure or success on winning them over to the faith. Meanwhile he raises hob with the Christmas-rush spirit by directing customers to rival stores, whenever Macy's merchandise is not exactly what they want.

Miss O'Hara, outraged, sets the house psychiatrist (Porter Hall) on Kris Kringle, but "Mister Macy" calls off the goons when it develops that Kris has turned one of the most lucrative good-will tricks in commercial history. "Mister Gimbel" hurriedly returns the compliment--he and Mister Macy are even photographed shaking hands--and the whole Manhattan department-store trade glows with the new love-your-neighbor policy.

But the villainous psychiatrist maneuvers Kris into a sanity trial, during which Attorney John Payne, a glad eye on Miss O'Hara, manages by elaborate legal flummery to have him declared competent. By the fadeout, not only the courts of New York State but 20th Century-Fox itself are ready to insist that there really is a Santa Claus, and that Mr. Gwenn is it.

Almost certainly he is, so far as the box-office is concerned. Author-Director George Seaton has laced his sure-fire sentimentality with equally sure-fire wit and some cynical knowledge about how men of business and law might talk, look and act under these extravagant circumstances. The movie handles all its whimsy deftly and is consistently a smooth, agile job.

It also preaches a strangely ambiguous moral. Kris Kringle inveighs against the commercialism which has perverted Christmas. But most of the wit and comedy in the show, all of the logic, and much of the sentiment, endorse the idea that faith, honesty, kindness, magnanimity and the innocence of the imagination are chiefly to be respected because no other kind of investment pays off a fraction so well, in hard cash and at the voting booths.

High Barbaree (MGM) is distinguished from the usual run of screen romances because it uses some of the elements of genuine romance, and uses them sincerely. Its theme: dreams and ideals, lost and at length regained.

The story is told in flashbacks by Navy Flyer Van Johnson to a notably patient fellow derelict, as they drift along the Pacific in a disabled plane. As a small-town boy Van wanted to be a doctor, and spent a lot of time with the little girl next door. He drank down the wild stories of his seafaring uncle (Thomas Mitchell) as eagerly as the uncle drank whiskey. The uncle's tales of the uncharted, paradisiacal island "High Barbaree" especially fascinated the boy; High Barbaree became his byword for all he ever hoped to do and be. While he dreamed, the little girl next door moved away. When she returned grownup (June Allyson), the boy was no doctor; he was shaping out a too-smooth career as an aviation executive, and was engaged to the boss's daughter.

But Miss Allyson had never forgotten High Barbaree or any of its implications; under her influence, Van gradually remembered his lost ambitions. Now, drifting in the plane, he realizes that he must be somewhere in the vicinity of his uncle's legendary island. If the legend is true, it means vindication for a dream, and safety for the men.

Mawkish in spots, High Barbaree often strays through loose, highly fabricated, though nicely made flashbacks. But in some important respects, the movie remains true to the best that is in its gently romantic spirit. As a result, it is genuinely moving. Van Johnson, who has given some wretched performances in the past as a bobby-soxers' delight, does a convincing job as the softened young executive, troubled by memories and resisting them as best he can. And June Allyson, who seems incapable of a superficial performance, is excellent as the girl who never gives up.

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