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Zulu Dawn

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6.0/10 • 104

1979-05-141h 57m

AdventureDramaHistoryWar

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.

Directors
Douglas Hickox
Editors
Malcolm Cooke

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Burt Lancaster

    Burt Lancaster

    Col. Anthony Durnford

  2. Simon Ward

    Simon Ward

    Lt. Vereker

  3. Denholm Elliott

    Denholm Elliott

    Colonel Pulleine

  4. Peter Vaughan

    Peter Vaughan

    QSM Bloomfield

  5. James Faulkner

    James Faulkner

    Lt. Melvill

  6. Christopher Cazenove

    Christopher Cazenove

    Lt. Coghill

  7. Bob Hoskins

    Bob Hoskins

    C.S.M. Williams

  8. David Bradley

    David Bradley

    Pte Williams

  9. Paul Copley

    Paul Copley

    Cpl. Storey

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Dec 3, 2022

6/10

Though 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!

Media

  • Zulu Dawn poster
  • Zulu Dawn poster
  • Zulu Dawn poster
  • Zulu Dawn poster
  • Zulu Dawn poster
  • Zulu Dawn poster
  • Zulu Dawn poster
  • Zulu Dawn poster
  • Zulu Dawn poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$11,750,000.00
Revenue
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Keywords
fightbritish empirevictoryprequelbattlefieldbattledeathcolonialismspear throwingsurroundedstandoffmortarzulutribal warfarearmy life