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36 reviews in total

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29 out of 40 people found the following review useful:
An irreplaceable item of cinema history., 17 December 2001
Author: JBall75487 from Lincolnshire, England

I was fortunate enough to obtain a video of 'Four Horsemen ' recently and having read about it many years ago, I was intrigued to see whether it lived up to the legend. Considering it was made 80 years ago, I was quite astonished at the quality of this film, in terms of acting,direction and photography.To our modern eyes, the 'special effects'may,of course, seem a little quaint, but there is no denying that as an anti-war film, it stands alongside 'All Quiet on the Western Front' and 'Grande Illusion', and it has lost little of its power to move. The development of the character of Julio is a 'tour de force' of acting by Valentino and his celebrated tango in one of the murkier establishments of Buenos Aires realistically conveys the dissolute atmosphere of the cafe society of the period. My copy of the film was the tinted version with a (non-vocal) soundtrack added, which included tango music played by an apparently unsynchronised band ! To keen students of cinematic history, this film is a 'must-see'- indeed,I know of no contemporary films which comes close to matching it.

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33 out of 49 people found the following review useful:
More Than A Tango, 29 July 2005

Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE bring the devastation of the Great War to two Argentine sisters, one married to a Frenchman, the other to a German.

It is a shame that this wonderful film is remembered now almost solely for Rudolph Valentino's first scene, in which he dances a sensual tango. This sequence, which appears in the opening half hour, was enough to put Valentino on the movie map as an important young actor and paved the way for more libidinous roles in the future, but the film is about so much more than just a tango.

World War One had only ended in 1918, barely three years before FOUR HORSEMEN was released. The effects of the War - maimed men and fatherless children - were everywhere, and much devastation still remained in Europe. Director Rex Ingram took Vicente Blasco Ibáñez' novel and turned it into a powerful & disturbing anti-war polemic. The imagery of the Four Horsemen, riding across the screen, becomes a compelling symbol of man's inhumanity.

Although Valentino gets the attention now - and his performance is very fine, showing his character's maturity after encountering the War's harsh realities - he's not the actual star of the film. Equal kudos should also extend to Josef Swickard playing his French father, who dominates lengthy stretches of the story as he frantically reacts to his castle's desecration by the invading Germans, including his own brutal nephew.

Alice White, Ingram's wife, is wonderful as Valentino's conflicted lover, torn between passion for him and duty to her honorable husband. She adds a very real touch of class and believability, just as she would in future films directed by Ingram.

Standouts in the cast include Pomeroy Cannon as the old 'Centaur,' Valentino's hot-blooded Spanish grandfather; Alan Hale as Valentino's stern German uncle; John St. Polis as Miss Terry's affronted spouse; and bullying Wallace Beery as a crude German officer. Gaunt Nigel de Brulier is mesmerizing in his Epiphanic role as the mysterious lodger who explains to Valentino the significance of the Four Horsemen.

Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Jean Hersholt as Hale's bearded son. Silent star Noble Johnson portrays the first Horseman, Conquest. (Supposedly Ramon Novarro is one of the extras in the Ball scene, probably as a dancer. This is very possible, as he would become a star in Ingram's film release of the following year, THE PRISONER OF ZENDA.)

Although nearly forgotten today, Rex Ingram was an excellent director who knew how to present epic photo dramas on a large scale which did not neglect the small, telling details, such as when the sweeping vistas of the Argentinean pampas gives way to the antics of a tiny pet monkey. His impish affection for the grotesque close-up is also in evidence. Ingram worked closely with his photographer Fred Seitz to achieve the play of light & shadow which enhanced the composition. But it's the authenticity of the performances which he consistently drew from his players that never fails to impress. It should be remembered that it was only six short years since the rather stagy acting of Griffith's THE BIRTH OF A NATION. Ingram had built on the Master's foundation and built well.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN is splendid to simply look at, with its restored tints & artistic title cards. Carl Davis has graced the restoration with a splendid new score which carries the viewer along, emotionally underpinning the dramatics on screen with lilting melodies and robust orchestrations.

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The original references to the Four Horsemen can be found in The Book of Revelations (sometimes called The Apocalypse of St. John) at the end of The New Testament, Chapter 6, verses 1-8 (KJV):

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

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28 out of 41 people found the following review useful:
An Early Epic, 25 April 1999

Author: gbheron from Washington, DC

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, released in 1921, is so well made that it overcomes the enormous obstacles of technology. The story is of epic proportions. Set immediately before World War I, it deals with a rich Argentine family, one branch recently arrived from France, the other from Germany. After the death of the patriarch each branch returns to their respective homelands as Europe slides into war. Deep, rich subplots abound, with much time spent on the adulterous affair of the indolent French grandson (Valentino) with the young married wife of an older businessman. Quite a surprising treatment of such mature subject matter.

Made when the wounds of WWI were still open and sore, the film's themes are grim and dripping with overt religiosity. But this is what The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is all about, the horror of war, and the redemption of man through personal sacrifice.

An excellent film, recommended highly.

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18 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
Ingram's film was more than a war or antiwar film…, 31 July 2005

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

It introduced American audiences and especially American women to a glamorous international money aristocracy shuttling between Buenos Aires and Paris, between dives and thé dansants, studios and salons…

Such milieus had been presented on the screen before—but always with frowning disapproval… Nor was the Latin Lover a novelty… Probably half the villains of the prewar screen were Latin—but they were sneering, greasy, black-hearted cads…

Now the same character reappeared as a romantic Apollo who treated women with courtesy and deference but whose eyes promised (what the villains had threatened) that behind the deference, and behind the bedroom door, other, more exciting qualities would emerge—skill and experience…

The magnetic pull Valentino exerted on millions of women signaled that they were tired of awkward love-making, on screen and off…

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19 out of 28 people found the following review useful:
One of the Great Silent Films, 21 May 2005

Author: gftbiloxi (gftbiloxi@yahoo.com) from Biloxi, Mississippi

In some respects THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE suffers from being known as the film that made Rudolph Valentino a star; consequently, it is usually regarded as a Valentino vehicle rather than as a powerful film of World War I on an equal footing with the more widely acclaimed THE BIG PARADE and WINGS. Even so, HORSEMEN's deeper message far surpasses either and in an artistic sense leaves WINGS in the dust and is at least the equal of PARADE.

The film is not really a Valentino vehicle per se, for Valentino's role is equaled by the roles played by Josef Swickard and Alice Terry; consequently it has an ensemble nature quite unlike most other Valentino films. Based on the once famous but rather heavy-handed Ibanez novel, HORSEMEN tells the story of an extremely wealthy Argentine rancher whose two daughters marry European men, one from France (Swickard) and one from Germany (Alan Hale.) When the rancher dies, dividing his estate between his daughters, the women return with their families to Europe, one family residing in Germany and the other in France. The German family's sons quickly rise to high status, but the French family has a more difficult time, with father Swickard becoming increasingly materialistic and spoiled son Valentino emerging as a womanizer who provokes a scandal by a torrid affair with the wife (Alice Terry) of his father's closest friend. Just as these various plot lines reach a climax, World War I explodes around them, reducing their personal concerns to so much trivia and placing the two families on opposing sides.

Interestingly, the performances in HORSEMAN bridge the gap between the very broad efforts of most early silent film and the considerably more subtle playing of the late silent era. Swickard gives a notable performance, Alice Terry is quite charming, and Valentino--still an unknown--plays with considerably more restraint than in later films and is all the better for it. The cinematography is superb, and the film contains a number of scenes--the Valentino tango and the vision of horsemen riding through the sky, among others--of considerable power, and the overall film with its strong anti-war message is still very compelling and packs a wallop. Considerably superior to the later remake; recommended to silent film fans, war-genre fans, and Valentino fans alike.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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18 out of 28 people found the following review useful:
Magnificent epic film - one of the best of any year., 9 July 2001

Author: Arne Andersen (aandersen@landmarkcollege.org) from Putney, VT

It is extraordinary to think that a film this polished, this artistic and this serious was made as early as 1921. It was the first anti-war film to my knowledge and following only three years after the Armistice, it must have been deeply felt by all who viewed it. Ingram's direction and the screenplay are superb and the acting is uniformly excellent - very naturalistic and deeply felt. Striking supporting performances are garnered from Josef Swickard as the elder Desnoyers and Alice Terry as Marguerite Lurier. The real revelation is Valentino in an exceptional performance as the young Julio. This is the film that brought him stardom and rightly so. This is probably the third great American film (after Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION and INTOLERANCE). The Spanish version is 150 minutes while the USA version (beautifully restored with a tinted print) is 134. By all means put this on your must see list. If Oscars had been given out in those days, this would have been up for a slew of them - Film, Direction, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Art Direction and a trio of performances (Valentino, Terry and Swickard). A truly great film - a masterpiece.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Stereotyped portrayal of Germans blurs anti-war-message, 19 May 2009

Author: Einar The Lonely from Germany

This is surely a visually magnificent film to watch, especially if you get to see a copy of the tinted Photoplay restoration with a great score by Carl Davis.

It strikes me however that few commentators here seem to bother about the very nasty portrayal of German people in this film. Despite its claims for universality, condemning WWI in general and not just a single nation (or class for that matter) involved in it, the image of the Germans is no different from the wartime propaganda huns as portrayed by Erich von Stroheim and others. They appear as arrogant, cold, ugly, brutal, grotesque, greedy, militaristic idiots, who even in peacetime in a civilian/family setting march in line and click their heels all the time. Julio's three cousins are portrayed as bespectacled, mischievously grinning jerks who obey their father's commands as if he was an army officer, even as children. They are even shown reading Nietzsche's Zarathustra and it's appraisals of the warrior man as if it was some kind of a bible. A race of villainous, natural born warmongers, it seems. Now this can hardly be the basis for an honest anti-war-movie. Compare this portrayal to the very different, more human and sympathetic image of German people in John Ford's FOUR SONS and of course ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. Despite the now-campiness of these scenes in question I find them still quite offensive and hard to watch, even given that most silent movies made heavy use of strong contrasts and stereotyping. I guess in 1920 the anti-German resentments in the US were still very strong, which even caused D. W. Griffith to absurdly switch a German refugee family in post-war Berlin into a polish refugee family in ISN'T LIFE WONDERFUL - as late as 1924!

All this shift from anti-war-intentions to merely anti-German clichés somewhat betrays the "message" of the movie, which admittedly comes across quite rhetorical and pretentious in the first place, and is indeed one of the movie's weakest and most dated points. It just seems to be tagged onto the Valentino adultery romance story for mere dramatic effect (as in the vision of the Apocalyptic Horsemen and the final graveyard scene). But overall the war theme doesn't really stand in the center of the movie.

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12 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Astonishing imagery, 8 August 2002

Author: jojofla from Tampa, FL

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is an astonishing and spectacular film. I agree with most of the other comments, that this film is definitely a must-see, though I have reservations about some unevenness in the plotting. But the spectacle, the fire-and-brimstone imagery, and the excellent star-making performance by Valentino more than compensate. In many ways, it DOES tower above 99 percent of what Hollywood throws up today.

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10 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
A shame it's not better known, 1 June 2005

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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10 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Timeless!, 24 September 2005

Author: Rtslois from United States

Oh Jeez! I am never moved to tears by a film--but this one got to me! I think the stories within a story transcend time, and the appeal of Valentino does so too. You can't keep your eyes off him. Magnetic! Alice Terry seems a believable character in her role, and projects her personality very admirably--quite a likable one.

Speaking of Rudolph's tango It was not a tango as we know the form today, but so what--he is a smooth, strong dancer, evocative of torrid emotions--while the girl he danced with was nutty and ridiculous looking . Look at her movements, egad!--(maybe his steps were too long for her, she was short) I just had to laugh. She danced with her backside protruding and poised like a target! She is a "fight-mare" by today's standards. Her make up and hair are scary! And take those lips away!! But, observing this tango, remains one of the film's very enjoyable moments.

There isn't a person alive who could not find great interest in this superb, timeless classic of the silents. I liked the metaphysical innuendos of the fellow living above Valentino in France--Was he supposed to be an incarnation of "John of Revelation" in the Bible? I believe so.

I enjoyed the film so much, I had to give it a 10.

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