Claim: Oliver Reed acted.

Hannibal Brooks is a 1969 British war comedy film directed by Michael Winner and written by Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement based on a story by Winner and Tom Wright . The film follows a prisoner of war attempt 's to escape from Nazi Germany to Switzerland during World War II , accompanied by an Asian elephant . It stars Oliver Reed , Michael J. Pollard and Wolfgang Preiss . The beginning is based on the experiences of the writer Tom Wright who , while a prisoner of war , worked at Munich Zoo to care for their elephant `` Lucy '' . It has also been attributed to the true story of Olga the elephant rescued from Vienna Zoo in 1944 . The title is a reference to the Carthaginian military commander Hannibal who led an army of war elephants over the Alps .