Annibale

I've red a lot about this figure and I got to admire it; I think he was in the level of Julius Caesar and Alexander when it comes to ancient history's generals. The involving tactic he used at Cannae is still studied in Military Academies around the world. He was an extremely clever man most educated for his time and he loved his country. The Crossing of the Alps back in 200 B.C. with an army and 30 war elephants can only be qualified as epic and a true highlight in Military history.

The guy sure deserved a better try in films. Italians were never good at making epic spectacular films, but Americans did some very good products and its a pity they were never interested in Hannibal.

Edgar Ulmer's film is slow, boring and irrelevant. It starts with the crossing of the Alps and ends after Cannae; that period was precisely Hannibal's most glorious when he moved through Italy (Rome's dominions back then) at will defeating the legions four times and retiring without ever being defeated. The movie doesn't transmit at all the real significance of such a quest against the most powerful nation of the ancient world in its own soil.

Victor Mature (Hannibal) was the master of overacting and he proofs it in this picture once more moving around with his usual 60's greasy hairdo. The rest of the cast is average or below average. The battles are not very realistic and the elephants that were used as today's tanks don't even look dangerous (even if you pass over that they were Indian elephants instead of African).

Don't waste your time on this one. The great general deserves a lot more and he sure gave a lot of material for a good script.

This material is difficult to see, the photography and color are not the best, and from time to time you see cut scenes. Poor Annibale that Hollywood never wanted to make a film about a real revolutionary and hero. This Italian film tries to give an idea of what Annibale did, but it might have a lot of invention. For example, I am not sure about his love for a woman called Sylvia, who was the nephew of Fabius. Annibale (Victor Mature) was famous because of using elephants in his battles. The animals are seen at the beginning of the film when Annibale and the troops were coming to Italy through very snowy roads in France, but at the time of the battles the elephants were not seen anymore. The force of antique Rome is once again shown here, the Romans were defeated at the beginning by the Annibale's troops, but once they got united in the Senate and all power was given to Fabius, Annibale started to loose.

This film is perhaps one of the first one of the then young Terence Hill. In addition, Victor Mature showed once again that he was probably the best actor in epic films. In my personal opinion, he was much better than Charlton Heston. The film can be seen, but one may need to read the history to know what was real or not.

This is one of several epic Italian productions 'supervised' by Hollywood directors - others of its ilk include THE GIANT OF MARATHON (Jacques Tourneur, 1959), Joseph AND HIS BRETHREN (Irving Rapper, 1960), THE MONGOLS (Andre' De Toth, 1961), THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (Arthur Lubin, 1961), THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN (Henry Levin, 1961) and SODOM AND GOMORRAH (Robert Aldrich, 1962); Ulmer himself served again in the same capacity on L' ATLANTIDE (1961).

As was generally the case, in spite of the participation of such noted film-makers, these spectacles displayed little directorial flair; in fact, this particular example is only distinguished from similar sword-and-sandal efforts by its above-average cast - though, to be fair, Ulmer stated in the accompanying interview on the VCI DVD that he didn't have final say on the film and, consequently, his vision was compromised by financiers who found his approach "too philosophical"! In any case, while the "elephant walk" (Hannibal famously crossed the Alps on pachyderms) and battle sequences are well enough staged, the look of the film is rather shoddy and bears evidence of budgetary restrictions. By the way, the Italian side of the directorial chores were handled by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia - a veteran of costume pictures who would soon replace Vittorio Cottafavi on AMAZONS OF ROME (1961), after the latter fell out with leading man Louis Jourdan!

Victor Mature, himself a regular of this type of film, is ideally cast as the legendary Carthaginian warrior - though his performance is merely adequate, the script having made his character distinctly one-dimensional (where he's involved in an unconvincing and dreary romance with Rita Gam, a woman from the enemy ranks); Gabriele Ferzetti lends dignity to the proceedings as a Roman senator. A surprising presence here is that of Spaghetti Western/action-comedy icon Terence Hill (billed under his real name of Mario Girotti) - playing the key role of Ferzetti's son; according to the IMDb, his subsequent frequent on-screen partner Bud Spencer also appears in the film...but I didn't spot him!

The supplements on the VCI disc include a precious 33-minute audio interview with Ulmer (conducted by Peter Bogdanovich), which imparts several interesting bits on the production of F.W. Murnau's THE LAST LAUGH (1924) - on which Ulmer served as art director - and HANNIBAL itself; also, besides having the director enthusiastically discuss John Schlesinger's MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969), it reveals his dislike of fellow expatriates Otto Preminger and William Dieterle!

Although touted as a Grade-B epic, such a high rating is dubious. The acting is overwrought and the plot and narrative devices are poor. The most distinguishing characteristic of this film is the cinematography -- which is simply horrendous. Over and over, there are shots of the Carthaginian Army marching somewhere -- the problem is that the march order is more akin to a company of skirmishers than it is to an army of thousands on the march. Scenes are often so dark as to be indistinguishable, and battles look like company exercises.

The Roman defeat at Cannae was the worst loss suffered by any Western army in a single day in history. Historically, the four/eight legions(opinions vary to whether double legions were present) were surrounded and destroyed in place, often because the Romans were so compressed in space that they could not effectively engage. Yet, the movie battle shows a rather open battle with large areas of maneuverability.

Much is made of Hannibal's elephants, but one must understand that only eighteen of the beasts survived the crossing of the Alps. In effect, they were the Panzers of the ancient world -- and much more effective as a terror weapon threat than an actual force multiplier.

The sub-plot of a love interest is pure Hollywood Italia -- no basis in reality. And although Fabius Cunctator was a historical figure whose "Fabian tactics" were proved correct, the movie concludes before any mention of Scipio Africanus who eventually defeated Hannibal at Zama.

The print that I viewed was the one available from "Belle and Blade Video". The print quality is not great but watchable. This one really needs to be seen in the widescreen format as this Pan and Scan version has many scenes where actors are speaking and are not even in frame. I can only guess how this would effect some of the many battle scenes. The problem with this movie is not so much in the screenplay, with all the elements we have come to expect in the Italian Sword and Sandal movies. The obligatory "love story" and the not too historical depiction of Ancient Combat. Trying to tell the complete story of the Great Carthaginian leader who kept Rome in Terror for nearly a decade is not an easy one. The direction and editing is what I think is the real problem here. Some scenes are just too long while others cry out for more attention. There is a disturbing quality to some of the battle scenes, which switch from outdoor photography to sound stage. Since it is the only movie out there on Hannibal, it wins by default. I am amazed that this story has not been redone. Overall, if you are into Ancients and the Sword and Sandal Genre you probably will like this film. Oh, by the way the obligatory "Elephants" are there, and handled as well as one might expect from this type of film.