Movie Reviews: Zulu Dawn and Zulu

(Image from British Battles)

As the 138th anniversary of the battles of  Isandlwana...

(Image by Kieth Rocco, found on Holts Tours)

...and Rorke's Drift neared, I asked a friend and fellow war movie aficionado if he'd seen the movies
Zulu Dawn...

...or Zulu.

He hadn't.

So a few days before today's anniversary, we staged a Zulu movie marathon.

Since these movies have been out for nearly half a century, I don't have anything new to add, other than I love both films--despite their flaws.

Zulu Dawn has a 4.2 star rating on Amazon.com while it's predecessor Zulu, holds a 4.7 star rating.

While I love these movies, I give them about a 4-star rating myself, for the all same reasons stated by the less-than 5-star raters.

I noticed a lot of complaints about the quality of the Zulu Dawn DVD, which is something I noticed in my own copy.  The older film Zulu, has a better image.

Both movies perpetuate a few myths about the Zulu War, and have a considerable number of editing and historical mistakes:  10 for Zulu Dawn and a whopping 45 for Zulu.

But knowing these, I still enjoy films.

For writers, check out Zulu's entry in TV Tropes.

I also have John Barry's kickass score for times when I'm not in front of a TV or monitor...