Hannibal (1959)

During the Second Punic War in 218 BC, Carthaginian general Hannibal attacks the Roman Republic by crossing the Pyrenees and the Alps with his vast army.

Directors:

Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, Edgar G. Ulmer

Writers:

Mortimer Braus, Sandro Continenza (as Allesandro Continenza)

Stars:

Victor Mature, Gabriele Ferzetti, Rita Gam

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Victor Mature	...	Hannibal
Gabriele Ferzetti	...	Fabius Maximus
Rita Gam	...	Sylvia
Milly Vitale	...	Danila
Rik Battaglia	...	Hasdrubal
Franco Silva	...	Maharbal
Terence Hill	...	Quintilius (as Mario Girotti)
Mirko Ellis	...	Mago
Andrea Aureli	...	Gajus Terentius Varro
Andrea Fantasia	...	Konsul Paulus Emilius
Renzo Cesana	...	(as Renato Cesana)
Bud Spencer	...	Rutario (as Carlo Pedersoli)
Pina Bottin
Remo De Angelis
Piero Mitri

Storyline

After making his historic crossing of the Alps with elephants transporting supplies and troops, Hannibal marches on Rome in a war of revenge. During his advance, he captures Sylvia, the niece of Roman Senator Fabius Maximus but, instead of holding her prisoner, he shows her his powerful army and herds of elephants, then sets her free. He is sure she will report what she has seen to his Roman enemies. Hannibal defeats the Romans at the battle of Trebbia and sends a message to Sylvia that he is marching on Rome. Sylvia succumbs to her love of Hannibal and they have a rendezvous, but are surprised by a Roman patrol. Hannibal escapes and Sylvia is confined to the temple of the Vesta Goddess. She escapes and meets Hannibal again. Hannibal orders his brother Hasdrubal to Carthage to take over command of the reinforcements preparing to join Hannibal. Hannibals wife Danila arrives from Carthage unexpectedly and Sylvia runs away and returns to Rome, where she is tried for high treason and ...

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Plot Keywords:

carthage | elephant | alps | army | second punic war | 

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Taglines:

Hannibal and His Fantastic Elephant Army That Clobbered Half the World!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Biography | Drama | History | War

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

18 June 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hannibal

Filming Locations:

Avala Studios, Belgrade, Serbia

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Liber Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Sound)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Edgar G. Ulmer has said that Warner Bros., which released the picture in the US, had cut the film so badly that when he saw it in a theater he barely recognized it.

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Goofs

Towards the start of the film there is a panoramic shot of Rome. This shot includes many familiar buildings such as the Colosseum, which was not built until some 300 years after the events of the film.

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Alternate Versions

There were two different cuts of this movie in existence at the time of release. The version released originally in Italy and subsequently in Germany and maybe other non English speaking European countries had a running time of 95 minutes. The US release version is given with 103 minutes. The BBFC lists a submitted running time of 104m 40s.

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Connections

Referenced in Edgar G. Ulmer - The Man Off-screen (2004)

User Reviews

Hannibal Didn't Deserve This

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.