Zulu Dawn

Midge Carter’s fascinating account of the behind-the-scenes goings on during the making of the movie “Zulu Dawn” (provided by Pam MacFadden and published on 26 August 2021 - click here to read), brought back many memories, some of which can be safely shared with a respectable journal such as The Heritage Portal.

Zulu Dawn movie poster

Pietermaritzburg did not know where to put itself in 1978 while “Zulu Dawn” was being filmed in and around the city. Everybody was agog with excitement and the Natal Witness produced breathless pieces about sightings of the likes of Peter O’Toole, Burt Lancaster, Sir John Mills, Denholm Elliot, Simon Ward, etc. Male students on the local campus of the University of Natal volunteered en masse to appear as extras and as British soldiers. The most cursory military accomplishments during national service were polished up to resemble heroism at the Battle of Alamein, or the drill proficiency of the Grenadier Guards. Those who knew one end of a horse from the other, such as Mooi River farmers’ sons at the agriculture faculty, were not only in high demand by the film producers, but they swaggered around the pubs as though they were the Household Cavalry in Whitehall. 

[[{"fid":"12049","view_mode":"media_adaptive","fields":{"format":"media_adaptive","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Burt Lancaster and Peter O Toole on the set of Zulu Dawn -...

Excerpt from his book 'We Wander the Battlefields'. Submitted by Pam McFadden, Curator of the Talana Museum. Should you wish to read the entire book it is available here.
 
In 1978 an English / American film company, Samarkand came to South Africa to make the film Zulu Dawn, about the worst military defeat ever suffered by a white British army at the hands of a black army in South African history. This happened at a place called Isandlwana in Zululand in 1879.

Isandlwana (Talana Museum)

Unfortunately nobody on their production staff had any knowledge of the Zulu War or of this battle. I had contacted them because I was concerned that they would fly the incorrect flag in the battle sequence, which was not the Regimental flag of the 24th Regiment. This was incorrectly painted by the Victorian painter Alphonse De Neuville in his painting The Last Sleep of the Brave.

Last Sleep of the Brave (Wikipedia Commons)

It was the Queen’s Colour, the Union Jack which had been taken to Isandlwana, the Regimental Colours remained with HQ staff at base camp...