Shangani Patrol (1970)

Shangani Patrol is a war film based upon the non-fiction book A Time to Die by Robert Cary (1968), and the historical accounts of the Shangani Patrol, with Brian O'Shaughnessy as Major Allan Wilson and Will Hutchins as the lead Scout Frederick Russell Burnham. Also includes the song "Shangani Patrol" by Nick Taylor (1966 recording).

Under the command of Major Wilson, the patrol tracks the fleeing Ndebele King Lobengula across the Shangani River. Cut off from the main force, they are ambushed by the Ndebele impi and, except for the few men sent as reinforcements, all are killed. Such was the bravery of the Shangani Patrol that the victorious Ndebele said, "They were men of men and their fathers were men before them." Depending on one's viewpoint, this event was one of the great mistakes and military blunders of this time in history, or the last heroic stand of a gallant few. The incident had lasting significance in England, South Africa, and Rhodesia as the equivalent of 'Custer's Last Stand'. This is their story, told in a 1970 film shot on location in Matabeleland, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

Synopsis

Locale, Mashonaland, Southern Rhodesia, 1893. The British South Africa Company (BSAC) (later to become the British South African Police - BSAP) is based in the encampment of Fort Salisbury (now the capital of Zimbabwe, Harare). The film starts with a sepia toned trial of two AWOL volunteers and later deserters who were eventually court martialed by the army for stealing gold which was given to them by Matabele warriors on behalf of King Lobengula as a peace offering to end the war. In this trial (which is solely represented by archive drawings and voice-overs) the voice of TV anchor man/journalist Adrian Steed is heard as the judge (later to be seen as Major Forbes) and that of Stuart Brown playing Dr Leander Starr Jameson.

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