Judge Dee's Mystery

 

2024-
Directed by Yunliang Li
Starring Yiwel Zhou, Elane Zhong, Wang Li kun , Jia-yi Zhang, Ruoyun Zhang, Ling Zi, Li Chen

IMDB Entry

I've been spending a lot of time watching detective shows on Netflix and elsewhere and just discovered a very different take on it. Judge Dee's Mystery is now on Netflix, and shows a Chinese detective who lives in 7th Century China.

Di Renjie (Yiwel Zhou) is appointed by the empress to be a magistrate in a border area of China. Di is a Sherlock Holmes figure, able to put together clues to solve murders and other elaborate crimes. He also develops a relationship with the singer Cao An (Wang Li Kun). He is assisted by his assistant Hou Yu (Li Chen) and a pair of semi-reformed con artists Qiao Tai (Ji Ta) and Ma Rong (Ling Zi).

The mysteries are complex and Di has to put his talents to the utmost to solve them. Yiwel Zhou is quite good as the enigmatic Magistrate. I also liked Ling Zi, who is willful and able to help Di in unusual ways, though he disapproves of her penchant for petty theft.

The mysteries take several episodes to solve, allowing for a more complex story, In one early case, they solve one three-quarters of the way through the episode and start to embark on another.

A big feature of the film are the locations. This was a Chinese production and the made use of sumptuous Chinese locations and costumes.* 

The show is an excellent mystery, with the Chinese milieu adding much to make it visually impressive.

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*Though not everything looked good. There is a shot of a ship that's traveling directly into the wind, something no sailboat could ever do, even now, and given how the ship was rigged, could not even come close (also, the sales were limp). Similarly, when Cao An plays, her fingering doesn't even try to come close to matching the notes.

Zulu Dawn

 

(1979)
Directed by Douglas Hickox
Written by Cy Enfield & Anthony Story
Starring Burt Lancaster, Peter O'Toole, Simon Ward, Denholm Elliott, John Mills, Michael Jaystrom, Bob Hoskins, David Bradley Ron Lacey, Freddie Jones, Simon Sabela
IMDB Entry

I generally don't like prequels.They are most often a way to cash in on a successful film and add nothing to it. But Zulu Dawn is an exception.

Zulu, from 1964, was the dramatization of the Battle of Roark's Drift, where a small garrison of British soldiers held off attacks by an entire army of Zulu soldiers (called impi). Zulu Dawn dramatized the battler of Isandlwana earlier the same day. While Roark's Drift showed the heroism of the British soldiers, Isandlwana showed the incompetence of their leaders.

The movie is set in 1879. The army in the Cape Colony in South Africa is eager to conquer the Zulu nation, led by the king Cetshwayo (Simon Sabela). Sir Henry Bartle Frere (John Mills), a British diplomat, wanted to annex Zululand into the Cape Colony, despite the fact that the powers in London forbid it. With the connivance of the head of the armed forces in South Africa, Lord Chelmsford (Peter O'Toole), he gives Cetshwayo an arrogant ultimatum that was designed to be rejected. When it is, he does, he declares war and Chelmsford leads the army to disaster.

The British didn't take the Zulu army seriously, Frere calling them "a bunch of savages armed with sticks." The description failed to account for the fact that they were well trained in battle and capable of tactical planning the equal of any European force. 

They stopped at Isandlwana, a large South African kopje.* Despite being urged to do so, Chelmsford refused to circle the wagons for protection. He later broke a cardinal rule of military strategy and split his forces to go look for the Zulu army.

It turned out, they were massed outside of Isandlwana and ready to attack. They charged. Though armed only with spears, the thousands of impis quickly overwhelmed the British troops. 

Ammunition was poorly distributed Soldiers were issued only a limited number of rounds of ammunition.  The rest were in locked boxes, that had been screwed shut and there were very few screwdrivers to open them -- and they had a rule that you could only open one box of ammunition at once, and only for your own unit.

The result was perhaps the worst defeat of a British army during the Victorian era.**

The performances are good, though none really have a chance to develop characters except for Peter O'Toole, who plays his General Chelmsford with perfect arrogance.

The movie is long on spectacle. There were thousands of extras, making an impressive sight when the finally appear. The downside is that it is slow moving, especially in the beginning, when they are setting everything up. Still, it's a good dramatization of a major event in UK history. 

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*A steep hill that stands above the surrounding plain. They are common in the area.

**The movie left out one of the most interesting aspects of the battles:  while it was raging, there was an eclipse of the sun.  The Zulus were not fazed by it, though.

Renegade Nell

(2024)
Created by Sally Wainwright
Starring Louise Harland, Adrian Lester, Nick Mohammed, Enyi Okoronkwo, Frank Dilland, Alice Kremelberg, Jake Dunn,
IMDB Entry

My cable company gave us Disney+ for free. I wasn't all that interested -- I'm not big on Star Wars and would much rather watch Aardman or Laika for animation. But free is free and I started looking around. After someone mentioned it, I started on Renegade Nell, which is superb.

The show is set in the early years of the 18th century.  Nell Jackson (Louise Harland) is returning home after her husband has been killed in a war. She stumbles upon robbery by the notorious highwayman Isambard Tully (Frank Dillane). When he tries to rob her, something miraculous happens: a tiny light goes into her mouth, and Nell can now stop bullets in the air and turn invisible.  Tully is forced to let her go.

Her home village is terrorized by Thomas Blanchford (Jake Dunn), the son of the local lord,  who goes around raising hell in the village. When a prank goes wrong, Nell's father is killed and she goes to Thomas's father for justice. Thomas pulls out a pistol and kills his father, making him lord, and then loudly blames Nell for the murder. His sister Sofia (Alice Kremelberg) witnesses it, but backs up Thomas's story. Nell grabs her two sisters and goes on the run, turning to robbery to survive and are helped by Blancheford's groom, a former slave names Rassalas (Enyi Okoronkwo).

Meanwhile, the Earl of Poynton (Adrian Lester), who urged Thomas to kill his father, starts using occult means to plot against Queen Ann. And Nell discovers the source of her own powers:  a sprite named Billy Blind (Nick Mohammad), who was sent to help her, but doesn't know by whom.

This is a tour de force by Louise Harland. Nell is excellent -- funny, heroic, and principled. I had seen her before as the ditzy cousin Orla in Derry Girls. There's no sign of that here, and she handles the role with aplomb.

Adrian Lester, who came to my attention as the head of the con men on Hustle*, makes an excellent villain, with dangerous magical powers. Frank Dillane makes Tully a charming and attractive rogue, fully capable of surprising you at every step.

The show was created and written by Sally Wainwright, whose won several British Academy Television Awards.

One season is on Disney+ and there's talk of another.** It should be great viewing.***

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*Having recently been rewatching Hustle, it was a surprise to recognize him.

**The final shot, which shouldn't be a surprise, makes it possible.

***The original title of the show was The Ballad of Renegade Nell. I find that quite reminiscent of "The Ballad of Eskimo Nell," a poem that is the very antithesis of the Disney image and may have been a factor in the change.