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'ZULU' sceenings info across the world - Interesting read.
leightarrant


Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 131
Location: East Sussex
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Date Theatre Location Country Format Advertised
Jan 1964 Plaza, Lower Regent Rd London UK Technirama
April 1964 Granada, Walthamstow London UK See in the electrifying atmosphere only this theatre in East London can give you - with its fabulous modern sound equipment.
July 1964 George Bellshill UK 4-track Magnetic Sound
July 1964 Palladium Stockholm Sweden 70mm
Sept 1964 Embassy Wellington New Zealand 70mm - A 70mm presentation on the Largest 70mm Screen in Australasia
Oct 1964 Translux, Gobelins Paris France 70mm (There is an element of doubt about this particular screening...but 70mm print availability in France in 1964/65 was confirmed by Le Film Francaise in a February 1966 issue.
Dec 1964 Embassy Auckland New Zealand 70mm - with Full 6-track Stereophonic Sound
April 1967 Dendy Brighton Australia Now in 70mm in Wide Screen and Stereophonic Sound - [Australian 70mm premiere]
June 1967 Northland Twin 2 Melbourne Australia Now in 70mm
July 1967 Sandrigham DI Melbourne Australia In 70mm
July 1968 Forum Sydney Australia In Technirama 70mm
Dec 1968 Fair Lady Adelaide Australia 70mm
April 1969 Avro Garden Cinema Bulimba Australia 70mm 6-track Stereophonic Sound
June 1969 Riverline DI Riverton Australia 70mm - 1st time in West Australia in 70mm
Feb 1972 Casino Cinerama, Old Compton St London UK In 70mm
Feb 1972 ABC Derby UK Big Screen 70mm
April 1972 ABC-Cinebowl Hanley UK In 70mm
April 1972 Regal Leamington Spa UK 70mm
May 1972 Granada Bedford UK In 70mm & Stereo Sound
June 1972 ABC1 Leeds UK 70mm
July 1972 Cinema East Kilbride UK 70mm
Aug 1972 Carlton Swansea UK 1st screening in Swansea in 70mm
Sept 1972 Playhouse Perth UK 70mm Screen
Sept 1972 Godiva Coventry UK 70mm - On the Giant Screen - Full Stereophonic Sound
Oct 1972 Astra Colwyn Bay UK In 70mm
Oct 1972 George Bellshill UK 1st presentation outside of Glasgow on 4-track Magnetic Stereophonic Sound [This claim clearly only relates to the 1970's re-issue]
Nov 1972 Palladium Blackpool UK 70mm Stereophonic Sound
Jan 1973 Classic Westcliffe UK 70mm
Jan 1973 Royal St. Ives (Cornwall) UK 70mm Stereophonic Sound
Sept 1973 Camelot Newquay UK 70mm 6-track Stereophonic Sound

This is a comprehensive list of ZULU screenings and in which format of film it was shown. Can anyone remember visiting any of these venues ??
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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Note that the list only contains details of known 70mm engagements and those in 35mm with magnetic stereo sound. There were thousands more in 35mm mono, and probably more in 35mm stereo. I also know of at least one 70mm engagement not listed here: as I write in my book, the film
"opened at Johannesburg�s Cinerama Theatre in the last week of December and was still running there six months later ... a misleading advertisement for �Zulu in Cinerama� led one disgruntled fan � identified only as �Disgusted of Discovery� � to complain to the Johannesburg Star that Zulu �was filmed in a process known as Panavision or Technirama, a process without even the added inducement of stereophonic sound,� and that the seat prices were �much in excess of the prices expected to be paid for such a type of film.�"
As I have said on another thread, the 70mm print shown was probably the same one shown at London's Casino Cinerama in 1972. The fact that another UK 70mm engagement appeared at the time suggests that at least one other 70mm print was circulating in the UK in the mid-1970s.
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Paul Bryant-Quinn


Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 551
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Sheldon -

To your knowledge, was ZULU ever shown to mixed black / white audiences in South Africa, and if so, when did that happen first? (I think you pointed out in your book that black South Africans were barred from seeing the film in 1964.)

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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
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Paul,
Good question. I don't know of any post-apartheid theatrical engagements so, aside from its screenings on South African TV, the answer is no. It would be interesting to learn of one, wouldn't it?
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leightarrant


Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 131
Location: East Sussex
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Okay, so out there 'somewhere' are possibly 2 x 70mm prints...The hunt is on!
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Looking at the interesting list of cinemas above, would I be correct in suggesting "they don't give 'em names like they used to"? My first four visits to ZULU were at the Regent (Rye); the Gaiety (Hastings); the Curzon (St Leonards) and whatever the picture palace (sorry, cinema) was called in Lewes, all within a year or so of the film's appearance. "Translux" and the like don't quite have the same ring. The Rye & Hastings buildings have gone but the Empire here at nearby Sandwich survives entirely in its original 1930s state, although still holds only a few score of patrons.

P.
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Paul Bryant-Quinn


Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 551
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Peter Ewart wrote:
"they don't give 'em names like they used to" ...

In 1964 I saw ZULU at the Astoria in Ruislip (I'm pretty certain it wasn't the Rivoli). Kids could get in for 1/6d, if I remember, but tickets for adults cost three and fourpence.

The world of the past has gone ...

Sad

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rich


Joined: 01 May 2008
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Location: Long Island NY USA
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I just wanted to ask that when you all saw Zulu in your respective theaters
were blacks just as likely to be in the audience? In NY, I knew the audiences were "integrated" however I can only surmise how the film did especially in our South or Deep South what with our Civil Rights crisis going on at the time. Now here's a review from respected NY newspaper critic on the film which can give an idea of how the pix was looked at:

"With so much racial tension and anticolonial discord in the world, a film on the order of "Zulu" seems strangely archaic and indiscreet....if you're not too squeamish at the sight of slaughter and blood and can keep your mind fixed on the notion that there was something heroic and strong about British colonial expansion in the 19th century, you may find a great deal of excitement in this robustly Kiplingesque film". The reviewer goes on: "Is it a contribution to the cause of harmony to show so much vicious acrimony between black men and white.. to make an exciting thing of firing rifles into the faces of charging warriors and sticking bayonets into them?"

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Alan
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Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1530
Location: Wales
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Rich,

you're talking about 45 years ago. In my town (Pop. 120K), there was only one black family, that I knew of. The chances of going to the cinema on the same day would have been quite slim. I suspect it was a similar situation in varying degrees throughout the country.


Last edited by Alan on Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:16 pm; edited 1 time in total

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rich


Joined: 01 May 2008
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Location: Long Island NY USA
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Yes, I'm sure. Your "census" bureau no doubt can give insight into the number of black households in Britain during that time.

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Paul Bryant-Quinn


Joined: 14 Oct 2007
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Rich

... What Alan said. Admittedly I was very young, but ZULU in 1964 was only the second time I had ever seen a black person.

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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Rich

My childhood home was 60 miles from London. The first time I went to see ZULU was shortly before my 14th birthday and I'm pretty sure I'd never set eyes on a real black person before that date (home town pop. only 4,500) other than during the previous year on a school coach trip to Wembley Stadium (May 1963). As the coach had to travel through SE London, where thousands of Caribbean immigrants had settled during the previous decade, my friends and I saw our first black people from behind the windows of the coach, and I suspect many of my generation would recognise a similar experience. (Saw a few more in the EnglandvBrazil match that afternoon!)

I would no more have expected to see a black person so far from London than I would Cetshwayo himself (whom I'd never heard of, of course). I was probably too young to appreciate then the move away from imperial values (lots of new, unprounceable African countries were appearing in my stamp album, but it was all still pink on the map!)

We've come a long way since!

Peter
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
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Same with where I lived as late as the 1970s and 80s: at my school of 900-odd children (on the North East English coast), I only recall there being three non-white kids in all the time I was there. This limited interaction with ethhnic minorities may well be one of factors that sets off the British experience of the film from Americans' (see Stephen Bourne's discussion of his experience of the film as a mixed-race child in his book "Black in the British Frame").

What's more, though I have seen "Zulu" many times in cinemas in recent years, I don't ever recall a black person being at one of those screenings. Perhaps the film has a (false) reputation as racist, or perhaps black people assume that it appeals mainly to a BNP-voting "little Englander" mentality, and are deterred from seeing it for this reason. A great shame if so, because I would particularly have appreciated hearing non-white viewpoints in post-screening discussions.
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Sheldon

Sadly, your second paragraph maybe holds some truth.

Whilst searching for Zulu-related information on the net ages ago, I did find one or two 'uncomfortable' articles, which I couldn't read all of, due to their contortion of the events.

I found myself shocked to see the film twisted in such a way to suit views.

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rich


Joined: 01 May 2008
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Location: Long Island NY USA
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Thanks for sharing your experiences. But isn't it interesting (and let's forget about population numbers for now) that blacks apparently didn't take the time to see the film? Not sure but did "Sweet Sweetback Baada*** Song" (1971) get played there? I don't know but I have the feeling that it would've caught a black audience. Just an fyi and Sheldon would know this. The movie was a hit here, defined a new genre, it was "cool" and gave an aspect of current black culture. One thing I'm pretty sure of regarding "Zulu" is that even if as you note blacks weren't in the audience it apparently had to have brought an awareness of a historical aspect of African culture. And I remember distinctly while going to college in the late 60's that the curriculum started to inlcude courses on African/African American History. I believe "Zulu" played a part in that over here.

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'ZULU' sceenings info across the world - Interesting read.
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