Il natale che quasi non fu (The Christmas That Almost Wasn't) (1966)

The Christmas That Almost Wasn't is pretty much Miracle on 34th Street meets Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey. This movie did not jump start the spaghetti Christmas special (in the way Sergio Leone launched the spaghetti Western). This Italian-made Christmas classic (mouthed and dubbed in English) tries very hard and has its moments but nostalgia is about all it has going for it. Most of its players never worked again. Paul Tripp wrote and stars as a wonderfully twinkle-eyed, Bing Crosby-like Christmas lover who steps in to help Santa Claus in a pinch. Director Rossano Brazzi leads as the beetle-browed villain, Phineas T. Prune, and his wife Lydia Brazzi plays phlegmatic Mrs. Claus. Italian veteran Alberto Rabagliati, who began his career in 1928 and ended it with this film, plays the Bearded One himself. A crew of little people play elves, Mischa Auer mawkishly plays the elves' foreman, and John Karlsen deliciously plays Prune's Skeksis-like butler Blossom. It's just that the story, acting, editing, musical score, and musical performances all struggle to show life and mostly limp instead. It's like a coarse woolen shawl interwoven with occasional bits of glitter. (Netflix doesn't list it so I got it through Blockbuster.) It's a sweet story though so I give it 2.5 stars.