The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
About The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Argentine patriarch Madariaga favors his French son-in-law Marcelo Desnoyers and his grandson Julio, who dances a tango in a Buenos Aires bar and then hauls the old man home. After Madariaga dies, one branch of the family settles in France and the other in Germany. In Paris, Julio, an idle artist, begins an affair with married Marguerite Laurier. The war stops their divorce. Marguerite nurses her blinded husband, Etienne. Julio enlists. German officers occupy Marcelo's castle on the Marne, including a von Hartrott cousin, until the French counterattack. Julio is killed in a trench by the same shell that kills that cousin. At the grave, a stranger points to four horsemen in the clouds.
Cast & crew
More about The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
June Mathis adapted Vicente Blasco Ibáñez's 1916 novel. Metro paid the author $20,000 plus 10 percent of the gross for the rights. The shoot ran about six months, used 72 principal players, and cost $800,000. A French village for the Marne sequences was built at Griffith Park. Grant Whytock edited.
Themes
Background
Ibáñez published the novel in 1916, while the war was still going. Metro released the film on March 6, 1921, less than three years after the armistice.
In film history
The picture made Valentino a star and fixed the tango to his screen image. The Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry in 1995. It is in the public domain in the United States.
Making
Ingram and Mathis clashed during production, and Ingram also clashed with Valentino. In scenes meant to impress lip-readers, Valentino and Terry spoke French. Valentino's mother was French, and he was fluent.
Reviews
Picture-Play Magazine (April 1921) called the film an artistic triumph rather than a million-dollar failure, and wrote that Valentino was a fine enough actor that a viewer forgot how handsome he was and how well he danced.
Audiences
During its initial run it took in $4,500,000 domestically, and it is often ranked among the highest-earning silent films.
Look
John F. Seitz photographed it, including the tango in the Buenos Aires bar and the battle scenes staged on the Griffith Park village set.
Music
Louis F. Gottschalk wrote the music prepared for the film.
Preservation
The film is in the public domain. The Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry in 1995. Warner Archive issued a Blu-ray in March 2025. A DVD had appeared in 2000.
Notes
- The tango is not in the novel. It was added for Rudolph Valentino, who had worked as a taxi dancer in New York.
- Valentino was paid $350 a week, less than other leads, and supplied his own costumes.
- An edited release runs 134 minutes, against 156 for the complete version.
- Alice Terry, who plays Marguerite, married director Rex Ingram in 1921.
- Wallace Beery plays a German officer, Lieutenant Colonel von Richthosen.
- It was the top-grossing film of 1921, ahead of Charlie Chaplin's The Kid. The domestic figure of $4,500,000 is for the initial run.
- Metro copyrighted it on March 24, 1921, as LP16306.
Scenes
- Julio cuts in on a tango in a Buenos Aires bar, strikes the other dancer, and finishes the dance with the woman on his lap.
- German officers take over Marcelo's castle on the Marne.
- A single shell kills Julio and his German cousin in the trench.
- At the grave, a man shapes a cross and points up at the four horsemen in the clouds.
Influenced by
- Vicente Blasco Ibáñez's 1916 novel The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Also available
- Internet Archive (FourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse)
- Warner Archive Blu-ray (March 2025)
