MIRACLE ON MAIN STREET
Welcome to Rick's Texan Reviews annual Christmas movie review, where I look at a Christmas-themed film. This year, one that blends film noir elements with themes of redemption and hope.
1939 is heralded as the greatest year in film history. The epic Gone with the Wind would probably have been enough to make that year illustrious. However, we not only had that Southern spectacle, but among other films released that year were Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Women, The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Love Affair, Beau Geste, Ninotchka, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 1939 was such a grand year for film that even Poverty Row got in on the act. Miracle on Main Street is a little-known film that has no major stars or big budget. What it does have is a lot of heart and a moving story.
In the Spanish Quarter of Los Angeles, there is the traditional posada Christmas celebration. There is also a seedy sideshow, overseen by shady carnie Dick Porter (Lyle Talbot). Among the various dancers is Florita and her Seven Veils. Florita is really Maria (billed simply as Margo), who happens to be Dick's wife. Maria is unhappy in her demimonde but can't find a way out of it. Without being overt, it is understood that she, through Dick's assistance, sells her charms. They make the mistake of trying that with an undercover cop, but both manage to escape.
In the flight, Maria flees into a church, where she is stunned to discover a newborn in the church creche. Impulsively taking the baby to help in her cover, Maria manages to get back to her apartment. Despite herself and common sense, Maria soon falls in love with the abandoned baby, whom she names Donatio. Aided by gruff but loving landlady Mrs. Herman (Jane Darwell) and drunk Dr. Miles better known as "Doc" (William Collier, Sr.), Maria soon starts a new life.
She also starts a relationship with Jim Foreman (Walter Able), recently divorced who wants a traditional wife and children. They fall in love, but Maria is reluctant to share the truth about her past or Donatio's origins. Though struggling financially, she is happy in her new life as a single mother and seamstress. The past, however, finds her in a quandary. Will she have to go back to dancing? Will Dick, now back, cause her more issues? How will she get out from under Dick's thumb and start anew with Jim?
Miracle on Main Street runs a surprisingly short 78 minutes long yet packs a lot of story within its runtime. Frederick Jackson's screenplay gives us an engaging story with flawed but decent characters to care about. We see early on that Maria really is not suited to be this erotic dancer, but she is also self-aware on her lack of virtues. "Well, say you're pretty nice. And a good-looking kid at that," the undercover cop tells her. "I'm not as good as I look," she replies, the double meaning clear. This is a pretty noir line that would evoke a shady lady. In Miracle on Main Street, it reveals Maria as a good girl trying to be bad.
Almost all the characters, particularly the females, are not saintly or wicked, but complicated and contradictory. Darwell, for example, is gruff and not afraid to push for the rent money, threatening to kick Maria and the child out. However, she also provides cover for Maria and Donatio when Child Protective Services threatens late in the film to separate them, insisting that Maria is Donatio's mother. Maria's two fellow dancers, who also escaped during the raid, end up finding more respectable work. One of them even bizarrely manages to pass herself off as a posh erudite British nanny, with her strong New York accent occasionally breaking through.
This provide some of Miracle on Main Street's comic relief, particularly when she, Maria and Jim are at the beach (though why they are all wearing dresses and suits there is strange). Collier, Sr. is also wonderful as Doc with his comic efforts at both drinking and sobriety. He, however, has surprisingly tender moments too. "A woman will do a lot when she's in love," Doc wisely observes to Maria when she frets over her complicated past.
Major credit should go not just to Jackson's screenplay but to Steve Sekely's directing. He got most of his actors to play the parts in a genuine manner. Darwell and Collier, Sr. were absolutely wonderful in their roles, showing a caring if again, flawed character. Margo and Talbot were a bit melodramatic in their performances, but nothing so wildly out-of-tune. To their credit, especially Margo's, they did bring
Seleky also had some creative visual moments. The entry from outside the Streets of Cairo sideshow to the dance erotique show inside had great camera work. Miracle on Main Street had a surprisingly integrated male audience at the striptease, with black, Asian and Hispanic male patrons alongside white men enjoying the beautiful women dancing their Ripple Dances.
The film is not perfect. One wonders why the subplot of Jim's first marriage was even there when having him be single would have worked just as well. One also wonders why Maria did not just reveal Dick's blackmail threats instead of trying to drive Jim away with a false story.
A child is at the heart of both the Christmas Story and Miracle on Main Street. While Miracle on Main Street is a Poverty Row production, the film is mostly so well-acted, well-written and well-directed that the low-rent production oddly enhances the film. This is a hidden Christmas gem, one that might be worth remaking and updating. I was deeply moved by Miracle on Main Street, a film that hopefully will be better-known.
2024 Christmas Film: The Holiday Sitter
2023 Christmas Film: Journey to Bethlehem
2022 Christmas Film: Santa Claus (1959)
2021 Christmas Film: It Happened on Fifth Avenue
2020 Christmas Film: Roots: The Gift
2019 Christmas Film: Last Christmas
2018 Christmas Film: Christmas with the Kranks
2017 Christmas Film: The Man Who Invented Christmas
2016 Christmas Film: Batman Returns
2015 Christmas Film: A Madea Christmas
2014 Christmas Film: Prancer
2013 Christmas Film: A Christmas Carol (1951)
2012 Christmas Film: Arthur Christmas
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