Hannibal Brooks

That got your attention, didn't it? The words "Michael Winner" and "Orson Welles" in the same sentence. And I don't just mean because of their fondness for wine and good food. No, the fact is, that like, Orson Welles, Michael Winner made all his best films at the start of his career ("The Jokers", "The Games" and this film). After the first "Death Wish", he was starting to go downhill professionally (although "A Chorus of Disapproval" was not bad). If you see any of his most recent films, you'll find it hard to believe that this was the same man that made such a class act as "Hannibal Brooks" back in 1968. In fact, his films don't get released any more, they escape. "Dirty Weekend" is a case in point, executed so crassly and seemingly assembled by some clueless chimp who has no idea about film-making.

Anyway, back to "Hannibal Brooks" and the days when Winner made films for the family that didn't involve women being raped and tortured. The story of a British P.O.W. in 1944 helping to lead an elephant over the Alps to freedom in Switzerland was devised by Winner and former P.O.W. Tom Wright and blessed by a great script full of quotable lines by "Likely Lads" Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Reed is great, although the film is stolen by Michael J. Pollard, who has never been better than he is in this film. With great picture postcard photography of Austria (by Robert Paynter) and a terrific score by "Love Story" composer Francis Lai, this is great entertainment and deserves a DVD release now.