alancrennell

The story of a small force of British troops thrown into the unenviable position of facing thousands of fearless Zulu warriors. A battle fought between two sets of very different soldiers. A battle that will forever be part of South African folklore. The British people involved were ordinary common soldiers not national decision makers, it was not their choice to be there and they fought for their very lives. The characters portrayed may be slightly out of sync with the actual people involved but that is poetic license and several people may have been rolled up and portrayed as one person (in the case of Hook especially). You get to know each of the characters involved and feel their hopes and very real fears but you are not subjected to gallons of blood being splashed around (which was undoubtedly present at the actual battle). The actors involved do a fantastic job but with people such as Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Michael Caine, Nigel Green, James Booth and Patrick Magee being involved, you wouldn't expect anything else. This is probably the best film ever made, the acting is excellent, the battle scenes are memorable, the people are believable and the scenery stunning. If you've never seen it, I urge you to because it is a piece of brilliance.

I remember seeing this film when I was about 10 years of age on our black and white telly. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread but had to wait for ages and ages for it to be shown again (no videos in those days!) When it finally came on, there was a bit of a gale blowing and our aerial was blown off the roof half way through the film. You can imagine how I felt. I have seen it many times since and it has stood the test of time,a good old fashioned adventure story with excellent actors, tons of excitement and loads happening from beginning to end. There are no false accents from Gregory Peck or Robert Beatty and we even have Richard Hearne (Mr Pastry, remember him, people of my age?) as Pecks batman. Stanley Baker, James Robertson Justice, Terence Morgan (He played the lead in the series 'Sir Francis Drake' in the early sixties) and Christopher Lee also make fine appearances. I recommend it without reservation.

This was by far the best war documentary ever made. From the very beginning of the first episode when Sir Laurence Olivier described the horrific events in Oradour-Sur-Glane 'The day the soldiers came'. To the final days of the war when the mushroom clouds appeared over Japan, I never missed a second of this classic series and I remember it well even though it was screened way back in 1974. Each and every aspect of this tragedy was covered in detail. This whole series should be compulsory viewing for as many of the world's children as possible so that the tragedy of World War Two is not repeated and that bigotry, hatred, greed and intolerance are not confused with patriotism or religious zeal.