User reviews

This exciting Peplum in average budget blends historic events , drama and spectacular battles . It is an epic and fiction film released by the producer Ottavio Poggi and professionally directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia and Edgar G. Ulmer . Hannibal history is imaginatively brought to life on colorful images with acceptable production values by means of hundreds of extras and spectacular shots filmed in SuperCinemascope . This cardboard costumer saga contains sword-crosses , drama and a love story between the known general badly performed by Victor Mature who falls in love with a Roman virgin played by Rita Gam , all of them abound in this moving adaptation on audacious Hannibal's existence , one of the most glorious military in the History . The Carthaginians were given the habitual all-purpose Mideastern costuming.

The actual historical deeds are the following ones : Two new powers rose to the West . On the south shore of the Mediterranean there was Chartage, a Phoenician colony grown rich on trade . On the north, there was an impressive city on the peninsula called Italy . The two were bound to collide . They did , in a series of wars called the Punic . Carthage's most extraordinary general was Hannibal (Victor Mature towards the end of his career) , who achieved the feat of attacking Rome from the north by going through Spain in crossing the Alps into Italy . At the beginning he made an oath in the presence his father, Amilcar Barca , to revenge the injustice inflicted on his country , Charthago. Amilcar had three sons , Hannibal (wooden acting by Victor Mature) , Mago (Mirko Ellis) and Asdrubal (Rik Battaglia) , both of whom gather together for battling Romans . Hannibal broke the ¨statu quo¨, as he crossed the river Ebro, the natural frontier between the Roman power and the Charthaginian and he attacked Sagunto as allied of Roma, causing the second Punic war . The mastermind Charthaginian commander going on crossing the Pyrinees and Alps with a colossal Army : 5o.ooo military, 9.ooo horses and reportedly bringing with him a corps of 37 trained elephants transported from Africa . As Hannibal's army coped with engineering problems involving elephants and Alpine streams . As he vanquished the Roman Army in several battles : Trevia (218), lake Trasimeno (217) which caused a great commotion and Rome appointed a Dictator named Favio Maximus (Gabriele Ferzetti) . Finally the Romans suffered the most great defeat : Cannas (216) . Then was appointed as General of the Roman Army , the commander Publio Cornelius Scipion who achieved to defeat the Charthaginians and he took Cartago Nova and Gades and beheaded to Asdrubal , whose head was sent his brother Hannibal . Despite the Anibal's theatrical coup de main , he was eventually beaten by Romans . While Hannibal hoped reinforcements from Chartago , Publio Cornelio Escipion the African disembarked in Africa and threatened Chartago . Then Hannibal returned to Africa for confronting Escipion . And Hannibal was ultimately defeated in Zama (202) , in spite of getting a most numbered Army . He flees and takes refuge under king Antioco III in Syria and he posteriorly committed suicide.

Other films about this famous historic character are as follows : ¨Jupiter's Darling¨ (1960) , a musical full of anachronisms with Esther Williams and Howard Keel as Hannibal, the Italian classic titled ¨Scipio Africanus : the defeat of Hannibal¨(1937) and the recent and spellbinding documentary/fiction titled ¨Hannibal" (2006) played by Alexander Siddig .

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!

The print that I viewed was the one available from "Belle and Blade Video". The print quality is not great but watchable. This one really needs to be seen in the widescreen format as this Pan and Scan version has many scenes where actors are speaking and are not even in frame. I can only guess how this would effect some of the many battle scenes. The problem with this movie is not so much in the screenplay, with all the elements we have come to expect in the Italian Sword and Sandal movies. The obligatory "love story" and the not too historical depiction of Ancient Combat. Trying to tell the complete story of the Great Carthaginian leader who kept Rome in Terror for nearly a decade is not an easy one. The direction and editing is what I think is the real problem here. Some scenes are just too long while others cry out for more attention. There is a disturbing quality to some of the battle scenes, which switch from outdoor photography to sound stage. Since it is the only movie out there on Hannibal, it wins by default. I am amazed that this story has not been redone. Overall, if you are into Ancients and the Sword and Sandal Genre you probably will like this film. Oh, by the way the obligatory "Elephants" are there, and handled as well as one might expect from this type of film.

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.

This makes a good addition to the Victor Mature section of your film library. But I was mostly disappointed in just about all the aspects. First the music in the background did not match the situation. Then the movie starts in the middle of Hannibal's life as he started over the mountains if you do not know the history then you will be lost thru the movie. The dubbed voices reminded me of the voices in "Fractured Fairy tales." The were all sort of squeaky and of course as in the tradition of dubbed Italian movies did not match the speech timing. The one exception was Victor he would show the right or left profile and read his likes perfectly. I don't know how he kept a straight face. By the way he was 45 at this time.

After he makes it over the mountains it becomes a love story between Hannibal and Sylvia the niece of the Roman determined to do Hannibal in. Even Hannibal's men think they are in trouble because Hannibal is gaw gaw over a Roman girl. Here uncle thinks she is a traitor but still loves her like a daughter.

A few wars with some so so elephant scenes and a lot of obviously fake blood. Hannibal's ex turns up and Sylvia runs off.

Will Hannibal and Sylvia ever get their lives together? Who wins the war? Why did they stop the story so abruptly?

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.

This material is difficult to see, the photography and color are not the best, and from time to time you see cut scenes. Poor Annibale that Hollywood never wanted to make a film about a real revolutionary and hero. This Italian film tries to give an idea of what Annibale did, but it might have a lot of invention. For example, I am not sure about his love for a woman called Sylvia, who was the nephew of Fabius. Annibale (Victor Mature) was famous because of using elephants in his battles. The animals are seen at the beginning of the film when Annibale and the troops were coming to Italy through very snowy roads in France, but at the time of the battles the elephants were not seen anymore. The force of antique Rome is once again shown here, the Romans were defeated at the beginning by the Annibale's troops, but once they got united in the Senate and all power was given to Fabius, Annibale started to loose.

This film is perhaps one of the first one of the then young Terence Hill. In addition, Victor Mature showed once again that he was probably the best actor in epic films. In my personal opinion, he was much better than Charlton Heston. The film can be seen, but one may need to read the history to know what was real or not.

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. :-(

The legendary Edgar G. Ulmer has much to answer for -- certainly his willingness to make pictures on a shoestring resulted in some bloody awful pictures -- but he nevertheless has a talent that shines through even in some of his flimsiest pictures. On the other hand, even with fairly strong material (as here) the unevenness is always evident. Among Roman/Biblical epics, though, this, for all its messiness and its generally miserable acting, is not one of the dullest. (For me those are the almost-impossible-to-sit-through "El Cid" and "The Fall of the Roman Empire," pictures with much higher budgets and fancier casts, and made by a far superior director, Anthony Mann. But they are truly tedious.) Why? First of all, the story of Hannibal's campaigns is genuinely interesting from military and historical standpoints, and Ulmer brought them to life in a number of really superb battle scenes, beautifully edited. (Yes, yes, there are obviously cheap things -- the fake blood is terrible and the mix of studio and outdoor scenes is very poorly matched, but the effect of these scenes is generally excellent.) The novelty of seeing elephants climbing over the Alps, too, is refreshing. On the other hand, much of the acting, and, especially, the dubbing and sound mixing, is frankly at an amateur level. Rarely, in fact, have I heard such a poor soundtrack, with characters voice levels not matching camera distance, ludicrous crowd ad libs, etc. The score, too, though rather stirring, frequently seems wildly inappropriate (a common problem in Ulmer films, which is ironic, since Ulmer considered himself something of a musician). So it's interesting to see, to put it bluntly, how working in the lower depths corrupted a basically talented director into accepting standards way below par, even on what was, apparently, a film with a more or less "normal" budget. Kudos, though, to Victor Mature, that oft-misused and underrated actor ("My Darling Clementine" and Anthony Mann's "The Last Frontier" give strong evidence of actual talent). He makes a strong, sober Hannibal, not without a sense of humor. "Hannibal" is, despite fully justifiable criticism, a pretty entertaining picture. We've all sat through much worse.

Of Victor Matures films this must rank amongst the worst I have seen. Mature does his best with what he has been given.

Clearly money was spent by the film makers in terms of the look of the film but the use of dubbing for the rest of the actors makes the film more laughable than it was. The Italian actors may not have been the best but when the dubbed voices had no connection with the actions and most sounding as if they were refugees from a B western, the local actors had no chance.

Good for a giggle if you have nothing better to do.

Many movie fans see this movie as just another Sword & Sandal flic. If you watch it carefully and study your history from the time, you will soon find out how accurate this movie is. This story took place 200 years BCE but many facts are well documented. Hannibal Barca (translated as LIGHTENING), grew up during the first Punic war and was dead set on destroying Rome as he launched the second Punic war at age 26. He first conquered Spain and after amassing an army of 100,000 men and 37 elephants, marched across the Alps in only 2 weeks where he lost half of his force. The Elephants were to be used as a terrifying stick force to trample and disperse the Roman armies. Sabers were attached to their tusks, "a cycle" was attached to the trunk and on their backs was a structure which held 6 archers. Just think of the effect this had on foot soldiers who had never seen such a charging monster. At CANNAE Hannibal destroyed 88,000 Romans in a few hours by dropping back his soldiers in the center and enclosing the Romans in a "circle of death". This Cannae tactic is still studied and used in warfare even today. Also used in the movie is the burying alive of the Senators Daughter which was a common practice at the time for traitors. Also, His brother's head was thrown into the camp as depicted in the movie. Other than the Elephants used were the smaller Indian type and not the huge African one, the rest of the story still holds up under scrutiny. Watch and enjoy. The cry still rings out in Rome whenever there is an impending disaster... "HANNIBAL IS AT THE GATES". Run.

In terms of scale this was probably to Edgar Ulmer what 'Cleopatra' was to Joe Mankiewicz!

As usual there's plenty of dubbed talk, but an interesting supporting cast. Herding those heffalumps on to a soundstage at Cinecitta looks more daunting than getting them across the Alps was originally.

Hannibal was one of the most brilliant military commanders of all time, so it's such a shame that "Annibale" (also known as "Hannibal") is such a ponderous and awful film. Instead of concentrating on his life and conquests, it centers mostly on a fictional relationship he had with a Roman lady....and a dull one at that.

The title character is played by Victor Mature. And, when I think of Victor Mature I do NOT think about a North African military commander! Giving Mature support is a cast of Italians who are dubbed into English. The story is slow and the ending is a mess....nuff said. For history lovers like me, the film is too much fiction to be of any interest and for everyone else it's a slow mess of a film.

I don't know who the hell shot this, but I suppose I could glance at the credits and lay blame on the culprits, but since I'm lazy and irritated right now I'll just skip the formality and say that Victor Mature probably fired his agent several times over after being booked for this gig.

He is quite literally the only competent person thesping his role, all the while other actors are stiff, comical, and otherwise just plain unconvincing. But like I implied in my first paragraph, it's not even the acting (however bad by the supporting cast) that's the issue: It's the cinematography: It's the direction and shot set ups: It's poor scheduling of the extras so the most can be gotten out of them shot wise. It's everything from the awful costumes to the lack of historical accuracy, to the extreme lack of consistent production values.

The battle scenes are so poorly staged that you wonder who the hell was in charge of this thing. The acting, as mentioned, by all other than the lead (Mature) is some of the worst I've seen for a feature film. It's that bad.

Avoid this thing.

This was a bland production. Nothing exceptional, nothing even barely good. Did not know what it wanted to be. If not for Victor Mature, this would clearly be a B movie, and even his performance was flat and one-dimensional. Bad history, bad love scenes, bad war scenes. Not terrible, probably bad, definitely not good.

The Classical epic was not a uniquely American genre. Although other European countries took less interest in such films, the Italians held the view that as they were the heirs of the Roman Empire their national cinema should celebrate it. This view originated before World War I, continued under Mussolini and survived Italy's defeat in World War II and the downfall of the dictator, with Italian film-makers turning out historical adventures of this sort throughout the fifties and into the sixties. The genre eventually died out in the late sixties, around the same time as the Hollywood epic. A feature of these films was the use of foreign, especially American, stars to give them more international appeal. The best-known of these stars, Steve Reeves, was far better known for the films he made in Italy than for anything he did in his native America.

"Hannibal" (or "Annibale") is a film of this type, although the man whose life is celebrated here was of course not a Roman but one of their greatest enemies. Two Hollywood stars (Victor Mature and Rita Gam) were brought in to play the leading roles and they shot their lines in English while the rest of the cast spoke Italian. Two versions, one Italian-language and one English-language, were eventually produced.

The film begins with Hannibal's crossing of the Alps with his men and elephants. It combines details of his military career with a sub-plot about a romantic relationship between Hannibal and Sylvia, the niece of the Roman senator Fabius Maximus. This romance is fictitious; Fabius Maximus, known to history as Fabius Cunctator, or Fabius the Delayer, because of the guerrilla tactics he advocated against Hannibal's armies, was certainly a real person, but Sylvia appears to be an invention of the scriptwriters.

The Italian film industry could not normally match the financial resources which Hollywood could throw at the epic, and this occasionally shows. The scenes of crossing the Alps are quite well done, but the battle scenes are not always convincing. We hear Fabius in the Senate advocating hit-and-run tactics and then see what appears to be a minor skirmish between Roman and Carthaginian troops, suggesting that Fabius's advice has been heeded. That apparent "skirmish" is supposed to represent the Battle of the Trebbia, which involved some 40,000 men on each side and which ended in a massive Roman defeat precisely because that advice had been rejected. (The re-enactment of the later Battle of Cannae is rather better done).

Mature had appeared in several Hollywood epics, including "The Robe", "Demetrius and the Gladiators" and "Samson and Delilah", and it was probably this pedigree which landed him the role in "Hannibal". He was never a great actor, but great acting was not always the main requirement for the heroes of sword-and-sandal epics. A solid, heroic presence, manly good looks and a powerful, muscular frame were often of more importance- Reeves had been a champion bodybuilder before becoming an actor, a sort of earlier version of Arnold Schwarzenegger- and these are all attributes which Mature brings to this film. He struggles to show a lot of emotion in the love scenes, but that matters less than it does in "Samson and Delilah", where the love between the two principal characters is the whole point of the film. Here, the love of Hannibal and Sylvia is a bit of an afterthought tacked on to the main military story, and something of which Hannibal seems rather ashamed. (He has a wife and family back in Carthage). As for Gam, she was never a star of the first rank in America, and is largely forgettable here.

Mature does, however, manage to bring out something of his character's essential decency and nobility; Hannibal may be a warrior, but he is one who adheres to a code of honour more than do most of his Roman opponents, with the exception of Fabius. Had Hannibal succeeded in defeating Rome, the consequences for subsequent history would have been incalculable, but I suspect that many in the audience who saw this film would have been rooting for him. "Hannibal" may be a standard piece of sword-and-sandal spectacle, but it is probably better than many examples of the genre. 6/10

The acting is spotty, directing questionable at times and even comedic as soldiers slide to their death down small hills and elephants amazingly stop just short of crushing frightened concubines. You've also got to keep in mind this is 60 years old and acting was not as authentically aligned as it is today. Story is decent albeit very Hollywood, but decent entertaining overall. I've seen much worse modern films

The brilliant Carthaginian general, Hannibal (Victor Mature) despises Rome. Fueled by vengeance, he drives his army of elephants through the treacherous, frozen Alps into Italy, crushing anyone who dared to oppose him. As a strategy to break the morale of his enemies, Hannibal captures the beautiful Sylvia of Rome (Rita Gam) so she may see the might of his army and spread the news of impending doom to her people. However, a love grows between the two that will eventually be his undoing

Hannibal is a visually arresting historical adventure which is about the Carthaginian general who leads his men and elephants through the alps - the opening sequence of the trek is really impressive in its depiction of the struggle, the trials and the danger. Soldier falling, their bodies been left for the wolves, and the detail of the treacherous weather is expressed through a soldier's hand completely frozen to his spear. This opening scene alone is a scene stealer, but the rest of the film is good with some drama, constant politics with the senate bickering, a power hungry senator, and romance. But it's not of a sugary romance - the fate of Hannibal's ladylove (Rita Gam) is tragic. There are some slow spots and much talk, but some well-staged action scenes (such as the battle of Cannae) are interspersed between. Having said that, the focus is on plot and character development rather than action sequences. As for Victor Mature, he's great in the role, imbuing Hannibal with a diplomatic and strong leadership qualities. A decent historical adventure with impressive moments. Ends abruptly though.

This film was good, it followed the series of battles from 218 to 216 BC which culminated in Hannibal's victorious, heavy defeat of the biggest ever assembled Roman Army of 80,000 (Battle of Cannae).

This film even mentions the siege of Saguntum (Rome's Ally in Spain) which brought on the second Punic War when the Carthaginian senate refused to surrender Hannibal Barca to them.

After briefly showing the events of the Battle of Trebia (December 218BC) and the battle of Lake Trasimene (June 217BC) there are political scenes involving both the Carthaginians and the Romans as Fabius Maximus tries to persuade the Roman senate not to engage Hannibal in open battle, rather skirmish and harass.

Victor Mature played Hannibal well, but the only element which was wrong with this film was that it did not appear to command the same budget available for it's production as The 300 Spartans or Spartacus (in particular had) so the battle of Cannae, Hannibal's finest hour (or hours) did not come across as the battle would have done.

The reason for this is that they would have needed to assemble AT LEAST 130,000 extras in order to portray the events at Cannae. However, they still managed to assemble a lot of extras for the battle scene, just not nearly as much as 130,000 Aside from this minor flaw, I LOVED IT.

Hannibal is a victim of extremely poor production values, horrendous Italian directors, and even worse Italian actors. Mature does his best to salvage the film, but it is as hopeless as the war between Rome and Carthage, which would end with the complete destruction of Carthage after its third and final disastrous war against Rome.

The great Italian directors and actors excelled in neorealism. This film is about as far from realism as you can get. The corny love story subplot only worsens the film with an ugly B Italian actress. Almost every great Italian film ever made, with the exception of modern Tornatore films, like the great Cinema Paradiso and a few others since the post-1980s, have been in black and white. This turkey had a hack director, hack actors, and hack production values that tried to use visual violence and gore in place of acting, directing and a script. It is a mess. I wrote a book on Italian Cinema (The Development of Italian Cinema).

The book analyzes the great Italian neorealism period immediately following WW2 and lasting for two decades before Fellini and other great Italian directors took over the transition to modern films. Hannibal was not part of the process; it was a hack project from the start. Don't waste your time with this junk.

There are four things for which this film is worth seeing and remembering: Victor Mature as Hannibal, the crossing of the Alps with live elephants, the meticulously reconstructed battle of Cannae, and a magnificent score by Carlo Rustichelli.

The story isn't bad with the loyalty conflicts of Fabius' niece joining hands with Hannibal the number one enemy of Rome and ultimately abandoning him to return to Rome, which doesn't thank her for it, but, as so often in Ulmer's films, the dialogue does not come alive and fails to flow. The actors aren't bad, but the script is not good enough for therm. It's a great story, and it's even greater when you consider that only half of it is told here, the rest of Hannibal's career was perhaps even more dramatic than the first part up to his greatest glory at the victory of Cannae, which is the only part this film has bothered to screen.

Victor Mature was always an impressing actor but was unfortunately burdened by scripts that kept him confined to beefy heroes for the display of muscles and knuckles in extensive fisticuffs, so it's only seldom he was allowed to actually be the great actor he was. He almost gets through here, like in John Ford's "My Darling Clementine". Gabriele Ferzetti is excellent as Fabius, he has really studied this character carefully, and Rita Gam also makes the best of it, but she was better in Nicholas Ray's "King of Kings" as the lewd Herodias.

This is one of the better Peplum films, they were produced en masse in the fifties up to "The Fall of the Roman Empire", and their number tended to spoil them, give them a bad reputation as only spectacular superficialities, which ultimately made them disappear losing their good box office standing, but a few of them are worth rediscovering for re-evaluation and exoneration. This was one of them, mainly for the sake of Victor Mature.