Hannibal Brooks

Hannibal Brooks
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Winner
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Michael Winner
  • Tom Wright
Produced byMichael Winner
Starring
CinematographyRobert Paynter
Edited by
  • Peter Austen-Hunt
  • Lionel Selwyn
Music byFrancis Lai
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£1 million[2] or less than $3 million[3]

Hannibal Brooks is a 1969 British war comedy film directed by Michael Winner and written by Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement, based on a story by Winner and Tom Wright.[4] It stars Oliver Reed, Michael J. Pollard and Wolfgang Preiss.

The film follows a prisoner of war's attempt to escape from Nazi Germany to Switzerland during the Second World War, accompanied by a female Asian elephant. The idea for the film was inspired by Tom Wright's diary from the war, when he was captured and spent nine months as a prisoner taking care of Asian elephants at the Munich zoo.[5] However, the escape and all following events of the film are fictional. The title alludes to the Carthaginian military commander Hannibal who led an army with war elephants over the Alps.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference champlin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ There was a crooked rail Wright, Ian. The Guardian 29 May 1968: 7.
  3. ^ Article 5 -- No Title SHIVAS, MARK. Los Angeles Times (19230 Mar 1969: t1.
  4. ^ Gallagher, Paul (1 February 2016). "'You Don't Share A Hotel with Oliver Reed': Michael Winner Takes Two Elephants to Switzerland". Flashbak. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  5. ^ Goodwin, Cliff (2001). Evil Spirits: The Life of Oliver Reed. Virgin. p. 115. ISBN 9780753505199.