Watched the movie again yesterday since I am going to Natal this fall just had to view it again and made a recording of it this time. Just wish there was more scenery of Zululand.

The other one, of course, is Zulu Dawn!
Peter.

In September my wife and I took a tour of Zululand with Tony Thompkinson. He showed us the battlefields and encampments and was very knowledgeable about the events surrounding the Zulu wars. It was a very wortwhile diversion from our hunting.

Tony's a good man and knows his history huh?

There's an interesting story about the battle that's not told in the movie but is told in the series of recordings made by one of the Ratray brothers entitled 'The Day of the Dead Moon' - The set of recordings is several hours long and tells the story of the Zulu wars. - Regarding the Rourke's Drift battle, on which the movie is based, the real reason the Zulus retreated was that there was a total eclipse on that day and in their beliefs, it's bad luck to fight on what they call 'a day of the dead moon' - aka an eclipse.

How's that for a useless piece of information.

Bad luck for the Zulu was good luck for the Brits, eh? That was just a bad day in general. It's hard to imagine what that felt like to have them collapsing into the defenses with no end in sight.

Brown trouser time huh?

I own some land close to Blood River near the monument and even now, it's an eerie feeling when you're there......... I've never even heard a bird call there and the only noise you can hear is the wind blowing through the grass......... but then again, I am a deaf bastard!

I don't have that movie for some reason...I need to pick it up and thanks for the info on the audio recordings. I'll have to try and find those too.

Brown trouser indeed...that's some eerie stuff.

I own the movie and my son just got a copy for his family. They really enjoyed it.

quote:

Reply

Shakari
Do you perchance have a lead on where to pick up the "Dead Moon" recordings?

'fraid not, I bought my copy about 10 or 12 years ago......... but I'd have thought that if you do a search on 'day of the dead moon' or 'Rattray recoedings', you might find something.

Shakari,
Never mind. I just did a Google search and found LOTS of information about Mr. Rattray. I was shocked to discover that he was murdered in January of last year within about 4 days of the anniversary date of the Isandlwanha battle. I knew nothing about the man, but it is apparent that it was a terrilbe loss and waste of a good man.

Yup, I knew he'd been murdered - in fact, it made BIG news over here and as far as I know, has never been solved.

The Rattrays are a well known family over here and although I never met him, we had a lot of mutual friends. - Amongst other things, he was a historian of note.

The recordings are great........... if you can get them, you won't be disappointed.

quote:

Originally posted by yellowstone:
Shakari,
Never mind. I just did a Google search and found LOTS of information about Mr. Rattray. I was shocked to discover that he was murdered in January of last year within about 4 days of the anniversary date of the Isandlwanha battle. I knew nothing about the man, but it is apparent that it was a terrilbe loss and waste of a good man.

He was a brilliant man.
One of the last tours he did, before he was murdered, was with my family.

I first saw the movie "ZULU" in 1965 at the base theater at NAS Corpus Christi, TX. None of us had the slightest idea what to expect of it, except that the theater was air conditioned. No one in Texas, probably even in the USA, knew much about the Zulu Wars then. Well, when the movie ended with Richard Burton ticking off the Victoria Crosses you could have heard a pin drop in that theater, utter silence.

The next day I headed to the base library to see if this had been a true story or just more historical fiction. I was in line looking for history books, but I learned about Rorke's Drift.

It still must be an eerie place.

LLS

I could not watch Zulu,it was to boring.Hatari was good.

PHILISTINE!!!!!!!



You'll be saying you've never seen 'Dambusters', 'Above us the Waves' or 'Reach for the Skies next'!

Steve,
You have excellent taste in films!

When I lived in England and had a boat, I used to keep a large collection of old movies of that type in the main cabin.......... damn but it was good to sit with a glass of good whisky and watch them in the evening with the anchor out and the anchor watch set on the GPS ......... Sadly, they all got lost when I moved to Africa.

Equally sadly, it seems they're no longer available.

I love Zulu, although the movie has some historical inaccuracies, albeit minor.

Ideally you watch Zulu Dawn first (Isandlwana) and then Zulu (the Rorkes Drift defense).
Even better is going there.

One of my favourite river sections in the world is the Upper Buffalo from Rorkes to Fugitives Drift. Superb steep whitewater and steeped in history as you run the river!

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
I could not watch Zulu,it was to boring.Hatari was good.

i thought the Montreal Moron might have gone to the happy hunting grounds in the sky, but alas- no such luck

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
i thought the Montreal Moron might have gone to the happy hunting grounds in the sky, but alas- no such luck

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
PHILISTINE!!!!!!!



You'll be saying you've never seen 'Dambusters', 'Above us the Waves' or 'Reach for the Skies next'!

The Dam Busters, if you search around can be found on DVD. I paid about $35 for mine a couple of years ago. I did find a used one on Amazon for $69!

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
I could not watch Zulu,it was to boring.Hatari was good.

i thought the Montreal Moron might have gone to the happy hunting grounds in the sky, but alas- no such luck

Only a person who has NOT WORKED FOR HIS MONEY would make a comment like that.

Rattrays killers were caught and sentenced. it was a senseles killing with the excuse that he had fired one of them. Rattray was passionate about the zulu history, people and culture and did more to raise the profile of that area and era of history than anyone.Thia was acknowledged by the zulu hierachy at his funeral.
Anyone who walked with David along the Isandlhwana Rorkes drift battle route and listened to his passionate recantour and did not get gooseflesh, was devoid of a soul. his intimate knowledge of details and names of the combatents from both sides was nothing short of amazing.
His wife still runs www.fugitivesdrift.com lodge, and there is a lad, Rob Caskie, who does the walks now, and is also pretty good.
Davids audio series "day of the dead moon" is available from this site.
Well worth a visit, and I try and persuade my clients to spend a couple of days here.

The defense of Rourkes Drift actually isn't that hard to comprehend if you do a military analysis.

From memory four (or parts of four) impi decended on Rourkes drift but were probably too exhausted to effectively do anything. All had started out on the other side of Isandhlwana (? Spelling) that day and had run most of the distance.

The Zulu Impi had a deservedly excellent reputation for stamina, but even they were human and to fight a prepared and refreshed defensive force when totally exhausted would have been too much for them.

It is an excellent movie and definantly worth repeated watching.

By coincidence I watched "Zulu Dawn" and "Zulu" earlier this week. Watch them at least once every six months.

I like "Zulu Dawn" for the wider "picture" and also for the "spectacle" of the army and columns of red coats, oxen waggon, canons etc moving through the veldt and river crossings.

"Zulu" has more intensity and emotion and is on a smaller more personal scale. With more of the characters personality and character which made it the better movie.

Both very worth watching.

I spent the whole day visiting both sites..........Isandlwana is by far the most eery.

If you want some accurate up to date history of both battles try: "How Can Men Die Better, The Secrets of Isandlwana Revealed", Lt Col Mike Snook. and the companion volume by the same author on The Defence of Rorkes Drift, " Like Wolves on the Fold, the Defence of Rorke's Drift.........

Right now "The Dam Busters" is for sale on CDCONNECTION.Com for $10.95.

As much as I'd love to buy it, I'd first have to pay 100% import tax and then it's probably get 'lost' before it got to my postbox! - Postal theft here is a real SOB. I've been waiting for 3 months for a pin code for a card and they keep 'disappearing' before they get here!

I'll have a look in Kalahari.net though as they're based here and post via postnet, which is considerably more secure.

Thanks for the tip though!

Blimey!

Just looked on kalahari.net where I found and ordered 'Above us the Waves' 'Dam Busters' 'The Colditz Story' and 'The Cruel Sea'

Damn, but I'm drive Mama crazy!

Now I'll go and search for Reach for the Sky!