HANNIBAL (1959)

 

                    I once had a student put a picture of Hannibal Lecter with their identification of the great general Hannibal.  I certainly did not teach about Hannibal the Cannibal in my Western Civilization class and I would not review a movie about him on this blog.  But “Hannibal” (1959) is a movie about one of my favorite characters in history.  I have read several books about him and although I  had no hopes for this movie, I just had to watch it so I could shake my head with a patronizing sneer.  Plus, the movie has some kitsch value in that it has the first pairing of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.  And it stars the incomparable Victor Mature, who I have loved ever since seeing “After the Fox” as a teenager.  Mature and co-star Rita Gam were the only English-speaking actors in the film.  Supposedly, 20,000 extras were used, and some elephants.

                      “Hannibal” is an Italian peplum movie that was produced by Warner Brothers.   I am not a big fan of the “sword and sandals” genre, but here are the basics.  They thrived in Italy in the late 50’s and early 60’s.  The plots of these low budget films were usually inspired by historical, mythological, or Biblical events and characters.  Most of the historical characters came from Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, or the Middle Ages.  The genre got a big boost with the popularity of “Ulysses” (1954), a movie I showed numerous times in my Western Civ class.  Many of the films featured heroes like Hercules and Samson.  For this reason, the main character was usually portrayed by a muscle-bound actor with little talent, like Steve Reeves.  Besides the buff hero, the plots usually involved two females dueling for his affections.  One would be a damsel in distress and the other a femme fatale.  The hero often fought against an evil ruler.  Besides the low budgets, the films were famous for their poor dubbing.  The monster effects have also produced much chuckling. 

                    “Hannibal” is not a good example of the genre.  It is more historically based than most.  However, rather than being a biopic or a movie about the Second Punic War, it is more of a love triangle set amidst some of Hannibal’s greatest hits.  It opens with Hannibal (Victor Mature) crossing the Alps.  There’s lots of trudging and it is sufficiently snowy.  Real elephants walk across a sound stage.  It’s not as silly as you would expect.  Meanwhile, Fabius Maximus (Gabriele Ferzetti) is in Rome warning the Senate not to underestimate the invader.  It’s a small world as Hannibal captures Fabius’ niece Sylvia (Rita Gam) in a chariot chase.  He shows her around camp (and who knows what off camera) and then sends her home.  The Battle of Trebia is recreated on a sound stage.  Silvia and Hannibal keep meeting to advance the romance.  This becomes awkward when Mrs. Hannibal arrives.  Thrust in this melodrama is a laughable Battle of Cannae, but we do get a soldier taking an arrow in the mouth and a severed arm (ala “Spartacus”). 

                    “Hannibal” is a terrible movie, of course.  You couldn’t expect otherwise.  But it could have been worse.  Although it is not an historical atrocity, it does toy with the facts a lot.  And considering how fascinating the true story of Hannibal is, it was stupid to make things up.  However, the chronology of events is right and it does allude to some of the more famous moments in Hannibal’s War.  For instance, we get the incident where Hannibal’s brother’s head is thrown in his camp.  Besides Hannibal, another key historical figure is Fabius Maximus.  His famous delaying tactics are not well-rendered here.  And although Hannibal had his disagreements with his cavalry commander Maharbal, it is nuts to have them dueling.  The battles are embarrassing.  There is a lot of archery by the Romans which anyone with knowledge knows was not a strength of theirs.  The battles are big, with lots of extras and horses, but the choreography is poor. 

                    The romance is not a big selling point for war movie buffs.  It is not believable and is edited so it appears choppy.  (This may be due to the chopping up of the original cut for American audiences, but I’m not going to go out of my way to see the director’s cut.)  Silvia keeps going back and forth.  It doesn’t help that we have a movie where Victor Mature is the best actor.  Hannibal deserved better and fans of his certainly deserved a better movie than this.  Supposedly, we may get one in the future, although Vin Diesel is getting a little too old to play him.  For now, watch the docudrama “Hannibal: Rome's Worst Nightmare” or “Scipio Africanus”.

 

GRADE  =  D-