The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)

Director:

Rex Ingram

Writers:

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (novel)
June Mathis (written for the screen by)

Release Date:

31 March 1923 (Portugal)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Plot Keywords:

Death | Eiffel Tower Paris | Land Owner | Family Relationships | Buenos Aires Argentina

Awards:

1 win

Cast

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 St. Polis	...	Etienne Laurier (as John Sainpolis)
Alice Terry	...	Marguerite Laurier
Mark Fenton	...	Senator Lacour
Derek Ghent	...	René Lacour
Nigel De Brulier	...	Tchernoff (as Nigel de Brulier)
Bowditch M. Turner	...	Argensola (as Brodwitch Turner)
Edward Connelly	...	Lodgekeeper
Wallace Beery	...	Lieut. Col. von Richthosen
Harry Northrup	...	The General
Arthur Hoyt	...	Lieut. Schnitz
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jacques D'Auray	...	Captain d'Aubrey (uncredited)
Claire de Lorez	...	Mademoiselle Lucette - a Model (uncredited)
Rose Dione	...	Flag Bearer (uncredited)
Beatrice Dominguez	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Louise Emmons	...	French Mother Bidding Farewell (uncredited)
John George	...	Ranchhand in Argentina (uncredited)
Jean Hersholt	...	Professor von Hartrott (uncredited)
Noble Johnson	...	Conquest (uncredited)
Isabelle Keith	...	German Woman (uncredited)
Fred Kelsey	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Kathleen Key	...	Georgette (uncredited)
Henry Klaus	...	Heinrich von Hartrott (uncredited)
J. Jiquel Lanoe	...	German Woman's Husband (uncredited)
Andy MacLennan	...	Drunkard Hallucinating in Saloon (uncredited)
Minnehaha	...	The Old Nurse (uncredited)
Bull Montana	...	The French Butler (uncredited)
Ramon Novarro	...	Guest at Ball (uncredited)
Curt Rehfeld	...	Major Blumhardt (uncredited)
Brinsley Shaw	...	Celendonio (uncredited)
Georgia Woodthorpe	...	Lodgekeeper's Wife (uncredited)
Patrick Youch	...	French Soldier in Trenches (uncredited)

Directed by
Rex Ingram

Writing credits
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez		(novel "Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis") (as Vicente Blasco Ibañez)
June Mathis		(written for the screen by)

Produced by
Kevin Brownlow	....	producer (1993 alternate version)
David Gill	....	producer (1993 alternate version)
Patrick Stanbury	....	associate producer (1993 alternate version)

Original Music by
Carl Davis		(music by) (1993 alternate version)
Louis F. Gottschalk		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
John F. Seitz		(photography by)

Film Editing by
Grant Whytock		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Joseph Calder		(uncredited)
Amos Myers		(uncredited)

Production Management
Sterrett Ford	....	production manager (as Colonel Starrett Ford)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Walter Mayo	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jack W. Robson	....	art titles

Sound Department
Mike Fairbairn	....	dubbing assistant (1993 alternate version)

Camera and Electrical Department
Hal Mohr	....	assistant camera
Arthur Rice	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Nick Adams	....	telecine engineer (1993 alternate version)
Stan Lane	....	color consultant (1993 alternate version)
Michael Peatfield	....	on-line editor (1993 alternate version) (as Mike Peatfield)

Music Department
Richard Bradford	....	music recordist (1993 alternate version)
Carl Davis	....	music conductor: Radio-Télé-Luxembourg Symphony Orchestra (1993 alternate version)
Philippe Koch	....	leader: Radio-Télé-Luxembourg Symphony Orchestra (1993 alternate version)

Other crew
Joseph Calder	....	technical staff
Rex Ingram	....	supervisor
Amos Myers	....	technical staff
Penelope Read	....	production assistant (1993 alternate version)
Lynne Wake	....	production secretary (1993 alternate version)
Roger Heman Sr.	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro Pictures Corporation (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro Pictures Corporation (1921) (USA) (theatrical)
• Channel Four (1993) (UK) (all media) (alternate version) (in association with)
• Delta Entertainment Corporation (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Punto Zero (2007) (Italy) (DVD)
• Stokey Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Entertainment (1993) (USA) (all media) (alternate version)

Other Companies

• Champagne Piper-Heidsieck Classic Film Collection  our grateful thanks to (1993 alternate version)
• Cinémathèque Française  our grateful thanks to (1993 alternate version) (as La Cinémathèque Française)
• Evans Studio  portrait photography (uncredited)
• Metrocolor Laboratories  our grateful thanks to (1993 alternate version)
• National Film and Television Archive  our grateful thanks to (1993 alternate version)
• Photoplay Productions  restored by (1993 alternate version)
• RTL Studios  recorded at (1993 alternate version)
• Service des Archives du Film  our grateful thanks to (1993 alternate version) (as Service des Archives du Film/CNC)
• Symphony Orchestra of Radio-Télé-Luxembourg  music performers (1993 alternate version)

Also Known As:

"Die vier Reiter der Apokalypse" - Austria, Germany (imdb display title)
"Az apokalipszis négy lovasa" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Czterech jezdzców Apokalipsy" - Poland
"I quattro cavalieri dell'apocalisse" - Italy
"Les quatre cavaliers de l'apocalypse" - France (imdb display title)
"Los cuatro jinetes del apocalipsis" - Spain
"Os Quatro Ginetes do Apocalipse" - Portugal (imdb display title)

Runtime:

132 min (Turner library print) (1993 alternate version) | Spain:150 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Gilmore Ranch, Fairfax, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Metro Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Prior to editing, the kiss at the end of the tango scene between Rudolph Valentino and Beatrice Dominguez took up 75 feet of film. The scene wasn't in the Vicente Blasco Ibáñez novel, but was added by Rex Ingram to show off Valentino's dancing skills.

Quotes:

Dona Luisa:Is it not enough to lead my son into wild ways without teaching my daughter the tango?
Madriaga:Will you have the boy grow up like those glass-eyed, carrot-topped sharks of your sister's?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood: Peepshow Pioneers (#1.1)" (2010)

Soundtrack:

Apocalypse Theme

More Than A Tango

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.