Major Wilson's Last Stand (film)
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''Major Wilson's Last Stand'' is an 1899 British short silent
war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...
based upon the historical accounts of the
Shangani Patrol The Shangani Patrol (or Wilson's Patrol) was a 34-soldier unit of the British South Africa Company that in 1893 was ambushed and annihilated by more than 3,000 Matabele warriors in pre-Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), during the First Matab ...
. The film was adapted from ''Savage South Africa'', a stage show depicting scenes from both the
First Matabele War The First Matabele War was fought between 1893 and 1894 in modern-day Zimbabwe. It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Ndebele (Matabele) Kingdom. Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, had tried to avoid outright war with the compa ...
and the Second Matabele War which opened at the Empress Theatre, Earls Court, on 8 May 1899. It was shot by Joseph Rosenthal for the Warwick Trading Co. Ltd. Copies of the film originally sold for £3. It was shown to audiences at the Olympic Theatre in London and at the Refined Concert Company in New Zealand.


Story

The studio's original description is as follows:
Major Wilson and his brave men are seen in laager in order to snatch a brief rest after a long forced march. They are suddenly awakened by the shouts of the savages, who surround them on all sides. The expected reinforcements alas arrived too late. The Major calls upon his men to show the enemy how a handful of British soldiers can play a losing game as well as a winning one. He bids them to stand shoulder to shoulder, and fight and die for their Queen. The horses are seen to fall, and from the rampart of dead horses, the heroic band fight to the last round of revolver ammunition. The Major, who is the last to fall, crawls to the top of the head of dead men, savages and horses, and makes every one of the few remaining cartridges find its mark until his life is cut short by the thrust of an
assegai An assegai or assagai (Arabic ''az-zaġāyah'', Berber ''zaġāya'' "spear", Old French ''azagaie'', Spanish ''azagaya'', Italian ''zagaglia'', Middle English ''lancegay'') is a pole weapon used for throwing, usually a light spear or javelin ...
in the hands of a savage, who attacks him from behind. Before he falls however, he fires his last bullet into the fleeing carcass of the savage, who drops dead. The Major also expires, and death like silence prevails. The most awe-inspiring cinematograph picture ever produced.


Cast

* Texas Jack as
Frederick Russell Burnham Frederick Russell Burnham DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to the British Army in colonial Africa, and for teach ...
, the American Chief of Scouts * Peter Lobengula (the son of the real-life Matabele King) as King
Lobengula Lobengula Khumalo (c. 1845 – presumed January 1894) was the second and last official king of the Northern Ndebele people (historically called Matabele in English). Both names in the Ndebele language mean "the men of the long shields", a refer ...
* Frank E. Fillis as Major Allan Wilson * Cecil William Coleman as Captain Greenless * Ndebele warriors—played by Zulu predominantly from the
Colony of Natal The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Natalia Republic, Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three o ...
.


See also

* ''Shangani Patrol'' (film) – The historical full-length feature film shot on location in
Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of So ...
and released in 1970.


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* {{Authority control 1899 films 1899 short films 1890s war films 1890s British films British black-and-white films British silent short films British war drama films Films set in 1893 Films set in Rhodesia War films based on actual events Silent drama films British films based on plays Silent war films