The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (Italian: Il Natale che quasi non fu) is a 1966 American-Italian film that stars Rossano Brazzi and Paul Tripp, and was originally released by Childhood Productions Inc. On television, the movie had traditional December airings on Home Box Office (HBO) during the 1970s and early 1980s.

[1] Sam Whipple, a broke lawyer who is nevertheless young at heart, meets Santa Claus and learns that he is upset because he has a new landlord named Phineas T. Prune, to whom Santa owes a great deal of rent.

He buys the department store, has his butler destroy several of the toys and takes the damages out of Santa and Sam's paychecks.

Prune rediscovers his holiday spirit and runs into the street wishing everyone a merry Christmas, bewildering the townsfolk with his enthusiasm.

The actual story was based on the book written by Paul Tripp, who also adapted it for the screen and stars in the film.

The musical score was written by Bruno Nicolai, which includes the title song sung by Glenn Yarbrough.