Zulu (1964) on Netflix
After the British defeat at Isandlwana, a Zulu force advances on Rorke's Drift, a British supply depot and hospital. Lieutenant John Chard takes charge, senior to Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead.
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Trailer
Plot summary
At a mass Zulu marriage ceremony in January 1879, King Cetshwayo learns of his warriors' victory over the British at Isandlwana. The missionary Otto Witt and his daughter Margareta hurry back to their station at Rorke's Drift, a British supply depot and hospital in Natal, as a Zulu force of some 4,000 turns toward it. A Natal Native Contingent officer, Adendorff, brings the news to the garrison. Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers takes charge of the 150 men there, about 30 of them sick or wounded, over the head of Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead. With no time to evacuate, Chard fortifies the station with upturned wagons and crates. Irregular South African cavalry refuse his plea to stay, and Witt urges the local auxiliaries to leave.
Cast
- David Kernanas Private Hitch
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Zulu (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Cy Endfield told Caine it was the worst screen test he had ever seen, but they cast him anyway because the production was leaving for South Africa shortly and had not found anyone else; Caine said he was fortunate the director was an American, because "no English director would've cast me as an officer", due to his Cockney roots.
- Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi plays King Cetshwayo in the film, a role that put him on screen as his own maternal great-grandfather.
- Private Henry Hook, VC, is depicted as a rogue with a penchant for alcohol; in fact he was a teetotaller and a model soldier later promoted to sergeant, and his daughters were reportedly so disgusted at his portrayal that they walked out of the 1964 London premiere.
- When released in apartheid South Africa in 1964, the film was banned for black audiences, as the government feared its scenes of blacks killing whites might incite them to violence, though a few special screenings were allowed for its Zulu extras in Durban and some smaller KwaZulu towns.
- Stanley Baker purchased John Chard's Victoria Cross in 1972, believing it to be a replica; after Baker's death it was sold to a collector at a low price and only then found to be a genuine medal.
- The Battle of Helm's Deep sequence in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was filmed in a manner deliberately reminiscent of Zulu.
