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Hannibal Brooks ()

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A British prisoner of war working at a zoo gets the chance to escape from the Germans, so he does and takes with him the elephant that he's been caring for. Together, they head for the Swiss border and freedom.
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Stephen 'Hannibal' Brooks
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Packy
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Colonel Friedrich von Haller
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Bernard
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Willi (as Helmut Lohner)
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Kurt
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Vronia
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Dr. Mendel
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Sami (as Jurgen Draeger)
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Anna
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Von Haller's Sergeant
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Elephant Keeper Kellermann (as Ernst Fritz Furbringer)
Erik Jelde ...
Zoo Director Stern (as Eric Jelde)
Fred Haltiner ...
Josef
John Porter-Davison ...
Geordie (as John Porter Davison)
Terence Sewards ...
Twilight
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Padre
Aida the Elephant ...
Lucy
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
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Elephant Keeper Kellermann (voice)
Peter Böhlke ...
Older German Captain (uncredited)
Harald Dietl ...
German Soldier at Brooks' Arrest (uncredited)
Karl-Heinz Thomas ...
Offizier (uncredited)
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Vronia (uncredited) (voice)

Directed by

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Michael Winner

Written by

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Michael Winner ... (original story) and
Tom Wright ... (original story)
 
Dick Clement ... (screenplay) and
Ian La Frenais ... (screenplay) (as Ian Lafrenais)

Produced by

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Michael Winner ... producer

Music by

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Francis Lai

Cinematography by

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Robert Paynter ... director of photography

Editing by

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Peter Austen-Hunt
Lionel Selwyn

Editorial Department

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Brian Linsell ... first assistant editor (uncredited)

Production Design by

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John Stoll

Art Direction by

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Hans Jürgen Kiebach ... (as Jurgen Kiebach)

Set Decoration by

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Josie MacAvin ... (uncredited)

Makeup Department

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Stephanie Kaye ... hairdresser
Richard Mills ... makeup artist

Production Management

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Clifton Brandon ... production manager
Laci von Ronay ... production manager (as Laci Von Ronay)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

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Richard Cox ... second assistant director
Michael Dryhurst ... assistant director
Udo Graf Lambsdorff ... assistant director

Art Department

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Harry Arbour ... construction manager
John New ... stand by carpenter (uncredited)

Sound Department

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John Brommage ... sound recordist
Russ Hill ... dubbing editor
Terry Sharratt ... boom operator
Hugh Strain ... sound recordist

Special Effects by

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Erwin Lange ... special effects (as Irwin Lange)

Stunts

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Jerry Sandler ... For Michael J. Pollard (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department

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Hans Jura ... camera operator: second unit
Anthony Troke ... camera operator (as Tony Troke)
Jerry Sandler ... clapper loader (uncredited)

Location Management

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James Crawford ... location manager
Eberhard Junkersdorf ... location manager
Timothy Pitt Miller ... location manager
Wolfgang von Schiber ... location manager (as Wolfgang Von Schiber)

Music Department

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Christian Gaubert ... music arranger / conductor (uncredited)

Additional Crew

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Andre Beilfuss ... elephant trainer

Production Companies

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Distributors

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Special Effects

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Other Companies

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Storyline

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Plot Summary

In WW2, captured British soldier Stephen Brooks is on a prison train to Germany.On the train he meets an American prisoner, Packy, who's obsessed with escaping.Brooks tries to temper Packy and reminds him that escaped prisoners are shot if recaptured.Packy is insistent despite Brooks' warnings. On arrival at the POW camp Stalag 7A, Brooks and other fellow POWs are sent to work at the local Munich zoo, to care for the animals.Brooks is assigned to care for Lucy the elephant.The German caretaker in charge of Lucy is asked to train Brooks in his new job.At first, Brooks hates the assignment, considering the large amount of animal waste to be cleaned daily.However, he eventually becomes attached to Lucy the elephant.After a devastating bombing raid that kills some of the animals and zoo staff it is decided to evacuate the surviving animals.Lucy is scheduled to be transported by train to Innsbruck, Austria.On the departure day, the train is commandeered by a moody SS Colonel, for his troops.The colonel jokes that Brooks can walk the elephant all the way to Austria, if he wishes.The joke gives Brooks the idea of walking the elephant to Austria, with two armed guards and a Polish maid as cook.The Munich Zoo director, worried for Lucy's safety, agrees to evacuate her and send her to Austria on foot.Two soldiers provide the armed guard.One is Willy,a friendly Austrian soldier, and the other is Kurt,a brutal German soldier who gets drunk often, insults everyone and threatens to shoot the elephant.The group leaves Munich on a sunny day but the voyage to Austria isn't a promenade in the park when they start running into trouble. Written by nufs68

Plot Keywords
Taglines Supersoldier in the Super Adventure See more »
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Additional Details

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Also Known As
  • L'extraordinaire évasion (France)
  • El último obstáculo (Spain)
  • Λοχίας Μπρούκς (Greece)
  • Ганнибал Брукс (Soviet Union, Russian title)
  • Kamptan Firar (Turkey, Turkish title)
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Runtime
  • 101 min
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Filming Locations

Did You Know?

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Trivia Aida, the Elephant, who plays "Lucy", lived at the Rotterdam Zoo until July 23rd, 1981, when she died at age 46. She arrived in Rotterdam from Thailand on Jul 9th, 1940, at the age of 5 years-old, already trained to obey some human commands in Thai, just 2 months after the Nazi blitz bombing of Rotterdam on May 14th, 1940, which killed over 900 and left over 30,000 homeless. Aida then survived 18 Allied air force bombing runs over Rotterdam from June 1941 to December 1944. Then, Aida survived the Nazi food blockade of the Netherlands until May 1st, 1945, when Allied relief was parachute dropped into Rotterdam. Over 18,000 Dutch citizens starved to death during the famine. Another survivor of the Nazi food blockade was actress Audrey Hepburn who took refuge with her mother's family in Arnhem: Her family survived the famine by beating tulip bulbs into flour and baking tulip bread. Until her death, Aida was a prized performing elephant at the Rotterdam Zoo often appearing before classes of children and responding to her trainer's spoken commands. See more »
Movie Connections Referenced in Operation Dumbo Drop (1995). See more »
Quotes Dr. Mendel: [Wanting to improve his English, and not realizing that the word is the same in German and English] How do you say "elephant"?
Stephen 'Hannibal' Brooks: [Not hearing the question, but instead commenting that they have arrived] We are here.
Dr. Mendel: Ah, the "Ve are here".
[This starts the running joke of Dr Mendel referring to the elephant as the "ve are here"]
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