The idea for the film was inspired by Tom Wright's diary from the war, when he was captured and spent nine months as a prisoner taking care of Asian elephants at the Munich zoo.

Lance Corporal Stephen "Hannibal" Brooks is a British prisoner of war who is put to work in Munich zoo, looking after a female Asian elephant named Lucy.

They are forced to walk when Colonel von Haller, an SS officer tells Brooks that the elephant is not allowed on the train.

They are helped along the way by an American escapee named Packy who has formed a group of partisans to fight the Germans in Austria, after many run-ins with the Nazis.

When Brooks gets close to the border with Lucy, he is met by von Haller, who tells him to walk to Switzerland and Vronia, who has changed sides after being captured.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film "has a kind of slow, tranquilized dignity and a disarming desire to please.

"[1] Clifford Terry of the Chicago Tribune called it "a preposterous, but pleasantly enjoyable film" with Reed giving "a solid, versatile performance, mixing humor and controlled anger.

At some points all is elephant whimsy ... At others, Packy's guerrillas are in stern action, while Brooks lingers on the sidelines asking plaintively and pacifically 'what's it all for?'