Zulu Dawn

Plot synopsis:
The film is set in British South Africa, in the province of Natal, in January 1879. The first half of the film revolves around the administrators and officials of Cape Colony, notably the supremely arrogant Lord Chelmsford (Peter O'Toole) and the scheming Sir Henry Bartle Frere (John Mills), who both wish to crush the neighbouring Zulu Empire, which is perceived as a threat to Cape Colony's emerging industrial economy. Bartle Frere issues an impossible ultimatum to the Zulu king, Cetshwayo (Simon Sabela), demanding that he dissolve the Zulu Empire. Cetshwayo refuses, providing Cape Colony with a pretext to invade Zululand. Despite objections from leading members of Cape Colony's high society and from Great Britain itself, Bartle Frere authorises Lord Chelmsford to lead a British invasion force into Zululand.The second half of the film focuses on the British invasion of Zululand and the lead-up to the climatic Battle of Isandlwana. The invading British army, laden with an immense network of supply wagons, invades Zululand and marches in the direction of Ulundi, the Zulu capital. British forces, eager to fight a large battle in which they can unleash their cutting-edge firearm military technology against the vast Zulu army, become increasingly frustrated as the main Zulu army refuses to attack the British, and fighting is restricted to a few small skirmishes between British and Zulu scouts.Concerned that their supply lines are becoming overstretched and that the main Zulu army is still at large, British troops begin torturing captive Zulu warriors in an effort to learn the location and tactics of the Zulu army. Halfway to Ulundi, Chelmsford halts his army at the base of Mount Isandhlwana, ignoring the advice of Boer attendants to entrench the camp and laager the supply wagons, leaving the camp dangerously exposed. During the night, Colonel Durnford (Burt Lancaster) and an escort of 50 mounted Basutos approach the camp. Lord Chelmsford then orders Durnford to return to his unit, bringing them to the camp immediately to reinforce Colonel Pulleine (Denholm Elliott). Lt. Vereker (Simon Ward) should join Durnford as aide-de-camp.Reacting to false intelligence, Chelmsford leads half of the British army, including the best infantry, cavalry and artillery units, on a wild goose chase far from the camp, in pursuit of a phantom Zulu army. On the day of battle (January 22), Durnford and his troops are arriving at 11:00 a.m. at the camp at Isandlwana. Meanwhile, the Zulu captives escape their torturers and regroup with the Zulu army, informing them of the British army's direction and strength. After having lunch with Colonel Pulleine and Lt. Vereker, Durnford quickly decides to send Vereker to scout the hills. Durnford then decides to take his own command out from the camp too, and scout the iNyoni heights.The entire Zulu army is later discovered by men of Lt. Vereker's troop of scouts, who chase a number of Zulu herdsmen, trying to hurry away their cattle, only to discover the main Zulu enemy force of thousands at the bottom of a valley. Lt. Vereker then sends Lt. Raw to warn the camp that it is about to be attacked.As Zulu impis descend upon the camp, Durnford's cavalry retreat to a donga in an effort to hold back the Zulu advance. Forced back, the British take heavy casualties, including the battery of Congreve rockets, which is overrun by the Zulus. Initially, the British infantry succeed in defending the camp, and Zulu forces retreat under a hail of artillery and small arms fire. British units defending the camp are now becoming dangerously spread-out, and are oblivious to Zulu forces moving round the sides of the mountain in an encircling move.As British infantrymen begin to run out of ammunition and the British cavalry are driven back towards the camp, Zulu warriors charge the British troops en masse, sustaining horrific casualties, but succeed in breaking the British lines. As British troops break and flee towards the camp, the battle breaks down into hand-to-hand fighting between British soldiers and Zulu warriors, amongst the débris of tents, fallen soldiers and supply wagons. Overwhelmed by the sheer number of Zulu warriors, British soldiers and their African allies are slaughtered in the camp, some being cut down as they attempt to flee back towards Natal. Colour-Sergeant-Major Williams (Bob Hoskins) sees many of his redcoated men being cut down by Zulu spears. Williams is stabbed in the back by a spear while attempting to save the life of one of his young soldiers, and having killed several Zulu soldiers with his bayonet after he runs out of ammo, dies at the hands of a large band of Zulus.As the British forces break apart, the one-armed Durnford becomes trapped in the camp. Hoping to save his men, Durnford orders his African cavalrymen to retreat. Remaining on foot at the battlefield, Durnford is killed alongside his infantrymen.During the last minutes of the battle, Colonel Pulleine entrusts the Queen's Colours of the 2nd battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot to two junior officers, Lts. Melvill (James Sebastian Faulkner) and Coghill (Christopher Cazenove), who attempt to carry them to safety in Natal, passing gruesome scenes as Zulu warriors hunt down British and African infantrymen attempting to flee across the river. While crossing the Buffalo River, the three lieutenants are cut down by Zulus. Coghill accompanies Melvill in his attempt to gallop the Union Flag back towards Natal. When Melvill nearly drowns while trying to cross the Buffalo River, Coghill turns to help him, and is ambushed by Zulu warriors. Coghill attempts to defend himself with his revolver, but is killed. Melvill is assegaied by Zulu warriors while defending the flag.The Colours (a Union Flag embroidered with the Regiment's insignia) are captured. In his dying moments, Vereker shoots and kills the Zulu wielding the Colours, and the Colours fall gracefully into the river, where they are carried out of reach. Vereker's fate remains unknown (though it is implied that he too gets killed).Seeing the battle lost, Pulleine returns to his tent to pen a last letter to his wife. He is discovered by one of the escaped Zulu prisoners and, unwilling to kill the young soldier, the elderly Pulleine allows himself to be killed in his tent by the Zulu and other warriors that storm in.In the evening, Chelmsford and the rest of the British army return to Isandlwana, to be greeted by the sight of their slaughtered comrades, and the news that a mass Zulu army has invaded Natal and laid siege to Rorke's Drift. Charles L. Norris-Newman (Ronald Lacey), a war correspondent for 'The Standard' also views the devastation (having accompanyed Chelmsford's expecition and so avoid the battle/massacre. The film ends with Zulu warriors in a silhouetted victory procession, dragging captured British artillery back to Ulundi.

Tags: cult, murder, violence

Review:
Released in a badly cut version in 1979 just before the resurgent interest in Burt Lancaster for his performance in "Atlantic City and Peter O'Toole for "Stunt Man", this fine historical epic died an ignominious death at the box office, on the second half of a double bill with the horror film "Silent Scream".
That film opened with a voice over of Richard Burton speaking Lord Chelmsford's communication to Prime Minister Disraeli detailing the massacre that befell a British column of about 1,800 British Infantrymen and native contingents at the hands of Zulu warriors at Isandlwana on January 22, 1879.
"Zulu Dawn" chronicles the chain of events that led up to the British debacle at Isandlwana, the worst defeat ever suffered by a professional army at the hands of native forces in history.Director Douglas Hickox keeps the film moving along and the film is an excellent example of adapting historical events to the needs of cinematic form and drama.
The arrogance of the British Empire as personified by Sir Henry Bartle Frere, (John Mills in another stiff upper lip performance) and his chief lieutenant, Frederick Theisger, Lord Chelmsford, (Peter O'Toole, nicely understated and subdued) are in the filmmaker's view clearly responsible for a war that need never have been fought at all.
Although made some 15 years after the 1964 flim "Zulu", this film is actually the "prequel" to the other and should be viewed first in order for a better understanding of these two events in the British invasion of Zululand.
This movie had the potential of being great - what with us going well over budget ($52mill) We had the stars - most being very professional but with two major flaws - with incompetents such as Douglas Hickox and Peter O'Toole (directly responsible for the over-budgeting) 2nd Unit Director, David Tomblin and Peter Mc Donald - 2n Unit film Director were largely responsible for saving the production - in many more ways than one.Our skeleton crew had to re-shoot many scenes.
It took a lot of serious brainstorming and communication with the amaZulu to be able to complete this very important depiction of one of many battlers that took place between the "natives" and the invading colonialist (Boer & British) armies.The passion, pathos, emotion and pain of reliving this momentous battle had an immense effect on myself, especially as I was one of the isiZulu Interpretors and Liaison people - as well as one of the second assistants.The scenery may well have been spectacular; but working in such close/intimate - trusting proximity with 6000 amaZulu warriors was an experience beyond all comprehension.I still regard this movie to be a very valuable one - especially since the fall of the previous South African regime and highly recommend it..
Not perfect, but awesome in its spectacle and casting, ZULU DAWN makes a fine companion piece to it's earlier sequel, ZULU.DAWN starts fairly slowly with lots of lengthy contrasting scenes in Zululand and Natal, showing a big rift between the comfortable life of the British Colonials in Natal vs.
The final battle scene consumes roughly the last 30 minutes of the movie and it's very exciting to see roughly 1200 British soldiers swiftly get overrun by a 30,000 strong army of Zulu warriors armed with spears.
Then comes one of the best shots in any epic film (reminding me of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and BATTLE OF NERETVA) with one excellent long shot where the entire background shows the Zulus swarming through the British tents while in the foreground a Zulu stabs and British soldier to death.The main disappointment here is that Peter O'Toole is a bit underused and in his rather 2-dimensional presentation of Lord Chelmsford as an uptight snob really doesn't have the complexity or larger than life impact that one would usually expect from him.
The musical score is very good as well, though at times possibly a little distracting and oppressive.Hats off to the cinematographer and location managers for this one - I believe ZULU DAWN was shot at the actual South African locations near the real battle (though Isandlwana hill was too modernized and built up to use for the film), so the authenticity of this film shall probably go unequaled into history.
As 'Zulu' is about the battle of O'rourke's drift, one of the most celebrated victories in British military history, ZD deals with one of the biggest defeats of the British army by an indigenous force.
It happened just a few days before the events in 'Zulu'.ZD is sheer heaven for history buffs : everything is recreated into the tiniest detail : the uniforms, entirely filmed on location in South-Africa Natal province , the famous Martini Henry rifles, even including some kind of prehistoric rocket launchers, so no cost or effort were spared to recreate the conditions of the battle.The Brits are represented by the cream of English actorsgild : Peter O'Toole as the too self-confident general, Simon Ward as the green lieutenant, Bob Hoskins (just before his breakthrough role in "the Long Good Friday") as a hardasnails sergeant and Denholm Elliot as one of the ignorant troop commanders.Also a large Boer party ( settlers mostly from Holland as 'Boer' is the Dutch word for farmer) took part in the battle, lead here by none other then Burt Lancaster !
A very bloody three-year war followed, simply known as 'the Boer war', where the British army was nearly defeated by the much smaller number of unprofessional Boers soldiers.Director Douglas Hickox ( Entertaining Mr Sloane, Sitting Target, Sky Devils,etc..)does an excellent job and turns in a classic-style, immaculate and spectacular epic.
Sadly ZD was a big flop at the box-office and marked the end of the old-style colonial epics, up until the recent remake of 'The Four Feathers'.It also marked the end of the career of director Hickox in feature-length movies and he was forced to work for TV, condemned to churning out superior 'schmalzy' series as 'Mistral's Daughter', 'Sins', etc...But as historical epics go, they do not come any better than this.
Here, it's easy to follow exactly what's happening, and why.What makes the film especially memorable is that it's the story of a military disaster - the biggest defeat of a "modern" army at the hands of a "primitive" one (though I believe the Zulus suffered higher casualties than the British did).
I guess that's what makes this initial Zulu victory so noteworthy - almost unbelievable, really.As is often the case in war movies, "Zulu Dawn" features big-name actors playing real soldiers.
Though nobody gives a career-best performance, it's great to see O'Toole, Burt Lancaster, Bob Hoskins and a solid cast of British character actors together in one movie.I don't suppose they'd ever make this today.
"Zulu Dawn" is necessarily more diffuse, covering the folks at home (both in South Africa and Zululand) and the converging of battle forces and the division of the British between Lord Chelmsford's column and the men at Isandlwana.
In command of British force is General Lord Chelmsford well played by Peter O'Toole and an excellent Burt Lancaster plays Colonel Durnford as a tough and veteran officer.
The battle scenes are magnificent with deployment of the vast forces, and exciting combats when the army try to defend from attack by thousands of Zulu warriors.Stunning cinematography with colorful landscapes and martial musical score by the master Elmer Berstein.
This is a prequel about 'Zulu'(1963,Cy Endfield) depicts the electrifying battle of Roarke'Drift where little more than hundred soldiers made a valiant stand against thousands Zulu warriors.Adding more details over the largely depicted on the movie, the incidents happened of the following manner : Zulu victory over British forces 22 Jan 1879 about 160 km, north of Durban.A column led by Lord Chelmsford seeking the Zulu army camped at Isandhlwara, road to Ulundi while patrols went out to scour the district.
It turned out to be one of the great disasters the British ever experienced.The Zulus in this film are accurately depicted as highly disciplined soldiers, and in some ways shows them in a more human way than "Zulu".
Although less spectacular than its predecessor "Zulu" "Zulu Dawn" is still an excellent war film which properly captures the sheer incompetence of the senior British officers and the nobility and fighting spirit of the Zulus.
The British almost repeated the same mistakes during the Boar war , and the French and Americans done it in south east Asia , and the red army did it in Afghanistan.DAWN does chronicle in great depth the mistakes made at the battle of Isandlwana: Chelmsford split his forces , the army didn't reinforce the perimeter , they were spread too thinly , and the method of supplying ammo was totally flawed , but it's this that spoils the film , there is too much emphasis of what happened to cause this defeat .
The film would have worked much better if it concentrated on just Chelmsford and Bob Hoskins gruff Sgt Major instead of the many characters who drift in and out of the picture ZULU DAWN isn't a complete waste of time though , despite the long wait the battle scenes are handled well ( But not as good as ZULU ) and like ZULU it shows that a lot of brave men died on both sidesUpdate March 2008 .
The second film shows what happens at the second battle that occurred very shortly after the massacre in Zulu Dawn.Peter O' Toole is magnificent and the commanding officer that doesn't know how to fight the Zulu and won't take advice from those that do.
The impressing films battle scenes (thousands of Zulus in a frenzy run towards the British lines) are a masterpiece of coordination, although the in-fight is not very much realistic in parts, which is typical for films where no experts are consulted (later they are insulted).
As a big fan of Zulu 1964,i had to watch the sequel Zulu Dawn.I must admit i was not disappointed,as this film does not try to out do or better the first,as there both about different battles of the same conflict.The good thing about this version is that it shows both points of view from both sides so you can make your own mind up.Another good point is that it shows the different classes that make up the British army,from the cockney Sgt to the stiff upper lip generals to the northern privates,this is just how the British army was and still is,this was the last time the British army wore red in battle.The only thing i thought was wrong with the film was when Burt Lancaster gets shot,and the music becomes very dramatic,its seems the bigger the star you are the more dramatic the death scene,after all when the boy soldier gets shot by our own rifles he doesn't get any music ,he just gets trampled over by thousands of Zulus.I'm surprised know one else commented on this,you rotten lot..
It's a very dark irony that it turns out to be the worst job he could have done in this battle.John Mills, as the one who nominally sends an ultimatum to the king of the Zulu and declares war, states chillingly at one point that this is the final solution to the "Zulu problem" - calling to mind other such statements in history and an indication of where the writers' sentiments may lie; it also begs the question, would the anti-war slant have been evident if this film were made right after Zulu, in the mid-sixties?
Despite it's violence (more than half the film is the battle), it never lost sight of its primary themes - the remarkable courage of common men, the profound differences between the two cultures in conflict."Zulu Dawn" is a weak follow-up.
In the case of the Zulus and the Lakota Sioux the defeats were smothered to contemporaries (who deified Pullein and the others in their African camp, and Custer on his little hilltop) because the British went on to smash the Zulus (after a year of heavy fighting) and the Americans went on to destroy the Sioux (Crazy Horse, who won Little Big Horn, was killed within one year while under arrest).ZULU DAWN was meant to be the prequel to ZULU, which is (in some ways) a better film.
Nobody likes defeats and it lasted almost 10 years before movies about the last Stand of the Guides (The Far Pavilions) and the Battle of Isandlwana (ZULU DAWN) were made.
That film concerned the freshly victorious Zulus from the battle of Isandlwana where they nearly annihilated a British army and were marching on a post at Rorke's Drift.
Lord Chelmsford the British commander played by Peter O'Toole made a lot of tactical errors including leaving his cavalry under Colonel Anthony Dumford who is played by Burt Lancaster on the other side of the Buffalo River out of Zulu Territory.
Whilst the first movie has the action and good characters, it's not a great portrayal of what happened.Zulu Dawn on the other hand tries very hard to be 'true' in it's portrayal of the events leading up to and including Isandlwana and to the large part, pulls it off well.
See it – This is the prequel to the classic movie "Zulu." Starring an aging Burt Lancaster and Peter O'Toole, it chronicles the events leading up to the battle at Rorke's Drift in "Zulu." Made 15 years later, it is not quite the classic that its predecessor was.
i saw this movie on television about twenty years ago,but i can't remember if it was the 98 minute version or the 113 minute version or the 115 minute version.in addition,it was not presented in the widescreen format, which needless to say is a must.about a year ago "zulu dawn"was released on DVD,but in the pan-scan - full screen format.i did not purchase it because it was not presented in widescreen.the version i saw two decades ago was very good and staged some of the best battle scenes i have ever seen in any movie.it also was a very good period film,with much attention to detail and much realism.it is an outstanding war film and in its own way on par with "zulu".burt Lancaster and peter o'toole head the cast.both are solid and if i remember correctly,Lancaster employs a British accent to add to the realism of his real life character.so you have two great stars in a great historical war movie.now all we need is the 115 minute WIDESCREEN VERSION PLEASE.thank-you..
Zulu Dawn has some incredible photography with an epic feel it seems a lot of the plaudits for that should go to the second unit team rather than the director Douglas Hickox, who was more of a hack and unfortunately this epic was over his head and thus he delivered a less than engaging and loose film that also went over budget.The film recounts the defeat of the bellicose British forces intent on invading Zululand as the British forces are split and soon taken by surprise by the Zulus.The film has the usual cyphers from the arrogant, pompous nobility (Peter O'Toole), the experienced Sergeant Major type (Bob Hoskins), the more sensitive and noble officer (Simon Ward), the natural heroic leader of men (Burt Lancaster).
This is a diffuse story, a lot of fine actors with little to do, and although the battle scenes are fine, you do wonder why the Zulus are shown as nothing more than warriors running with spears while some of the British soldiers are having a noble death..
Depicting what is claimed to be the worst defeat of the British colonial army against a native force (battle of Isandlwana), ZULU DAWN is a remarkable film that goes until the most little detail when portraying this battle and what preceded it (the British ultimatum against the Zulu king).
As far as I learned the British ended up invading Zululand (in Anglo-Zulu war in 1879), but this defeat at the battle of Isandlwana against the Zulus was an infamous loss to them, mostly on their pride and typical arrogance.
a little sad to see such a movie have such a low average rating...its incredibly historically accurate and well paced with high production budget definitely a must-see if you like historical war moviesthis and the original Zulu film are some of the best representations of asymmetrical colonial warfare that is part of our history.
Col Pulleine was an administrator and had never been in a battle.He was caught flat footed, spread out, and was cut up piece-meal, although according to the Zulus it was still a close call...for a time the British were winning, but they couldn't hold.Notice BTW in the movie, the man Chelmsford sends with a spyglass to observe ISandlwana comes back and says, "The tents have not been struck.".
The film is excellent for the atmosphere it creates at what it must have been like with 20 odd thousand Zulu's coming at you in full force.The Zulu battle tactic of the 'horns of a bullalo' are not explained at all in the movie and also the fact that the entire camp was surrounded and swallowed up in less than an hour.
That began on a day in which a British Force of 1,800 men several miles away was defeated and almost annihilated by 20,000 to 30,000 Zulus in the Battle of Isandlwana.
"Zulu Dawn" isn't on the level of the first film, but it is a very good movie and addition to the history of the Anglo-Zulu War..
Fine cast, of British actors, with the obligatory American (Burt Lancaster), Zulu Dawn features the PREVIOUS battle to Rorke's Drift, (Portayed in the superior 'Zulu') Isandhlwana.
Excellent battle scenes.For some reason or another, this film has been the hardest thing to find, it's so good to see it on DVD after years of waiting.
Otherwise Zulu Dawn is a very good depiction of a true historical incident and a must for fans of this type of Film.