Tonight we viewed our latest purchase. Zulu Dawn, Scope,
This is one for my Brother, The original Zulu movie is one of my favourite films, other forum members and ex members have kindly pointed me toward a couple of prints of Zulu for sale but they were always too far out of my price range.
This prequel came about as an off chance while emailing a good friend in the 8mm world. To say we are pleased would be an understatement.
It’s the first time I have ever watched the film and I never realised how many big names were in this. Personally, although it performed poorly at the box office, this, in my opinion, is a very good film indeed with a very good battle sequence, and not a drop of CGI rubbish anywhere.
This is an Agfa print so colours are excellent; the image as always with 16mm is pin sharp and the sound A1. There is some wear as you would expect in the way of base lines, quite a few but very thin & no emulsion scratches. Another good clean up will improve things further. There’s a couple of splices here and there with two repair sections in reel two but certainly nothing to put any viewers off. And picture match is perfect. If I wasn’t told it was repair sections I wouldn’t have known.
All in all, for a 1979 film it has excellent vibrant colours and it’s a great action movie and in scope looks fantastic.
Brother is very happy; this one compliments his scope copy of Waterloo perfectly. He does point out how Hollywood has put in some corny nonsense as always.
The film is a 1979 American war film about the historical Battle of Isandlwana between British and Zulu forces in 1879 in South Africa. The screenplay was by Cy Endfield, from his book, and Anthony Storey. The film was directed by Douglas Hickox. The score was composed by Elmer Bernstein.
Zulu Dawn is a prequel to Zulu, released in 1964, which depicts the historical Battle of Rourke's Drift later the same day, and was co-written and directed by Cy Endfield.
The film stars Burt Lancaster, Peter O'Toole, Simon Ward, Denholm Elliott, Bob Hoskins, Phil Daniels, Nigel Davenport, John Mills, Freddie Jones and many others. The music score is by Elmer Bernstein.
Reel three is all the battle so i didnt bother with screenshots as it moves too fast to get any decent images, apart from that i was too busy viewing.

Looks cracking, great quality

It is Vidar, thank you, the images are a bit deceiving as they dont pick up the base lines. in some parts there very easy to see, in around 70% of the film you dont see them. I think another light clean up will make things much better. Great addition to the collection though.

Looks nice Tom,great cast,great music,nice print and colour,great addition to your collection. I saw the original film up for sale fairly recently, IB Tech print 4x1600 £340,wonder if it was my print I sold,Mark

Cracking looking print Tom, you're getting a great 16mm collection my friend

Cheers,
I have reached a limit but have reorganised my shelves and space for a few more feature
I get to see my Birthday pressy soon, Bullitt, an IB tech print.
The battle in reel three of this film is quit something. When you first see the 30 thousand Zulus approaching you realise how overwhelmed the British were.
My Brother was pointing out the Hollywood inaccuracies as always. I think if this had been handled by a British Director instead of Hollywood it may have fared a bit better, a few lines of the script make you cringe a little but at the end of the day, (as i keep saying my Brother), it a movie. Sometimes these all star movies have the opposite effect i think at the box office. It's like a who's who for the first half hour.
Personally i love an all star cast but we were talking about it after the film and Brother definatly thinks films are often better with a less well known cast, or at least with only a main star and others.

Tom,
This seems like a great film to have in scope--a perfect aspect ratio to showcase the wide open landscapes of Africa and the horde of thousands of Zulu warriors. Really wonderful!
What projector set up did you use? Elf/Eiki, I think, but which one, and which prime/scope lens combo?

Great for you and your brother to focus on low-fade, quality items that you can keep for years without wondering, "Has this one started to fade yet? etc....
Low-fade seems particularly important on these rare features that are much harder to replace than the more common (somewhat anyway) short titles...

Thanks Greg, at the moment for scope films i still have to use the elf NT1 as the slot loader scope lens holder wont take the scope lens we have.its the sankor 16c but with the bigger rear barrel.i think its 52mm. The prime lens i use is a very nice sankor 38mm. The sl2 is a great machine and has a rock steady image.my nt1 runs fine but can be a bit shaky when its cold.

It's many years since I saw this film, but I wasn't keen on it at the time, and have never watched it on TV since. Pity they didn't get around to making about the same time as 'Zulu' (1964)
I thought at the time putting Burt Lancaster in a British story was odd, but it would help overseas sales. Maybe if I saw the film now, I might change my mind, as I have changed my mind about other films I didn't like at the time.

It was member Ian Partridge, who had an I.B. Tech Scope print of 'Zulu' for sale at £350. It doesn't appear on his 'Sold Features' page, so i'm presuming he changed his mind and decided to keep it. I was underpriced at £350, and if it was in top shape, it's not a film you would let go.

As much as i enjoy this film it is more for my Brother, i did much prefer Zulu. What makes this a great viewing is seeing it on the scope screen, with a film like this it does make all the difference.

Yes, definitely Tom. Stanley baker was supposed to be in that film as well, but died before production.

That was a shame because he was very good and also i think the two films would flow better.

Agreed.