MICHAEL WINNER DIRECTS OLIVER REED IN 'HANNIBAL BROOKS'

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS Year: 1969 Rating: ****

Short, quirky, extremely offbeat Michael J. Pollard is like a novelty song of an actor, with BONNIE AND CLYDE his one big hit while in other movies — like Michael Winner's fourth collaboration with THE SYSTEM star Oliver Reed titled HANNIBAL BROOKS — Pollard doesn't really fit at all... 

Although he's almost deliberately cast against type as a gung-ho explosives-expert leading partisans around to kill Germans, and since Reed himself hardly seems part of World War II, both work together comfortably enough in a hybrid of road movie, comedy and action/adventure where Reed, a POW in Germany... after conveniently working in a German zoo... takes a prized elephant across enemy lines into, eventually, Switzerland... 

The System's Oliver Reed, John Alderton and John Porter-Davison in HANNIBAL BROOKS

And there's hardly any pressure to think otherwise — although it's not an entirely happy ending for some of the humans including a bad German, a good German and a lovely Polish ingenue (meanwhile Reed & Winner's THE SYSTEM co-star John Alterton turns up with POW-Cinema legend James Donald)...

Overall the usually bombastic Reed seems passive and indifferent towards war, catered to the Vietnam-era audience as Winner overindulges in zoom shots, the camera rocketing forward and back — yet mostly to showcase the Austrian and Bavarian woodsy locales that, like that elephant, provides splendid backdrops for a nifty time-filler. 

Karin Baal in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed and John Alderton in HANNIBAL BROOKS

John Porter-Davison in HANNIBAL BROOKS

The System's Oliver Reed, John Alderton and John Porter-Davison in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Michael J. Pollard in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Karin Baal in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Helmuth Lohner in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed and Peter Carsten HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed and Karin Baal HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Ralf Wolter and Maria Brockerhoff in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Wolfgang Preiss in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Ralf Wolter and Maria Brockerhoff in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Helmuth Lohner and Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS with bad German Peter Carsten

Karin Baal in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

James Donald in HANNIBAL BROOKS

James Donald in HANNIBAL BROOKS

James Donald in HANNIBAL BROOKS with Michael J. Pollard

Oliver Reed, John Alderton and John Porter-Davison, Michael J. Pollard in Hannibal Brooks

James Donald in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Helmuth Lohner, Oliver Reed, John Alderton and John Porter-Davison in Hannibal Brooks

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed and Lucy in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed and Aida the Elephant as Lucy in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Wolfgang Preiss in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Karin Baal in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Karin Baal in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS with Helmuth Lohner

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Maria Brockerhoff in HANNIBAL BROOKS

Oliver Reed in HANNIBAL BROOKS