Hannibal (1960)

"Hannibal" is a great movie for nine year-old boys, or at least it was back in 1960 when I sat through it twice at a Saturday matinée. I don't think it had much of a mainstream release, playing mostly to kiddie matinée and drive-in audiences. The film planted in me an interest in this historical period and was my first taste of cinema gore; my one memory being the blood pouring from a soldier's mouth after he was crushed by an elephant during the army's march over the alps.In style "Hannibal" is like a really bad spaghetti western, only set it 200BC and produced by people generally clueless about just who was their target audience. On one hand the less your sophistication the less energy you will need to burn suspending disbelief. On the other hand the subject matter cries out for a more sophisticated audience interested in history. And finally the awkwardly inserted love story will go unappreciated by both sophisticated and unsophisticated viewers.Hannibal was a brilliant military tactician from Carthage (now Tunisa) who gave imperial Rome a run for its money as the dominant world power two centuries before the birth of Christ. The film was promoted by Warner Brothers as "a fanciful adaptation of history" (make that an extremely condensed adaptation). Given all the omissions it is difficult to understand why they felt compelled to invent a love story. It might have made some sense if they had paid a box office draw actress to star as the title character's love interest; but Rita Gam was an aging bit player, pleasant in a wholesome Dorothy McGuire way but too detuned to add any sizzle to a production desperately in need of some sparks.After an especially ponderous title sequence a narrator begins the film by getting the audience up to speed on current events (circa 200 BC). Rome is threatening Carthage and Hannibal has decided to head things off by moving his army from Spain to Northern Italy via the Alps. Then we get 15 minutes of the 40,000-man Carthaginian army making its way single file over the icy slopes. The editor cuts it shots of officers shouting, "keep moving," soldiers slipping off the path to an icy death, and the same group of elephants rounding the same fake soundstage boulder. At several points the men must pull themselves up a steep incline with a rope. There are no shots of the elephants, horses, or wagons climbing this rope and this becomes the first of many suspension of disbelief moments; it is unwise to dwell on why the soldiers are subjecting themselves to this dangerous climb since there must be a nearby Roman road for all the animals and baggage.Hannibal's army emerges from the icy mountain and camps near the country villa of Roman Senator Fabius (Gabriele Ferzetti - despite the name this is not a girl). Fabius is in Rome futilely suggesting that they employ guerrilla warfare and avoid direct confrontation with Hannibal's army. This was in fact the way that the Romans were finally able to rid themselves of the invader but it took them several years to adopt such tactics.Fabius' son Quintilius (Terence Hill who I've always confused with Terrance Stamp) and niece Sylvia (Rita Gam) are at the villa and Hannibal captures them. Hannibal and Sylvia have a romance and she is released to tell Rome what a big army he has and that he has only crossed the Alps because he wants peace (could have fooled me). Before you know it Hannibal has hurt his eye and Victor Mature spends the rest to the story wearing an eye patch and the Roman Senate spends its deliberations telling pirate jokes.The elephants get inserted into several poorly edited battle sequences. They lumber around (on occasion they speed up the film to make it look like they are charging) and crush a lot of Romans off-camera and the sound people make noises that make it seem like the straw being thrown toward the elephants are actually arrows.Then at about the one third point of the actual story they run out of film, the narrator briefly explains that Hannibal never was able to sack Rome, and the ponderous title sequence runs again but this time it is full of credits.Mature was a horrible actor nearing the end of his career at this point. Since most of the cast are Italians whose lines were dubbed and there is no indication that anyone received acting for the camera direction, the production manages a nice lethargic unity.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

I like Victor MATURE and would even go as far as to call myself a "fan" of this Arnold Schwarzenegger-predecessor/archetype (with Austrian roots actually), but even I have to admit, that this flick ain't any of his better ones, unfortunately (sigh).It's awkward from beginning to end: The first scene takes place in the Roman Senate, then you have a long one with the elephants crossing the Alps (that's probably the best of the whole picture, actually you can now turn off your TV-set) and now we're already well over 5 minutes into the picture, still no Hannibal/Annibale. Suddenly one sees some elephants getting loose and a guy which we can identify on second look as Victor Mature does some awkward gestures to get the elephants away. Pretty strange entry for "the hero". Only in scene number 4 and well 10 minutes into the movie someone takes the chance to identify our hero and calls him with his name. OK, the introduction of "the hero" has been managed, somehow.The ending is equally abrupt, we see Hannibal's army moving along and get a voice over. Obvioulsly the directors (Edgar G. Ulmer usually does it better, but I assume he didn't have much to say in this one) had decided that enough celluloid had been "wasted" and called it a day.The dialog is so unsophisticated, it hurts, but still not unintentionally funny, only hammy and boring, witless.Everything in this picture is unfortunately mediocre to sub-par: ahead and foremost the script, but also acting (Victor is certainly also already too old for the role, sorry), photography, whatever. Only the music by Carlo RUSTICHELLI is slightly better, of course he's no Miklos ROSZA either, but at least the music is fitting and powerful. But that does not justify sitting through the whole picture (enjoy the main theme and quit).For Terence HILL Fans it is worth mentioning that Mario GIROTTI, later known as TH, has a medium large part here and you can watch him "acting" (woodenly, but so what) a Roman.So my rating is: If you are a Victor Mature fan: 4 out of 10, if you are a Terence Hill fan: 3 out of 10, if you're neither nor: 2 out of 10, so better stay away.I wish I could have written a better review. :-(

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.