The four horsemen of the apocalypse

This article covers the feature film. For biblical figures see Apocalyptic Horsemen .

Movie
German title	The four horsemen of the apocalypse
Original title	The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1921
length	133 minutes
Rod
Director	Rex Ingram
script	June Mathis
production	Metro Pictures
camera	John F. Seitz
cut	Grant Whytock
occupation
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 Sainpolis : Etienne Laurier Alice Terry : Marguerite Laurier Mark Fenton : Senator Lacour Derrick Ghent : René Lacour Nigel De Brulier : Tchernoff Brodwitch Turner : Argensola Edward Connelly : Lodgekeeper Wallace Beery : Lieutenant Colonel von Richthofen Harry Northrup : The General Arthur Hoyt : Lieutenant Schnitz Brinsley Shaw : Celendonio

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse (original title: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ) is an American film by Rex Ingram from the year 1921. The family epic is based on the novel The Apocalyptic Horsemen ( Los cuatro Jinetes de Apocalipsis ) by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and caused the breakthrough of the then 25-year-old actor Rudolph Valentino .

action

Madariaga (called Centaur ) is a wealthy Argentine landowner. He has two sons-in-law: a German and a French , to whom he is more fond. He spends a lot of time with his grandson Julio in particular. One evening they are in a bar in Buenos Aires , where Julio and a woman are passionately dancing the tango . Later, Madariaga goes down, obviously drunk. Julio escorts him home. Some time later the grandfather dies.

The family breaks up after death. Half of them go to Germany, the other half to France. There Julio falls in love with Marguerite Laurier, who is unhappily married to the much older Etienne Laurier. Etienne Laurier is a friend of Julio's father. He eventually releases his wife to his friend's son after the two's affair is revealed. Julio and Marguerite seem to be having a happy time when suddenly the First World War breaks out.

Marguerite becomes a nurse in Lourdes , where she nurses her former husband Etienne, who went blind during military service, to heal. Julio sees this when he tries to visit her there and, frustrated, enrolls in the French army . During the First Battle of the Marne , his father Marcelo is captured by the Germans and sentenced to death. The French manage to save him, however, and Julio is recognized for his bravery. In a battle in no man's land he meets his German cousin again. In the next instant, both are killed by a grenade impact.

Marguerite considers leaving the blind Etienne, but Julio's ghost convinces her to stay with him. In the end, both families mourn their sons who died on the battlefield.

background

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was produced by Metro Pictures Corporation and had its cinema premiere on March 6, 1921. It can be seen as an early anti-war film . Measured in terms of gross profit, it was one of the most successful silent films of all time.

The screenplay for the film, based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, came to a large extent from June Mathis , who Valentino had seen in the film The Eyes of Youth (1919) and who had been won over by his dancing skills. She was able to convince Rex Ingram , the director, despite his initial skepticism, to let Valentino play the male lead. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was the film that made Valentino a superstar overnight and established his fame as a film icon.

In 1995 the film was entered into the National Film Registry .

Vincente Minnelli filmed the novel again in 1961, see The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) .

The film, shot at the end of 1920, was not shown due to the massive distortion of Germans in the German Reich. In Austria, however, it ran in 1925 under the title Weltenwahn .

criticism

Reclam's film guide judged the film: “Ingram actually let the apocalyptic horsemen dash across the screen on wispy clouds and contrasted these visions with crude realism and caricature exaggerations - especially in the drawing by the Germans. Paul Rotha wrote ironically: " With this film Ingram established himself as a great director - in the eyes of the audience, in the eyes of Hollywood - and in his own ". Other critics saw the film more positively and praised how realistically Ingram, who had never been to France before, captured the milieu. "

literature

• Vicente Blasco Ibáñez : The Apocalyptic Horsemen. Novel (Original title: Los cuatro Jinetes de Apocalipsis ). New Spain (Volume 2). German by Enrique Koert , review of the text by Rudolf Leonhard . WJ Mörlins, Berlin 1922, 444 (VI) p.

Web links

• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The four horsemen of the apocalypse in the online film database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Kay Less : The large personal dictionary of the film , Volume 4, entry Rex Ingram and Volume 8, entry Rudolph Valentino; see. Paimann's film lists, born in 1925
2. ↑ Reclams Filmführer, by Dieter Krusche, collaboration: Jürgen Labenski. P. 58. Stuttgart 1973.