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For mine, Zulu is one of the great war movies and is an exceptionally
well-paced film.
It begins with a slowish intro to all the characters –
which adds to your involvement with them - and then winds
itself up into a frenetic finale that will have you breathless.
Sir Stanley Baker, who also co-produced the movie, plays
Lieutenant John Chard, an engineers officer sent to build
a bridge.
A very young Michael Caine plays Lieutnant Gonville Bromhead,
the arrogant officer of the Welsh-dominated 24th Regiment
of foot, and there are a huge number of actors in the support
roles you will know very well.
Jack Hawkins plays a Swedish missionary, James Booth a troublesome
private, Glynn Edwards another redcoat, Nigel Green a colour-sergeant,
Ivor Emmanuel a private and Patrick Magee the regimental surgeon
Reynolds. The evocative narration is superbly voiced by Sir
Richard Burton.
Having focused on the British, it is fair to say that Zulu
is very even-handed when showing the impis of the king Cetewayo
(played by Chief Buthelezi) and their unrelenting courage
in the face of rifles.
As said, once Zulu gets going it never lets up and while
some of the acting in some of the battle scenes looks a little
forced it is worth remembering that until the cast and crew
arrived the Zulus used in the movie had never seen a film
and that the bayonets and spears used were real, so they had
to be a little circumspect when waving them about.
However, to dwell on the occasional lapse would be too harsh
as this is ripper viewing and I have seen it 100 times if
once.
The Zulu charges are awe-inspiring (even from the couch)
and how so few British managed to win through is almost too-hard-to-believe.
The highlight for many who love Zulu is the stirring rendition
of Men of Harlech given in answer to the Zulu war songs as
the defence reaches its climax.
Now while Zulu is a superb movie, the DVD transfer is decidedly
ordinary. In fact it borders on woeful. The colour is great
– then it should be with blue skies and contrasting red
jackets – but boy are there artifacts and shimmers and
even wobbles galore. You will never see as much aliasing in
a movie as you do in this effort from Paramount.
Whoever ok-ed this transfer should get a size-10 boot up
the backside as it does detract from the gorgeous imagery.
Still, it’s in my home library and I will be watching
it at least another 100 times.
Conclusion: Movie 85% Transfer: 40% Extras: 80%
Continued:
DVD details at a glance >
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