Movie review - "Hannibal" (1959) ** (warning: spoilers)

Hannibal remains probably the most famous general to take on Ancient Rome, even more so that the ones who actually knocked Rome off their perch (e.g. Goths, Vandals). He wasn't necessarily black but it's unlikely he looked too much like Victor Mature, who is the star here. Having said that Mature isn't bad as a hardened, tough general - he looks as though he's seen a lot of fighting and could lead men, and does particularly well in the later stages of the movie when his heart is broken.

History buffs will find some things to enjoy - there's a crossing of the Alps, which lots of soldiers being frostbitten and falling down hillsides to their death, and the Battle of Cannae, and Fabius Maximus. But most of the time is taken up with Hannibal falling for a Roman noblewoman, captured niece of Fabius (who winds up killing herself). The movie is also anti-climactic after the Battle of Cannae - it just has this sort of postscript which says that Hannibal hung around in Italy and fought for a long time (which is true but doesn't make for very good drama).

It's a choppy sort of movie - occasionally there are scenes with lots of extras then ones with hardly any, then stuff on location intercut with shots very obviously on a set. It goes in fits and starts, the acting/dubbing is erratic and often laughable. Interesting enough but could have been much more so.