The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
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The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Movie Review
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a 1921 silent epic war film directed by Rex Ingram and starring Rudolph Valentino. It’s an impressively epic, but narratively flawed picture.
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“Peace has come –
but the Four Horsemen
will still ravage humanity –
stirring unrest in the world –
until all hatred is dead and only love
reigns in the heart of mankind“
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An extended family split up in France and Germany find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I. This movie was based on an eponymous book that was already a huge success back in its day, so it was expected that the film adaptation would make people come see it in droves, and they surely did just that, making this movie one of the highest-grossing silent films of all time.
While its impact is somewhat blunted in recent memory as the story moves slower than expected, it is still a pretty admirable, epic achievement in period piece as well as war genre filmmaking that was very much ahead of its time in its clear anti-war sentiment. Most other war films from the period were either pro-war or at least were romanticizing the war effort, but here at least the message that all wars are terrible is sound and welcome.
I found the premise pretty solid and the main conflict was rather interesting and different in the context of war films. The inclusion of an Argentine family was also fascinating for this racist time period. Yes, they did portray them in an overly exotic manner that was pretty standard for the period, but at least they were in the film, which was still groundbreaking for the 20s.
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Speaking of Latinos, this is the movie that introduced to the world the iconic Rudolph Valentino. He was an actor of Italian descent, so he fitted this role like a glove. Instantly, he became a star and was known as the Latin Lover. Most of the popularity that he has gained so quickly stems from this movie in particular and it’s to see why as he is very memorable in the role with a star quality to his looks and demeanor.
Others are less memorable, though Bridgetta Clark and Pomeroy Cannon did make an impact. This is one of those movies that have an extensive cast and an overly large family, which I personally do not favor, and obviously this has led to some stunted development for a couple of people here. But the main characters worked and so did their conflict while the highlight of the picture is clearly the titular Christian metaphor and imagery, all culminating in that powerful, truly impressive and very moving ending.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was a truly epic movie for its time. It is very easy to see how it was so successful despite what the contemporary audiences alluding to the opposite. The movie was simply too long, but it was spectacular in scope, number of characters, storylines and the romantic elements, which were to me one of the best of the bunch while the period elements were inferior.
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The movie still looks splendid. From the costume department to the directing to the editing and in particular to that exquisite production design with many gorgeous sets on display, this is a film that is surely a feast for the eyes, but also the ears as that accompanying music was among the best and most effective that I’ve seen in a silent flick. I would have gone with less intertitles as they favored monologues and didacticism too much, but some of those lines were still impactful and emotional.
