Zulu Dawn
"The sun dawned bloodied... two great armies met face to face... and the earth trembled to the sound of the Zulu death chant!"
In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership.
Top Cast
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Burt Lancaster
Col. Anthony Durnford
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Peter O'Toole
Lord Chelmsford
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John Mills
Sir Henry Bartle Frere
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Denholm Elliott
Colonel Pulleine
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Simon Ward
Lt. Vereker
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Nigel Davenport
Col. Hamilton-Brown
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Michael Jayston
Col. Crealock
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Peter Vaughan
QSM Bloomfield
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James Faulkner
Lt. Melvill
Overview
In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership.
Rating
6.1
/ 10
113 Reviews 1 Popular
1 Reviews
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CinemaSerf6 Dec 3, 2022Though certainly epic in cinematographic terms, this is a really meandering and over-cast depiction of the Zulu defeat of the British garrison at Isandlwana at the end of the 19th century. I'm assuming it was made as a precursor of - and to capitalise upon - the far superior "Zulu" (1964) but right from the get-go it's just wordy and ponderous and, well, lacklustre. Peter O'Toole does exude a certain arrogance in his role as the Commander of the army (Lord Chelmsford) but Burt Lancaster - and his distinctly ropey accent - as "Col. Durnford", features all too sparingly to offer much more than a casual dig at the incompetencies of his boss as the Zulu and the soldiers of the Queen square up. This cast list is impressive but none of the assembled stars of stage and screen are really used to any great effect. History tells us what happens next, and the colourful action scenes are well put together with enthusiastic efforts from the Zulu themselves delivering well staged combat scenes. Sadly, though, we have to wait far too long for these to rescue this from the doldrums of colourful but procedural cinema that offers us little to nourish either our interest in the characters or in the colonial and ambitious politics of the region that prevailed at the time. Underwhelming, sorry!
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