A British prisoner of war working at a zoo gets the chance to escape from the Germans, so he does and takes with him the elephant that he's been caring for. Together, they head for the Swiss... Read allA British prisoner of war working at a zoo gets the chance to escape from the Germans, so he does and takes with him the elephant that he's been caring for. Together, they head for the Swiss border and freedom.A British prisoner of war working at a zoo gets the chance to escape from the Germans, so he does and takes with him the elephant that he's been caring for. Together, they head for the Swiss border and freedom.
- Willi
- (as Helmut Lohner)
- Sami
- (as Jurgen Draeger)
- Elephant Keeper Kellermann
- (as Ernst Fritz Furbringer)
- Zoo Director Stern
- (as Eric Jelde)
- Geordie
- (as John Porter Davison)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAida, the Elephant, who plays "Lucy", lived at the Rotterdam Zoo until July 23rd, 1981, when she died at age 46. She arrived in Rotterdam from Thailand on Jul 9th, 1940, at the age of 5 years-old, already trained to obey some human commands in Thai, just 2 months after the Nazi blitz bombing of Rotterdam on May 14th, 1940, which killed over 900 and left over 30,000 homeless. Aida then survived 18 Allied air force bombing runs over Rotterdam from June 1941 to December 1944. Then, Aida survived the Nazi food blockade of the Netherlands until May 1st, 1945, when Allied relief was parachute dropped into Rotterdam. Over 18,000 Dutch citizens starved to death during the famine. Another survivor of the Nazi food blockade was actress Audrey Hepburn who took refuge with her mother's family in Arnhem: Her family survived the famine by beating tulip bulbs into flour and baking tulip bread. Until her death, Aida was a prized performing elephant at the Rotterdam Zoo often appearing before classes of children and responding to her trainer's spoken commands.
- Quotes
Dr. Mendel: [Wanting to improve his English, and not realizing that the word is the same in German and English] How do you say "elephant"?
Stephen 'Hannibal' Brooks: [Not hearing the question, but instead commenting that they have arrived] We are here.
Dr. Mendel: Ah, the "Ve are here".
[This starts the running joke of Dr Mendel referring to the elephant as the "ve are here"]
- ConnectionsReferenced in Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)
What struck me about this movie as I started to watch it was, the beautiful scenery where it was shot on location. The scene I happened to remember first seeing was one in which Brooks was shown breaking into a closed for the war, hotel of some kind. In this hotel were various paintings and posters having to do with WWII. At first I thought it was some kind of neo-nazi flick and was about to turn the station when I recognized the building that Brooks was in.
I was floored when I recognized it as one I had stayed in during my trip to Germany. My interest was piqued and I was hooked to the film. Brooks was relaxing on a bed when he heard a noise from outside and saw a Kubelwagon approaching the building in which he was hiding in. Brooks observed 2 or so German soldiers walk up to the building realizing that something was not as it should be.
Fast-thinking on Brooks part as he faked being drunk on wine as the German soldiers made their way to where he was. Brooks wound up escaping the custody of these soldiers by tricking them into going into the wine celler and he locked them into it. Brooks managed to grab a key to the German's vehicle and drove away as the escaped soldiers fired at him.
Brooks is seen driving out of sight around a small hill and quickly became the unwitting target of Packy and his little group of followers. (Later on when I did get the chance to watch the film in its entirety, it answered all the questions I had from watching the last half) It turns out that Brooks was trying his best to stay away from Packy and his bunch.
Anyway, Brooks finds and gets Lucy (the Elephant) and wants to leave but, Lucy gets away and Brooks wants to go get her as Packy and his bunch try to set up an ambush on an approaching German convoy.
There are various interactions between Brooks, Packy and Colonel von Holler throughout the movie. The movie in my opinion was well made with a good to great cast as well as filmed in several locations in which I had just come back from visiting. There is no slow boring moments in this film and your attention is always held.
Nuff said on this except that I hope and pray that this movie will eventually be released on DVD.
- The_Ringo_Kid
- Feb 11, 2007
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Viaje Hacia la Libertad
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1