Some of these have already been posted, but here are the rest!
MY FAVOURITE SOUTH AFRICAN FILMS
DINGAKA (1964) JAMIE UYS
Based on a propaganda short entitled The Fox Has Four Eyes that Uys made for the State Information Department in the 1950’s, Dingaka is the chilling story of an African named Ntuku Makwena who loses one of his children in a ritual ‘muti’ murder. Swearing blood vengeance, he pursues his child’s alleged killer to Johannesburg and almost immediately finds himself in trouble with the law, as he is arrested on a charge of attempted murder. His court-appointed, world weary lawyer, Tom Davis, attempts to assist him, but Ntuku breaks free of custody while working in a quarry and escapes to return to his village to confront and take revenge on his child’s real murderer ~ the village’s fearsome, all-powerful witchdoctor. Starring Sir Stanley Baker as Davis, Ken Gampu as Ntuku and Juliet Prowse in a rather thankless role as Davis’ broody wife.
E’LOLLIPOP (1974) ASHLEY LAZARUS
Also released as Lollipop and Forever Young, Forever Free, this film (together with Gray Hofmeyr’s Jock of The Bushveld and David Millin’s Shangani Patrol) is one of the three most requested films in the holdings of the SANFVSA. Two orphans (one black, one white) grow up together in a Lesotho orphanage and become brothers, amidst all the pressures of life, not the least of which is the omnipresent spectre of apartheid. Then, tragedy strikes, changing both their lives and that of those around them forever. Beautiful photography by Arthur Ornitz, A.S.C. and stirring music by Lee Holdridge together with masterful acting by all concerned, especially the two young leads, make this a milestone in South African cinema, although there were deep concerns expressed at the time of the film’s first release that a depiction of racial togetherness might destroy the foundations on which the policy of apartheid was built. Released to VHS and DVD for the first time in 2004. With Jose Ferrer, Karen Valentine, Norman Knox, Muntu Ben Louis Ndebele, Ken Gampu and Bess Finney.
THE GHOST & THE DARKNESS* (1996) STEPHEN HOPKINS
Produced by Oscar – winning actor and producer Michael Douglas, this fact based tale concerns the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of railway workers in 1896 in Tsavo, British East Africa by two rogue, seemingly demonic lions. Colonel John Patterson, the engineer on the British Empire - sponsored railway and bridge project undertakes to hunt down the lions, aided and abetted by Charles Remington (a kind of Wild Bill Hickok / Robert Ruark / Big White Hunter type) and Samuel, the camp liasion officer and speaker of good English and very poor French. A worldwide box-office success with stirring music by the late Jerry Goldsmith, a sometimes very funny script by Oscar winning screenwriter William Goldman, stunning cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond, A.S.C and winner of the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing, the film stars Michael Douglas as Remington, Val Kilmer as Patterson, John Kani as Samuel and the wistfully beautiful Emily Mortimer as Helena Patterson, who is memorably attacked and killed by one of the lions in a gut-wrenchingly violent and almost surreal dream sequence.
THE HELLIONS* (1961) KEN ANNAKIN
Emil Nofal’s ultra-violent moer hom, boetie Western Voor Sononder is often wrongly referred to as South Africa’s first film in the Western genre, although it is the first Afrikaans language Western. The pioneering honour falls to this film, a co-production between Jamie Uys Film Productions Ltd. and Columbia Pictures – an very violent tale of a band of cowardly thugs who hold a small town and its’ inhabitants to ransom, until a crusading policeman saves the day. It is generally believed that this film has been lost as it has never been released on VHS or DVD, but this belief is thankfully untrue, as the Pretoria based National Film, Video and Sound Archives has no less than five 35mm film prints in its’ collection. Lushly photographed in Cinemascope by Ted Moore, B.S.C. and with strong performances all round, the film stars Richard Todd, Lionel Jeffries, Anne Aubrey and Jamie Uys. Its’ basic premise later gave rise to the films Voor Sononder, Stropers Van Die Laeveld and The Jackals
JANNIE TOTSIENS (1970) JANS RAUTENBACH
Allegedly autobiographical in tone, this was South Africa’s first film in the avant-garde genre, one of its’ very few horror films and also its’ first black comedy. It is now known to be an allegory about the South African situation in the 1970’s – showing said situation and the country’s inhabitants in the mileu of a home for the insane whose inmates’ lives are flipped by the arrival of a catatonic, mute mathematics professor, the “angel of discord”, as he is referred to by one of the loonies. Among this merry little band, we find a jilted bride (Hermien Dommisse) whose wedding portrait depicts her holding the hand of a faceless man, a knife wielding nymphomaniac with Bible thumping parents (Katinka Heyns), an ex Ossewabrandwag soldier with an uncanny resemblance to John Vorster (Don Leonard), a judge who went mad after his daughter’s killer was let off scot free (Jacques Loots) and a psychotic woman (Jill Kirkland) who continously writes unsent letters to her dead daughter. The seemingly mad and mother fixated Jannie Pienaar (supposedly based both on director Jans Rautenbach’s treatment by the critics, some of the more sensitive sections of the South African community after the release of Katrina and Rautenbach’s experiences as a clinical psychologist) finds himself both restored to life because of two major factors: a love triangle which involves him and two of the inmates and the horrific finale when, on the suicide of one of those inmates, Jannie is condemned to death by hanging.
One would have to go very far back or far forward into the future of the South African film industry’s history to find a film as horrific, comic (yes, it is very funny in parts) and perfect as this, with brooding photography (courtesy David Dunn~ Yarker and Koos Roets) an eerie credits puppet show in which the spectre of death intrudes and is frightened away, haunting music by Sam Sklair and oppressive, claustrophobic set and art design. Starring Cobus Rossouw, Jill Kirkland, Hermien Dommisse, Phillip Swanepoel, Katinka Heyns, Don Leonard, Lourens Schultz, Patrick Mynhardt, Betty Botha, Sandra Kotze, George Pearce and Jacques Loots.
DIE KANDIDAAT (1968) JANS RAUTENBACH
Purportedly an exposé of the feared and faceless Afrikaner Broerderbond, this was both South Africa’s first political thriller and Jans Rautenbach’s first official and credited tour of duty behind the camera. An Afrikaner nationalist organization is preparing to willingly admit a new candidate to its’ ranks but proceeds to cold-bloodedly tear the candidate’s life apart when one of their number discovers skeletons rattling in his closet, amongst which one finds that the candidate was in a reformatory and that he is engaged to an Englishwoman. An excellent film in all respects, with the only surprising fact arising from it is that Die Kandidaat was never banned, although a 52 second cut was made to a sequence where the nationhood of so called “coloured” people is brought into question. The production design, music and cinematography are also standouts here. Starring Roelf Jacobs, Cobus Rossouw, Gert van den Bergh (who passed away before the film’s release) Hermien Dommisse, Regardt van den Bergh, Lourens Schultz, Jacques Loots, Don Leonard, Gerrie du Pre and Marie du Toit.
KARATE OLYMPIA/KILL OR BE KILLED (1976) IVAN HALL
Another first for both South Africa and Africa ~ the first martial arts film produced on this continent. Far from featuring a few Oriental gentlemen beating most honourable seven colours of s**t out of most honourable opponent because of the dishonour of most honourable family and terrible dubbing in which mouth movements come three hours before the sounds, this is a very competent film which features a Nazi still living Hitler’s dream in the then South West Africa. Baron von Rudloff (SS dress uniform, Iron Cross, swastika, Luger pistol and all) is a disgraced Olympic karate coach whose team loses to a Japanese team during the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games ~ years later, he organizes a contest to the death in his castle’s arena, between a team of his choosing and one chosen by Hiro Miyagi, the winning Japanese coach and his sworn enemy. Another international box-office success for South Africa, starring James Ryan, Charlotte Prout Jones, Norman Coombes as the mad Nazi and featuring guest appearances by a host of local martial arts experts, including senseis Stan Schmidt and Norman Robinson, who were also credited as fight arrangers. Followed by Kill and Kill Again, an even more successful sequel.
KATRINA (1969) JANS RAUTENBACH
Based on the play Try For White by Basil Warner, Katrina was the first local production to openly question the race problem in South Africa – with specific reference to the “coloured” community and those who are re-classified “white”. Katrina, a woman of colour, is re-classified white and turns her back on her heritage and her people. She later falls in love with Alex, an alcoholic priest, whose ultimate rejection of her once he has discovered the truth through her firebrand brother Adam, drives her to suicide. One would think that after reading the aforegoing that Katrina is a gloomy, depressing film, but like the closing scenes in Steven Spielberg’s harrowing Schindler’s List, it is strangely uplifting. Excellent photography (with a memorable opening and closing shot of the sun whose rays seem to burn through the camera lens), haunting music and masterful performances from Joe Stewardson as the tortured priest, Jill Kirkland as Katrina and Cobus Rossouw as the seemingly racist Adam September. Others in a fine ensemble cast include future director Katinka Heyns, Carel Trichardt, Ian Strauss, Regardt van den Bergh and Simon M. Sabela.
KILL & KILL AGAIN (1980) IVAN HALL
Filmed in and around the tourist resort of Sun City, this was a partly foreign funded sequel of sorts to the earlier Karate Olympia a.k.a. Kill & Kill Again with much the same cast playing essentially the same characters, if one forgets that James Ryan’s character in the first film was called ‘Steve Hunt’ and ‘Steve Chase’ in this one. Broad comedy and very well executed stunts and fight arranging are the order of the day and the one with the best lines is the late, pioneering South African actor Ken Gampu as the unfortunately named Gorilla, an ex wrestler who cannot stand officious bosses, too tight shirts and engaged aircraft toilets. Another international box office success for South Africa which grossed enough money to find itself almost at the top of Variety’s box –office champions for 1981. Also starring Anneline Kriel, Bill Flynn, Michael Mayer, Stan Schmidt, Norman Robinson and Marloe Scott-Wilson.
KING HENDRIK (1965) EMIL NOFAL
Set in the fictional town of Stellendam, this film tells the tale of the aforementioned town which finds a document permitting it to declare itself independent from the rest of South Africa, which it does, leading to all sorts of complications, humorous situations and outright meglomania. Allegedly based by writer-producer-director Emil Nofal on the 1959 film The Mouse That Roared, starring Peter Sellers and directed by Jack Arnold. Filmed in the Eastern Cape town of Graaf-Reinett, this is a very funny comedy, starring Bob Courtney, Gert van den Bergh, Clive Parnell and Arthur Swemmer as the titular King Hendrik.
LORD OOM PIET (1962) JAMIE UYS
It never ceases to amaze me that after making such an anti-English diatribe as Doodkry Is Min (translation: They Can’t Oppress Us), a nasty, Triumph of The Will inspired production in which the English speaking South African was handed the blame for all the nation’s ills, that Jamie Uys would dare to make a film that pleaded for unity and reconcilliation between the two cultures. But do it he did, and as this was a huge box-office success on its’ first release, most people seemed to have forgotten Doodkry Is Min. Using a script written by himself and Emil Nofal, Uys stars as Oom Piet Kromhout, a proud Afrikaner who is informed one fine day that he is in fact an Englishman named Peter Bentwood, a lord of the manor and Queen Elizabeth 11’s cousin to boot. After chucking the tweedy, bowler-hatted messenger into his water tank, Oom Piet proceeds with urgent damage control, as he is the National Party candidate for the area, all the while proceeding with litigation against his neighbour Sir David Willoughby for calling him an Englishman. A real comedy gem this ~ one could almost (but not quite) forgive Uys for the excesses of Doodkry Is Min. Starring Jamie Uys, Hettie Uys, Arthur Swemmer, Bob Courtney, Madeline Usher and Morne Coetzer.
ONGEWENSTE VREEMDELING (1974) JANS RAUTENBACH
One of the many film adaptations of many successful Springbok Radio plays, this was Rautenbach and Nofal’s reunion film after they went their separate ways following the release of Katrina. Accentuated by excellent cinematography (courtesy Vincent G. Cox, A.S.C) and a haunting theme tune (Vat Haar Weg [Take Her Away] composed by Rautenbach himself and performed by Barry Trengove), the film follows the fortunes of one Gerard Steenberg, the ‘unwanted stranger’ of the title and former jailbird for murder whose intrusion into the lives of the slightly weird folk in Duiwelsvallei (Devil’s Valley) makes him yet another angel of discord, a recurring character in the films of Nofal and Rautenbach, the former inserting shots of his earlier skop, skiet en donder Western Voor Sononder into the film where the bar patrons watch a 16mm print of it. A very good film with a very, very shocking and very bloody ending, starring Marius Weyers, Barry Trengove, Marie du Toit and Regardt van den Bergh.
RIDE THE HIGH WIND (1965) DAVID MILLIN
Based on the novel ‘North of Bushman’s Rock’ by George Harding, this almost entirely desert set production is a eerie, chilling tale of gold lust and adventure, culminating in death and violence. A surveyor’s plane crash lands in the desert and locates a old Boer covered wagon in a certain area. After almost dying of exposure, he is rescued by a glowering German prospector (complete with snarling German Shepherd) and his almost childlike wife. On returning to Johannesburg, he mounts an expedition to the desert taking with him a disparate group of characters, one of whom (oops) is a killer. Lots of David Millin’s trademarks are to be found in this film, especially the expansive landscapes, the very, very dry sense of humour and the lulling into a false sense of security before a violent scene unfolds or the viewer spills his popcorn in shock. Wonderful photography, editing and music add up to an enthralling viewing experience of this film, released overseas as African Gold and known fondly to the staff of the National Film, Video and Sound Archives as The Old Maburu and The Machine Gun. Starring Darren McGavin, Albert Lieven, Maria Perschy, Allison Seebohm and Michael McGovern.
SANDS OF THE KALAHARI* (1965) CY ENDFIELD
Similar in structure and content to
Ride The High Wind, this film is based on the novel Sands of Kalahari by William Mulvihill and concerns a group of aeroplane crash survivors with a ruthless killer in their midst. Fresh and flush from the success of the earlier Zulu, this was an odd film for both director Cy Endfield and producer / star Stanley Baker to attempt, but was probably brought on by the fact that the feared Publications Control Board had banned the Wilbur Smith novel
When The Lion Feeds ~ a film of which they had hoped to make together. The final shot of Stuart Whitman resigning himself to be ripped apart by the claws and fangs of the ferocious desert baboons remains seared in the memories of moviegoers the world over. The cinematography and music (the latter courtesy John Dankworth) are also standouts here. Starring Stanley Baker, Stuart Whitman, Susannah York and Nigel Davenport.
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE PALACE (1988) ROBERT DAVIES
In doing research for this film, I was reminded of Stephen King’s laconic comment about the “things you see when you ain’t got a gun”. Had I had such a weapon, I would have turned it on the distributors of this film, as they bungled distribution so badly that hardly anyone saw it, despite the fact that Davies’ film won many overseas awards and is a an excellent filmed version of the play by Paul Slabolepszy and Bill Flynn, despite being fleshed out slightly to explain why the characters act and react the way they do. The basic premise of the film is that three characters (two white, one black) meet at a roadhouse one night and the boiling pot of racial hatred explodes, leaving one dead, one as a gibbering fugitive and one (the innocent black waiter) handcuffed to a motorcycle, awaiting the police. Starring Paul Slabolepszy, Bill Flynn, John Kani, Marius Weyers, Arnold Vosloo and Joanna Weinberg.
THE SHADOWED MIND (1988) CEDRIC SUNDSTRÖM
The best way to describe this film – a truly frightening tale of a insane asylum for the super deviant / super rich and the psycho killer in their midst – is possibly Jannie Totsiens on acid, as it takes what Jans Rautenbach could do no more than suggest then and shows it and then some. A woman is admitted to a strange asylum with even stranger inmates – her arrival almost coincides with two major problems for the asylum: one, its’ director is looking for possible funding and some of the inmates are getting themselves brutally slaughtered. Visually striking with a prowling camera, a nerve jangling sound effects track and long banned under the old, repressive Publications Control Board’s film culture destruction criteria, the film is certainly director Cedric Sundstrom’s best to date. Starring Adrienne Pearce, Rufus Swart and Towje Kleiner.
SHANGANI PATROL (1970) DAVID MILLIN
Along with The Winners, this is the finest South African production of the 1970’s – the fact based tale of a detachment of 34 volunteers under the command of Major Allan Wilson who were slaughtered on the banks of the Shangani River in 1893 by the forces of King Lobengula. Based on the novel A Time To Die by Robert L. Carey and a powerful script by Adrian Steed, this film (photgraphed on a farm in the actual environs of the battle by Lionel Friedberg) explores the recruitment of the volunteers and their heroic, yet ultimately almost suicidal mission against the soldiers of the Matabele king. A stunning film (referred to by a client of your writer as “the old Rhodesian film”) in all departments (especially the cinematography and music), but with a very, very sobering ending. This film is also an allegory for the Rhodesian war, with the fight put up by Allan Wilson and his outnumbered band of volunteers being likened to the struggle and spirit of the Rhodesian people in fighting off hordes of invaders ~ the spirit of which has largely and sadly dwindled away. With Brian O’Shaughnessy, Will Hutchins, Anthea Crosse, Adrian Steed, James White, Lance Lockhart Ross, George Jackson and Stuart Brown as Sir Leander Starr Jameson.
THE STICK (1988) DARRELL ROODT
Long banned by the odious Publications Control Board’s hoary old excuse of “this film has merit but” this is a very frightening tale of the border conflict in South Africa and its’ harsh (to say the least) effect that it has on the impressionable young men who served the cause of the Nationalist Party – a cause that not all of them believed in. A stick (detachment of soldiers) is sent in pursuit of a band of savage, half-black, half white killers responsible for the death of countless soldiers and end up being slaughtered themselves one after another after killing an entire village’s inhabitants and their witchdoctor, the latter being shot in the back by one of the brave soldiers and whose corpse rots away overnight, leaving only a skeleton with spiders as tenants in the hollows of its’ eyes. Only one survivor is left. Traumatized and scarred, he is discharged from the army and on arrival in Johannesburg, is met by the eerie, seemingly solid spectre of the witchdoctor that he had supposedly killed. Starring Greg Latter, Sean Taylor, Franz Dobrowsky, Gys de Villiers, Frank Opperman, James Whyle, Nicky Rebelo and Winston Ntshona as the terrifying sangoma.
SWEET ‘N SHORT (1991) GRAY HOFMEYR
Despite the well known fact that I loathe most of Leon Schuster’s songs, jokes, movies and the opinion I hold that they belong down there in the sewage with my good friends Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, Raphael and Splinter, this is a movie that does not belong there. Indeed, the final scene of this film always brings an unswallowable lump to my throat! Erk. Well, anyway. An accident –prone sportscaster named Sweet Coetzee wins a fortune at the Sun City casino and gets knocked out when some idiot on a glass ball lands on his head. On reviving (thanks to a Keystone Cops-like chase through the Edenvale Hospital) he finds himself in the feared “New South Africa” where Nelson Mandela is President, bread costs R12.99 per loaf, whites drive Black taxis and the song Oo Boereplaas is top of the Golden Oldies hit parade. A comedic gem, with the added attraction that this was South Africa’s first prophetic film in that it accurately predicted the changes that were to take place in this country a few years later. With Leon Schuster, Alfred Ntombela, Joanna Weinberg, Casper de Vries and a host of cameos from celebrities such as sports commentator Trevor Quirk, newsreaders Bettie Kemp, Alyce Chavanduka, Riaan Cruywagen and radio DJ Niekie van den Bergh, the latter getting a colossal clout on the head and backside with a heavy bed pan.
THE WILD GEESE* (1978) ANDREW V. McLAGLEN
Based on the novel of the same name by Rhodesian author Daniel Carney, this was a breakthrough production in many respects, i.e. it was the most expensive movie made to date, it was the very first non-segregated production made in South Africa and it was also the first film released locally to both black and white audiences at the same time. Thus, despite the liberal usage of the so called ‘k’ word (courtesy actor Hardy Kruger’s character of Peter Coetzee), it was a pioneering film in many ways. A band of mercenaries is sent into Africa to rescue a Nelson Mandela-like leader from the clutches of his worst enemy and while they are about their business in the bush, behind the scenes machinations doom them and their efforts. A first rate action thriller, written by Reginald Rose, with effective music by Roy Budd, editing by future ‘James Bond’ director John Glen and cinematography by Jack Hildyard, B.S.C. Starring Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore, Hardy Kruger, Stewart Granger, Barry Foster, Ian Yule and Kenneth Griffith, plus a supporting cast of excellent South African players including John Kani, Winston Ntshona and Ken Gampu.
WILD SEASON (1967) EMIL NOFAL
A beautifully filmed melodrama concerning the generation gap clash at its’ worst as a stern, forbidding, grieving fisherman father and his bookish son clash and collide time and again. The son eventually proves his worth to his father only to have his worst fears realized when his terminally ill girlfriend succumbs to leukaemia, but this tragedy forces him finally into manhood. Beautiful cinematography by Vincent G. Cox, A.S.C, haunting music by Roy Martin and acting from the cream of South African entertainment all add up to a very memorable viewing experience. This is also known to be the film which gave Emil Nofal’s partner Jans Rautenbach his first chance at directing a film, due to Nofal’s terrible sea-sickness. It is however, a pity that Antony Thomas chose to blast this film in an interview done for the post democracy anti-apartheid cinema diatribe In Darkest Hollywood which I was unfortunate enough to have worked on. In the interview, Antony Thomas states that this film opened his eyes to the horrors of apartheid and that it let him see the light. Strange really, as this film has nothing whatever to do with apartheid at all. It would have been far better for Mr Thomas to admit that he had made pro-apartheid documentaries for the then State Information Department (including the now notorious Anatomy of Apartheid) and that those and not Wild Season contributed to his leaving South Africa and becoming a prohibited immigrant. It is also possible that Mr Thomas got hit on the head with a brick, causing him to see the light and also many cartoonish twittering birds circling around and s**tting on his head. With Gert van den Bergh, Marie du Toit, Antony Thomas, Ian Yule, Joe Stewardson, Johan Du Plooy and Janis Reinhardt.
WINDPRINTS (1989) DAVID WICHT
Based on a true story concerning a mad serial killer roaming the wastes of Namibia and slaughtering his own people, this is a truly terrifying film with powerhouse performances from Lesley Fong as the Nama Nhadiep and Sean Bean as the angst-ridden Afrikaner journalist on his trail. As far as can be ascertained, this film has never been released in its’ country of origin ~ a great pity as it is a powerful statement on the nature of man and his relationship to others, his environment and his beliefs, with eerie music and soaring camerawork adding to the rich mix. Also starring John Hurt, Eric Nobbs and Marius Weyers as the racist farmer whose madness almost equals that of the killer’s.
THE WINNERS (1972) EMIL NOFAL
Allegedly autobiographical in tone, this production is the intense, draining and powerful story of Will Maddox who is a winner at everything and in everything. His almost insane desire to win at all costs eventually causes him to lose everything, including his family who are driven away by his crazed desire of success and all it brings. Also known internationally as My Way (the Frank Sinatra theme song is used throughout the film) and very weirdly as Super Jocks in the United States, this is truly one of the all time classic South African productions, with excellent photography, music, editing and superb acting. With Joe Stewardson, Marie du Toit, Richard Loring, Tony Jay, John Higgins, Ken Leach, Madeline Usher and Jenny Mayer. Followed five years later by a sequel The Winners 2 (a.k.a Again My Way) directed by Jans Rautenbach.
ZULU* (1964) CY ENDFIELD
The 1879 Battle of Rorke’s Drift was, to put it mildly, a red letter day in the annals of British military history, as one hundred soldiers defended the tiny mission station of Rorke’s Drift against the marauding Zulu armies of King Cetshwayo, who had just routed the armies of Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandhlwana. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded, the highest given out at any single conflict before or since that day. A truly stunning piece of work, this is another of the all time classics, with beautiful cinematography (courtesy Stephen Dade, B.S.C.) a memorable, lively score by John Barry and superb acting from an ensemble cast, including a young Zulu lad named Mangosuthu Buthelezi, playing his great-grandfather and having a ball doing it. With Sir Stanley Baker, Michael Caine (his first starring role), Gert van den Bergh, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, Nigel Green and James Booth as the malingering Private Henry Hook.
* Foreign film made on location in South Africa.
