Zulu (1964 film) in the background. The real location of the battle was 100 kilometres (60 mi) to the northwest, on the Buffalo River near the isolated hill at Isandhlwana. Other scenes were filmed within the national parks of KwaZulu-Natal. Interiors and all the scenes starring James Booth were completed at Twickenham Film Studios in Middlesex, England. The majority of the Zulus were real Zulus. 240 Zulu extras were employed for the battle scenes, bused in from their tribal homes over 100 miles away. Around 1,000 additional tribesmen were filmed by the second unit in Zululand. The film was compared by Baker to
Zulu (1964 film) made it, Cy Endfield and Stanley Baker, have done about as nifty a job of realizing on the formula as one could do." "Variety" praised the "intelligent screenplay" and "high allround standard of acting," concluding, "High grade technical qualities round off a classy production." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" wrote that the film was "in the much-missed tradition of 'Beau Geste' and 'Four Feathers.' It has a restrained, leisurely tension, the heroics are splendidly stiff-upper-lip and such granite worthies as Stanley Baker and Jack Hawkins head the cast." Whitney Balliett of "The New Yorker" wrote that the film