1918 film Isandhlwana

Just saw a reference made to a film, presumably made in 1918 about Isandhlwana - I think that Lock and Quantrill have used excerpts from it.

Are there any copies available? On teh same point are there any pre 'Zulu' and 'Zulu Dawn' films that attempted to capture the conflict?

Hi Younghusband,

The film you refer to is called Symbol of Sacrifice. I am not aware the original is available but the reworking is available through the Royal Regiment of Wales online shop at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

As for other films related to the AZW, have a look at this link - you will need to scroll about 1/3rd down the page for the comprehensive listing:-
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Hope this is of use.

JohnB

Fantastic thanks - as always it is a surprise to see so much material there is about this conflict.

Oh for a big budget/digitally enhanced film covering the main battles...

Regards and many thanks

Just a head's up on Isandlwana : Zulu Battlefield.
It has very little footage from 'Symbol of Sacrifice' but that said, it remains one of my fave Zulu war documentaries so don't let that put you off buying it

(I'm sure I read somewhere that the film 'Symbol of Sacrifice' was never finished)

Hi All .
I think we may have covered this film in an earlier topic ?. But for those who are interested , There is a review section
in Ian Knight's book ' The Zul War Then And Now ' which covers all feature films of the war . This also includes ' Stills '
from the Symbol Of Sacrifice and other more well known movies . A collegue has contacted me with the following .
' There is an article on the film written by Mark Coghlan which appeared a while back in the Victorian Military Society's
Journal - Soldiers Of The Queen ' . It is of interest that Lord Chelmesford was played by John Colenbrander , who as a
young man served in one of the volunteer units in the zulu war . He later went on to become a famous Adventurer and
Frontiersman in the 1880 's 1890 's . Fighting in the zulu civil war and under Cecil Rhodes in Rhodesia / Zimbabwe .
There is a book about him ' The White Whirlwind ' by T. Bulpin . Whilst filming a scene at Henley - on - Kip outside
J ' Burg in which Chelmesford and his Staff cross a flooded River , Colenbrander was swept off his horse and drowned.

Now if I remember rightly , I'm sure the director or someone involved in making the movie attempted to talk Colenbrander
out of doing that scene at that time due to the danger involved , but he decided to press on anyway , and sadly lost his life .
In reply to SirDcc not sure if it was unfinished ?. I thought it was , and was basically misplaced and lost for many years .
I also seem to remember that some of the zulus in the film actually took part in the real battle 39 yrs earlier .
cheers 90th.

I wonder if this is a relation to or the same Colenbrander that Bertram Mitford journeyed with as mentioned in his book Through the Zulu Country

hi Younghusband .
That's a very good point , I will go out on a limb and say it's the same chap . Happy to be corrected .
cheers 90th.

Hi all .
This from a collegue .
' The film was finished but no intact copies have survived , only one copy in poor condition which turned up in Sth. africa .
Mark Coghlan of KZN Museum Services patched it together as best he could . Apparantly it was common practise to recycle
films in those days , chopping bits from one film and adding them to another , judging from what's missing that's what happened
here . Sym Of Sac is the only film to attempt to cover the whole war . Included was Isandlwana , R.D , Hlobane , Death of the P.I.
and Ulundi . It also attempted to cover both sides with the zulus given equal coverage ' .
cheers 90th.

I must have read that copies of the film were incomplete & took it to be unfinished.
Cheers 90th

Edit : Just come across this on google books : HERE

It says that there were around 25,000 people involved in the film & Colenbrander said he'd got the info' for the battle of Isandlwana from chief Usibepu who had commanded an impi at the battle ...

Hi All .
A collegue has sent me some more info on Colenbrander he is indeed the same chap who was with Mitford .
' Mitford says he was a man of some importance to Usibebu ( Zibhebhu kaMapitha ) and indeed he was . He was
Zibhebhu's white man at the time John Dunn had been Ceteswayo's . The latest post on the film thread mentions
Colenbrander heard the story of Isandlwana from Zibhebhu which is more than likely as Zibhebhu commanded the
reserve as far as the river '

Now if I'm not mistaken Zibhebhu fell or slipped among the terrain near the river and either broke or dislocated a
finger / fingers or wrist and therefore called his warriors back and they left the scene .
cheers 90th.

hi all.
I was searching through the medal roll and came across the name J.W. Colenbrander STANGER MTD RIFLES 79 clasp
TRUMPETER. This is the chap who we have been talking about . He played the part of the Good Lord in the 1918 movie
Symbol Of Sacrifice .
cheers 90th.

Symbol of Sacrifice

I was interested to come across this discussion of the "Symbol of Sacrifice" and the role of my grandfather, Lt. Col. Johan Willem Colenbrander CB (as he was at the time) in it. Most of the information contained in the thread is consistent with what I remember of my own father's research into the life of his father (my father did the bulk of the research for TV Bulpin's "White Whirlwind").

However, I had not heard before that it was my grandfather who insisted, against the advice of Shaw, that he lead his "forces" through the river during the filming. It is quite possible that he did, but it is equally possible that the film makers had reason of their own to claim that he did. I wonder if the record of the inquest into my grandfather's death still survives, and if so, where? Any ideas?

As to the life and career of Zibhebhu kaMapitha, an invaluable source of information is the various volumes of the James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples, edited by Colin Webb and John Wright and published jointly by the University of Natal Press and the Killie Campbell Africana Library. As the title implies, this impressive collection is relevant to much more than the life of Zibhebhu.

Hi Peter. Welcome to the forum. It would be handy to know what information you have already, so we don't post the same.
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Thanks, Littlehand, for the welcome and the prompt and helpful reply. I will look again at my own copy of the papers my father deposited at Rhodes House, but they do not appear to include the transcript of the evidence or findings of the inquest. If these still exist, I imagine they are in one or other of the archives in Pretoria, South Africa. By the way, my grandfather's career between 1879 and 1896 is the subject of Bernard Kemp's PhD thesis (1962), which is housed in the library of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg.

Peter. Good to have you on the forum. Thanks for your comments.

Do you have a photo of your grandfather.

I have only a framed photo dating from about the 1890s. Others may be unearthed as I go through the family papers.

Peter. Is there any chance of posting the photo on the forum, as we all like to put a face against a name..

Peter. If your not sure on how to post a photo. Drop Admin a P.M.

Will do, once I have unearthed something that is suitable and can be readily scanned.

Another Old soldier neglected.
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Good Work Littlehand. I see he knew Major Barrow's

Did we ever discover if Major Burrows was buried in Saltwood Kent.

Thanks again, Littlehand, for this information. I am impressed by your productivity!

Well, you could share the New York newspaper's view of my grandfather as another neglected old soldier, but he was not a regular. There is plenty of evidence that he relished soldiering, but that was just something he did as the need or opportunity arose.

He is often described as a frontiersman, and there is merit in that description. Over most of his lifetime, he seems to have dabbled in gun-running, cattle-trading, land speculation and settlement schemes, mining concessions, hunting expeditions and even in Buffalo Bill-style showmanship. Most of these activities took place in areas where British rule and law had yet to be established or which had only recently been colonised. But while he had a sharp eye for new business opportunities and was undeniably adventurous and brave, he seems to have lacked the capital and solid business sense of the rest of the family. He certainly had a string of failed business ventures to his name.

Not all of his ventures failed, however. If Baden-Powell is to be believed, he did quite well out of supplying trek-oxen to the British Army in the Second Anglo-Boer War. According to B-P, the colonel was not too particular about the ownership of the oxen he sold! Whatever the truth of that allegation, you could say my grandfather profited by soldiering. In a way, he belonged to an older freebooting tradition, in which loyalty and profit were seldom widely separated.

He certainly was a colourful character and a capable (occasional) soldier. Unfortunately, he also had a very spotty record as a businessman.

Just out an observation. Over 25,000 White & Black people took part in the "Symbol of sacrifice" Thats more than actually took part in the Real Battle. Now that would have been worth watching!!!

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The first film made on the Zulu-British War was the epic Symbol of Sacrifice (1918) by African Film Productions. Little of the original exists, though a video reconstruction does exist from the out-takes. The reconstruction is located at the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg and the original 35mm footage at the National Film Archives in Pretoria.

hi littlehand .
I'm sure we have covered this before but if not here it is again . The Royal Regt Of Wales online shop did sell a DVD
on Isandlwana which actually used some of the 1918 film and it was known that some who where in the film actually took
part in the real battle back in 1879 !. I have just looked at the on - line shop and noticed the dvd is no longer for sale .
If you are after a copy maybe drop them an email and they can tell you if they will be getting them back on the shelf .
cheers 90th.

The DVD is still advertised on Lock and Quantrill's South AFrican website at
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Do any of our South African members know if it is still available from that source? Would the DVD be compatible with UK systems?

JohnB

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On eBay now.
No link from eBay posted!

In the making of the 1918 film, they used the Klip River to represent the Buffalo River. Colonel Colenbrander drowned in the Klip River at 'Henley on Klip' which is now an up market suburb of Johannesburg - so nowhere near the real Rorke's Drift. Another spot to visit.

if anybody has news of how, any,
of this footage could be seen! i
would very interested. cheers

Try contacting Mark Coghlan (if he is still there) - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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"What we're seeing here are the queues for a private screening of the film "The Symbol of Sacrifice" on 13 September 1918, (allowing a reduction of the current date range)"

Source:above

Impi

Difficult to compete with that clip...............but last parade in April 1934 (not 1933 as stated by Pathe) of the Zulu war colours saved by Melvill & Coghill:

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A couple of very interesting film clips there, thank you.

Notice the silver wreath atop the colour of the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment.

The original (a wreath of immortelles), being placed there by the hand of HM Queen Victoria herself to honour the memory of the men of the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment.

I believe that it was the wife of Colonel Glynn (24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment), who made some repairs to the colour whilst on the ship sailing back home to England.

Nice to see old clips like these.

Martin    impi nice one mate    oh for a time
machine..just makes this film a little bit closer, i heard
their was a copy doing the rounds years ago, surely
some one some where in the world has material from
this epic movie..

Hi Les.

You will have to contact Dr Who and arrange for a trip in the tardis mate   

You are right though, it would be great to see this old film, and like Gary said, some of the men who took part in the actual battle were involved in the film, mind you, they would have been getting old boys by then, but it would be nice to see them.

  

Bang on Mr M, grey beards..it was one of my very few
real heroes who made me aware of this! Mr Kenneth
Griffith! regard's to you and the ' Mrs Shifter ' this
festive time. my mrs is having kitten's in case everthing
is'nt done..it is.Hmm things are looking up. we live in a
great country,through challenging times..c'mon uk.
Scotland.Al Green..Lets stay together..

Good post littlehand    its so frustrating
to know that someone out there might have
access to what remain's of Symbol.

the National Film, Video and Sound Archive in Pretoria!
has any one been in touch with this organization?.

I'm sure, there's a preview of this film on the forum somewhere!

xhosa2000

Surviving footage of this film are held by the KZN Museum in PMB. The contact there was historian Mark Goghlan (but I am not sure whether he is still at the Museum).

Gents try this. I'm unable to at present. Supposed free movie!

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From Peter Quantrill.

"All the battle scenes and live action in our DVD, titled:
 “Isandlwana Zulu Battlefield,” were extracted (royalty payments) from Symbols of Sacrifice.
This include the 24th and artillery crossing the Buffalo at the start of the invasion and the Zulu army at Ulundi, followed by the assault on the camp and the burning of tents. Perhaps five to ten minutes of S of S film exposure."

Let me know if anyone wants purchasing information!

Peter, Got to the point where the movie loaded, then a request for credit card details came up. I would highly recommend no one submits their details. If is free why ask for credit card details. I'm sure you will agree!!!!!!

Thanks LH totally agree. Just to put the record straight. This from Peter Quantrill!

"Our DVD was made in 2001. We originally marketed it in UK via a third party, which mandate expired years ago. We retain copyright.
We have never sold any directly and would certainly never ask for monies to be paid to any credit card account. Neither Ron nor I possess one! Sales have been made in the past through Brecon, but I do not think that they now hold stock.  Please ignore any other sales outlets that have appeared asking for monies to be paid. I doubt if anyone, other than Ron & I, have access to the reproduction of the DVD, as we have the “Master Copy.”
We have given Rob Gerrard, at Isandlwana Lodge, a mandate to sell and provided him with copies.

thank you all for that! yes liitlehand on
the ball again!    Admin would
you please inform PQ that he would
generate a few sales from this place!
and would he please let us know when
Mr Gerrard is in a position to make this
material available again. cheers

Will do !