George Seaton's 1947 film centers on a mother, Doris, who works for Macy's (Maureen O'Hara) and her pragmatic daughter Susan (Natalie Wood). On Thanksgiving Day, a man named Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) discovers the man portraying Santa Claus is drunk and complains to Doris, who convinces him to play Santa Claus instead. When Kris goes to work at a Macy's store location, Doris and Susan begin wondering if he could possibly be the real Santa Claus.
The movie's poster was made with O'Hara and John Payne, who portrays Doris's love interest, in the foreground and Gwenn in the back because the head of 20th Century Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck, said the movie should come out in May, believing more people saw movies in the warmer months. The poster thus de-emphasized the Santa Claus angle of the story.
"Miracle" was actress Thelma Ritter's first film.