This movie is insane. It's a Hollywood musical about the Carthaginian General Hannibal Barca who marches on Rome in the Second Punic War. Clearly, that's already awesome and should absolutely be made into a musical spectacular mess. But now throw in Esther Williams playing a Roman woman who spies on Hannibal just because she has heard that he is sexy, and gets taken captive by the Carthaginians. It's okay though! Because she falls in love with him and they sleep together a bunch and what the history books won't tell you is that Hannibal never invades Rome because he is too busy with his Roman lady.
Now throw in some truly awful songs about slavery and elephants and horniness, and you have a critical and commercial flop. But I honestly don't care if this is supposed to be bad, it's one of the most sexy and entertaining musicals I have ever seen. The music is bland, but the script is hilariously horny and Esther Williams and Howard Keel have off-the-charts chemistry.
I'm also a classics major and a lover of all things Rome, so I was predisposed to like this film. I want a sequel about Scipio!
This movie is insane. It's a Hollywood musical about the Carthaginian General Hannibal Barca who marches on Rome in the Second Punic War. Clearly, that's already awesome and should absolutely be made into a musical spectacular mess. But now throw in Esther Williams playing a Roman woman who spies on Hannibal just because she has heard that he is sexy, and gets taken captive by the Carthaginians. It's okay though! Because she falls in love with him and they sleep together a bunch and what the history books won't tell you is that Hannibal never invades Rome because he is too busy with his Roman lady.
Now throw in some truly awful songs about slavery and elephants and horniness, and you have a critical and commercial flop. But I honestly don't care if this is supposed to be bad, it's one of the most sexy and entertaining musicals I have ever seen. The music is bland, but the script is hilariously horny and Esther Williams and Howard Keel have off-the-charts chemistry.
I'm also a classics major and a lover of all things Rome, so I was predisposed to like this film. I want a sequel about Scipio!
