Special Notes:

Although by 1966 he had already worked with Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai's own career as solo composer seemed to reflect what was in vogue at the time – spaghetti westerns, spy films, and war flicks – except for this oddity about a man named Prune who plans to foreclose on the North Pole, kick out the Santa Clauses, and ruin Christmas.

The Christmas That Almost Wasn't starred Rossano Brazzi, then known internationally as one of Italy's best-known actors, due to his success in American productions like South Pacific and The Barefoot Contessa, and was the first of a trio of films the actor directed during the sixties.

1966 was at the tail end of Brazzi's American sojourn, and Christmas is one of those fondly-remembered but little-seen holiday films that only recently resurfaced on DVD. Originally distributed in America in theatres by MGM, the film was marketed with a song LP from RCA that featured only the songs, ignoring one of Nicolai's most atypical scores.

Now, light orchestral, soft pop-jazz style was typical of the era, yet anyone familiar with Nicolai's best-known work will find Christmas to be a complete shocker when placed beside his horror and Eurotrash scores from the seventies.

The main theme, “Marionette,” is a typical period pop-jazz tune, with a bopping beat and gentle strings that ease the listener into the score's lighthearted tone. “Il buono e il cattivo” replays the main theme using a whistle and low solo brass, and then jumps into a lumbering cut that shifts from sustained and pensive strings to humorous theme fragments on bass clarinet, and low brass.

Nicolai's polished writing is very evident in some of the cue's flawless transitions, as when a solo organ begins a phrase, and strings complete the final bars, ending on a warm conclusion. The theme also pops up in a somewhat mysterious rendition on xylophone in the short “Ricordi,” where Nicolai uses some exquisite string and harp waves that undulate like a gentle tidal current. (A second recapitulation of the cue is particularly Herrmannesque.)

While written for a holiday film, Nicolai's score contains no formal holiday tunes. There's a slight soundalike quote in “Stravaganze” and minor use of sleigh bells in the score's final third, but the rest is Nicolai's own original material, with a huge diversity of variations and mood shifts. “Giardino d'infanzia” swells with warmth and tenderness, and Nicolai beautifully weaves chimes, strings, woodwinds, and discreet organ in a lengthy prologue before the cue's melodic material unfolds with exceptional affection.

It may have been a major advantage that the movie's seasonal vocal tunes weren't handled by Nicolai, as he ended up writing a rich orchestral score with light pop indulgences, and some mercurial cues that frequently contain wholly new instrumentation and effects to enhance the film's shifts from comedy to drama.

DigitMovies' mastering comes from excellent source tapes, with resonant bass, and clean dynamics for the high strings, brass, and fluttering woodwinds in cues like “L'incostante,” or the sharp flute and muted brass in the loony march intro for the third variation of “Il Buono e il cattivo.' (The album assigns the same titles to several cues, and while there's similarities, they frequently have different running times, indicating perhaps the cues may have played under multi-part sequences, as not all sound like alternate versions grouped or spread out to give the album some variety.)

Fans of the film (or those curious about its enduring legacy) should check out a nice fan site HERE.

© 2007 Mark R. Hasan