Hannibal Brooks *** (1969, Oliver Reed, Michael J Pollard, John Alderton, Wolfgang Preiss, Karin Baal, Helmuth Lohner) -Classic Movie Review 7770

Producer-director Michael Winner’s fondly remembered 1968 British World War Two caper film Hannibal Brooks is a wartime adventure yarn about an elephant crossing the Alps, starring Oliver Reed in one of his more memorable turns as British prisoner-of-war Stephen ‘Hannibal’ Brooks, who meets up with American guerrilla Packy (Michael J Pollard).

‘Hannibal’ is working at a German zoo but escapes from the Nazis along with the elephant he is caring for, heading for the Swiss border and hopefully freedom.

Perhaps Winner does not really bring out the best in the Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais screenplay, but the original story idea by Michael Winner and Tom Wright is pretty darn irresistible anyway.

Reed gives a very solid, amusing and appealing star performance, and there is a useful star comedy turn by a mugging Pollard, as well as eye-catching Bavarian filming and a bit of solid, strong action at the finale. It is a thoroughly likeable movie.

Aida plays Lucy the elephant. Also in the cast are John Alderton as Bernard, Wolfgang Preiss as Colonel von Haller, Karin Baal as Vronia, James Donald as Padre, Helmuth Lohner as Willi and Peter Karsten as Kurt.

Hannibal Brooks is directed by Michael Winner, runs 101 minutes, is made by Scimitar Films, released by United Artists, is written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, is shot by Robert Paynter, is produced by Michael Winner, and is scored by Francis Lai, with Production Design by John Stoll.

Possibly fuelled in part by being apprehensive of the not very friendly elephant, Oliver Reed took to the bottle. Winner recalled: ‘We had to change our hotel in Austria every half an hour because Oliver Reed was always throwing flour over people, running up and down the corridor or pissing on the Austrian flag.’

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7770

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com