The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Robert Ardrey (screenplay) and
John Gay (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 January 1962 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Paris, city of lovers...the day the clocks stopped turning and the world stood still...

Plot:

Karl from Germany and Marcelo from France emigrated to Argentina and became brothers-in-law. Whatever...

Plot Keywords:

Playboy | Resistance | General | WWII | Partisan

Cast

Glenn Ford	...	Julio Desnoyers
Ingrid Thulin	...	Marguerite Laurier
Charles Boyer	...	Marcelo Desnoyers
Lee J. Cobb	...	Julio Madariaga
Paul Lukas	...	Karl von Hartrott
Yvette Mimieux	...	Chi Chi Desnoyers
Karlheinz Böhm	...	Heinrich von Hartrott (as Karl Boehm)
Paul Henreid	...	Etienne Laurier
Harriet E. MacGibbon	...	Dona Luisa Desnoyers (as Harriet MacGibbon)
Kathryn Givney	...	Elena von Hartrott
Marcel Hillaire	...	Armand Dibier
George Dolenz	...	Gen. von Kleig
Stephen Bekassy	...	Col. Kleinsdorf
Nestor Paiva	...	Miguel
Albert Rémy	...	François (as Albert Remy)

Runtime:

153 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Ingrid Thulin's voice was dubbed by Angela Lansbury.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Karl is proposing a toast in honor of the family reunited at last (1h 01'), we can see Julio successively in the mirror and in close-up. In the mirror he has a glass in his left hand, but in close-ups the glass is in his right hand. The left-right hand images alternates three times.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Le fantôme d'Henri Langlois (2004)

Soundtrack:

Mine For the Moment

Glenn Just Not A Convincing Latino

Vincente Minnelli had it right, he wanted Alain Delon for the role of French/Argentine Julio Desnoyers and he would have been perfect in the part. However MGM insisted on an American, but why Glenn Ford. Back in the late forties he was laughable in the part of Don Jose in The Loves of Carmen with Rita Hayworth. Did anyone at MGM screen that before signing him up for this expensive remake of the silent classic The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse?

Whatever else Glenn Ford was and I'm a big fan, he just doesn't cut it as the second Rudolph Valentino.

So besides a miscast leading man, they had their troubles with the leading lady as well. Ingrid Thulin was trying to break into the international market as fellow Swedes Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman had done before her. Her Swedish accent was way too thick and supposedly she was indecipherable in her scenes. That familiar voice you hear coming from her mouth is that of Angela Lansbury who was dubbed over Thulin's voice. Poor Ingrid still remained a star in Sweden, but never did get any international acclaim.

The rest of the cast is made of various continental types playing French and Germans. The plot of Vincente Blasco Ibanez's original novel is updated from World War I to World War II and changes are made to accommodate the different geopolitical situation in the two wars. Best performance in the film is that of Paul Henreid who plays Thulin's husband who while he's off to war and a POW camp, she's fooling around in Paris with Ford.

Now you can believe she'd have found Valentino irresistible, but not Glenn Ford.