Cy Endfield's Zulu

directed by Cy Endfield
U.S. 1964

No matter its shortcomings, it is difficult to discredit a film that pulls off an entire second half of nonstop, exciting action in a way that isn’t completely mind-numbing. Zulu’s scenes of war move with intelligence and grace, and its battle sequences are true sights to behold. It’s when the characters open their mouths and actually try to speak real dialogue that the movie deflates: The entire first half is a big, meandering mess of clichés and racial stereotypes. But those battle sequences—wow.

Zulu concerns the true, often referenced story of a British supply station that found itself under attack by Zulu warriors in 1870s in the scorching hot African terrain. The warriors’ number was 4000 strong, and they moved from one British post to the next, in an effort to rid their country of unwanted foreigners. The British encampment that finally held them off consisted of only 139 men, who knew that the warriors were coming when they discovered that a neighboring army encampment, consisting of around 1400 British soldiers, had been slaughtered by the tribesmen. Fearing the worst, the small encampment waited for the Zulu warriors to come, and when they finally did, the battle lasted for twelve hours before they fought to a standstill, and the African warriors eventually retreated.

That’s quite a story, and Zulu films half of it right. Fortunately, it’s the half that counts. When the Zulu warriors finally line the dry, sandy horizon as far as the eye can see and chant their death cries, it is a sight to behold. We sense the terror in this small handful of British officers, whose guns tremble at the sight of these angry warriors. Once the charge takes place and the battle ensues, the suspense, action, and gripping drama never lets ups, and it only releases when the fight finally comes to its standstill. By the end, we wipe our foreheads with the surviving Brits, and wonder as much as they do how on earth they managed to endure against the odds. Director Cy Endfield skillfully makes use of literally every spear thrown, every bullet shot, every order given, every drop of blood shed, and every ounce of sweat spilt. It’s sheer cinema, and it’s quite a ride.

Excerpt from danel_the_tinman at the Film as Art website located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Premiere - January 22nd, 1964 - U.K.

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DVD Comparison:

Goodtimes - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Paramount - Region 2/4 - PAL vs. Front Row Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC vs. MGM - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Roland Lataille for the MGM Screen Caps! Thanks Roland !

and to Ole of DVDBasen for the PAL Screen Caps!

and to Mark Wilson for all of the Goodtimes (and Laserdisc) screen captures!

(Goodtimes - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP LEFT vs. Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP RIGHT)

(Front Row Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC - BOTTOM LEFT vs. MGM - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers

	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Goodtimes
Bitrate: Paramount R2/4
Bitrate: Front Row
Bitrate: MGM

Comments:

Additional:

The Goodtimes Region 0 version of Zulu is cropped similarly to the Front Row Entertainment Region 0. The Goodtimes contrast has been boosted and the image is only slightly sharper than the very hazy Front Row DVD. Both are extremely poor and not worth owning even if given as a present.

The Paramount Region 2 - PAL is only slightly behind the new MGM Region 1 edition, but has a commentary and two "Making of" documentaries. It is slightly cropped, most noticeably on the left edge. The colors of the 2 editions are very similar with the PAL version being marginally saturated. For the film get the MGM, but if you are a big fan of the film then you may want to also own the Region 2/4 for the extensive extras. Anyway, it is nice to have options.

Previous: I don't think that Front Row Entertainment is in business any longer... well, at least the stated website URL on their DVD covers is no longer functioning.... and probably with good reason. The Front Row disc is pretty badly cropped almost exclusively on the sides. The MGM has a solid image, detailed with good colors and it adheres to the original aspect ratio. There really isn't much of a comparison to make, but I will state that the MGM Region 1 DVD is really bare bones with only a trailer as an extra. It has the original Mono soundtrack which is clear. Beside the Front Row disc the MGM looks stupendous, but I do see a shade of edge enhancement but it appears to be the best DVD in Region 1 for this film at the present time.

- Gary W. Tooze

Distribution	Goodtimes R0 - NTSC Region 0 - NTSC	Paramount Region 2/4 - PAL
Runtime	2:17:30	2:12:39 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	2.13:1 Cropped Average Bitrate: 4.4 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	2.30:1 Slightly cropped 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.68 PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)(DD2.0 Surround), Italian (DD2.0 Stereo) French and Spanish (DD1.0 Mono) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Subtitles	None	English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Hebrew, Greek, Croatian, Slovenian and none.
Features	Release Information: Studio: Gootimes Aspect Ratio: Widescreen - 2.13:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: ? Keep Case Chapters 18	Release Information: Studio: Paramount (Australia) Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.30:1 Edition Details: • 2 X Making of (25:47)(20:04)(Anamorphic WS), • Commentary with Sheldon Hall and Robert Porter (Subtitled in English, French, Italian and Spanish), • Theatrical Trailer (3:40) (Anamorphic WS), Teaser Trailer. DVD Release Date: Dec 2002 Keep Case Chapters 16

Distribution	Front Row Entertainment Region 0 - NTSC	MGM Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	2:18:35	2:18:05
Video	2.12:1 Cropped Average Bitrate: 4.16 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.84 NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
Subtitles	None	English, Spanish, French and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Front Row Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen - 2.12:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: October 20, 1998 Keep Case Chapters 10	Release Information: Studio: M G M, Inc Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen • Theatrical trailer • Widescreen anamorphic format DVD Release Date: May 20, 2003 Keep Case Chapters 24

DVD Menus

(Goodtimes - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

(Front Row Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. MGM - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

Screen Captures