IMDb > The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
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The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
8.3/10   1,264 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Writers:
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (novel)
June Mathis (written for the screen by)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
2 December 1923 (Finland) more
Genre:
Plot:
Madariaga is an Argentinian cattle baron with two daughters: one married a Frenchman, the other a German... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
1 win more
User Comments:
A shame it's not better known more (31 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Pomeroy Cannon ... Madariaga
Josef Swickard ... Marcelo Desnoyers
Bridgetta Clark ... Doña Luisa

Rudolph Valentino ... Julio Desnoyers
Virginia Warwick ... Chichí
Alan Hale ... Karl von Hartrott
Mabel Van Buren ... Elena
Stuart Holmes ... Otto von Hartrott
John St. Polis ... Etienne Laurier (as John Sainpolis)
Alice Terry ... Marguerite Laurier
Mark Fenton ... Senator Lacour
Derek Ghent ... René Lacour
Nigel De Brulier ... Tchernoff (as Nigel de Brulier)
Bowditch M. Turner ... Argensola (as Brodwitch Turner)
Edward Connelly ... Lodgekeeper
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Additional Details

Runtime:
132 min (Turner library print) (1993 alternate version) | Spain:150 min
Country:
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1995. more
Quotes:
Dona Luisa: Is it not enough to lead my son into wild ways without teaching my daughter the tango?
Madriaga: Will you have the boy grow up like those glass-eyed, carrot-topped sharks of your sister's?
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Once Upon a Time in America (1984) more
Soundtrack:
Apocalypse Theme more

FAQ

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7 out of 12 people found the following comment useful.
A shame it's not better known, 1 June 2005
9/10
Author: devil_doll12 from Canada

Rudolph Valentino's breakthrough role as Julio is in some ways his best, and it's a shame that this film isn't better known to day--it has yet to be released on DVD. (Is its being relatively unknown due to its being set during World War One, a war that was soon to be eclipsed by an even worse conflict?)

The story begins in Argentina on the plantation of the slightly grotesque but fascinating Madrigal the Centaur who, with the cruel partiality of Tennessee Williams' Big Daddy, openly favours his half French grandchildren to his half German ones (referring to them as "glass-eyed carrot topped sharks"). A few years later we see him carousing with his grandson Julio, the latter in full gaucho regalia, in a disreputable café (the setting of the rightfully famous tango sequence and where Valentino treats his female partner with that distinctive mixture of suaveness and brutality that characterized many of his later roles). The Great War intrudes on everyone's lives and both families, even though they have made their home in the new world feel drawn to take sides. With regard to the conflict itself, the film takes a anti-war if not entirely neutral stance (the French are generally honourable whereas the Germans behave like, well, sharks).

A large part of the film is devoted to the decline in fortunes of Madrigal's French son-in-law after he returns to France with his family, but the most memorable portions of this part of the film are Julio's wooing of Marguerite, the unhappy wife of a much older man and Julio's reluctant entry into the war. Initially he continues his wastrel life in Paris as an artist of sorts, as indifferent as Rhett Butler to the war around him, but eventually he finds himself drawn into the conflict, not because he is anymore convinced that the war is for a good cause as that, with the casualties mounting up every day, he simply feels too ashamed to continue living his soft life as a lounge lizard. The ending relies heavily on Dickensian coincidence but is devastating nonetheless.

A few quibbles—the stranger who appears occasionally to share his dire forebodings is not quite as annoying as the preachy meddler in Blood and Sand but is still somewhat intrusive. (On the other hand I liked the imagery of the four horsemen which was all the more effective for being used sparingly and must have been particularly impressive on the big screen). Also, the film contains an extremely cringe-inducing example of comic relief—Julio's mother, to cheer up her son in the trenches, sends him his monkey in a miniature soldier's uniform, complete with helmet, bringing to this modern viewer's mind Precious, the gin-swilling orangutan nurse of the whacked out NBC soap opera, Passions. However, these are minor objections and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is one of the best films of the silent era.

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LOVE IT! erised22-1
Wierd question about this film. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN! alankidd
Restored DVD available now! neil_mcglone
Four Horsemen Of the Apocalypse released on Delta DVD devil_doll12
Centaurs towthelion
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