IMDb RATING
7.1/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
An extended family split up in France and Germany find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I.An extended family split up in France and Germany find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I.An extended family split up in France and Germany find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I.
- Awards
- 1 win
John St. Polis
- Etienne Laurier
- (as John Sainpolis)
Derek Ghent
- René Lacour
- (as Derrick Ghent)
Nigel De Brulier
- Tchernoff
- (as Nigel de Brulier)
Bowditch M. Turner
- Argensola
- (as Brodwitch Turner)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRudolph Valentino signed onto the film for $350 a week, less than Wallace Beery earned for his small role as a German officer. Metro provided Valentino only with his Argentine gaucho costume and his French soldier's uniform. For the Parisian sequence Valentino purchased more than 25 custom-fitted suits from a New York tailor, which he spent the next year paying for.
- GoofsThe same shot of a cat clawing at a small poodle while sitting on top of a piano is used two different times.
- Alternate versionsIn 1993 Turner Entertainment in association with Britain's Channel Four distributed a full restoration by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's Photoplay Productions. The restoration includes many scenes that had been deleted or thought missing since the film's premiere, including original tinting and a single shot of a brief Prizma Color sequence that had been in the original release. The restored film is accompanied by a new original score composed and conducted by Carl Davis.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Movies March On (1939)
- SoundtracksApocalypse Theme
(1993)
Music by Carl Davis
Based on the Fantasia Sonata "Après une lecture du Dante" by Franz Liszt (1849)
Performed by Orchestre Symphonique de Radio-Télé Luxembourg (as Symphony Orchestra of Radio-Télé Luxembourg) lead by Philippe Koch
In the score of the 1993 restored version
Featured review
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.
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.
- Lichtmesz23
- May 18, 2009
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Četiri konjanika Apokalipse
- Filming locations
- Gilmore Ranch, Fairfax, Los Angeles, California, USA(South American scenes)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $800,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $9,183,673
- Gross worldwide
- $9,183,673
- Runtime2 hours 30 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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By what name was The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) officially released in India in English?
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