THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF APOCALYPSE (1921)

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a 1921 American silent epic war film produced by Metro Pictures Corporation and directed by Rex Ingram. Based on the 1916 Spanish novel The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, it was adapted for the screen by June Mathis. The film stars Pomeroy Cannon, Josef Swickard, Bridgetta Clark, Rudolph Valentino, Wallace Beery, and Alice Terry.

Often regarded as one of the first anti-war films, it had a huge cultural impact and became the top-grossing film of 1921 by beating out Charlie Chaplin's The Kid. The film turned the little-known actor Rudolph Valentino into a superstar and associated him with the image of the Latin lover. The film also inspired a tango craze and such fashion fads as gaucho pants.[4] The film was written by June Mathis, who, by its success, became one of the most powerful women in Hollywood of the time.[5][6]

In 1995, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film is now in the public domain. A DVD version was released in 2000. The film is now available for free download on the Internet Archive.

PLOT
Madariaga "The Centaur" (Pomeroy Cannon), a harsh but popular Argentine landowner, has a German son-in-law, Karl von Hartrott, whom he dislikes and a French one, Marcelo Desnoyers, whose family he openly favors. He is particularly fond of his grandson, Julio (Rudolph Valentino), with whom he often carouses at seedy dives in the Boca district of Buenos Aires. In one of those bars, a man and a woman (Beatrice Dominguez) are dancing the tango. Julio strides up and asks to cut in. The woman stares at Julio alluringly. The man brushes him off, and they resume dancing. Julio then challenges the man, strikes him, and knocks him into some tables and out of the scene. Julio and the woman then dance a dramatic version of the tango that brings cheers from the people in the establishment. After the dance, the woman sits on Julio's lap. Madariaga then drunkenly slides to the floor. The woman laughs at Madariaga. Julio casts her aside in scorn and helps his grandfather home.

Some time later, Madariaga dies. The extended family breaks up, one half returning to Germany and the other to France.

In Paris, Julio enjoys a somewhat shiftless life as a would-be artist and sensation at the local tea dances. He falls in love with Marguerite Laurier (Alice Terry), the unhappy and much younger wife by an arranged marriage of Etienne Laurier, a friend of Julio's father. The affair is discovered, and Marguerite's husband agrees to give her a divorce to avoid a scandal. It seems as if Julio and Marguerite will be able to marry, but both end up getting caught up in the start of the Great War.

Tchernoff (Nigel de Brulier) shows Julio (Valentino) and his manservant (Bowditch M. Turner) the Four Horsemen.
Marguerite becomes a nurse in Lourdes. The bravery of Etienne is reported, and he is blinded in battle. Etienne happens to end up at the hospital at which she works, and Marguerite attends to him there. Julio travels to Lourdes to see Marguerite but sees her taking care of Etienne. Julio, ashamed of his wastrel life, enlists in the French Army.

In the meantime, the German Army overruns Marcelo's Marne valley castle at the First Battle of the Marne. Marcelo is forced to host a German general and staff in the castle. One of Marcelo's three German nephews is among the staff and tries to protect him, but Marcelo is arrested after a mêlée involving an officer's assault of a woman. Marcelo is to be executed in the morning, but his life is spared when the French Army counterattacks during the "Miracle of the Marne". The castle is destroyed by the French counterattack.

Four years later, Julio has survived and become renowned for his bravery in the trenches at the front. During a mission in no man's land, he encounters his last surviving German cousin. Moments later, they are both killed by a shell. Back in Paris, Marguerite considers abandoning the blinded Etienne, but Julio's ghost guides her to continue her care for him.

The ending scene shows Marcelo Desnoyers mourning over his son's grave. The man who lived upstairs from Julio watches over him. Marcelo asks him, "Did you know my son?" The man, with a remorseful expression, lifts his arms, forming the shape of a cross with his body, and says, "I knew them all!" He then points to the sky and shows Marcelo the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding away into the clouds. Then, the man assures him that "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."

Cast

The tango sequence with Valentino dancing with Beatrice Dominguez
Pomeroy Cannon as Madariaga
Josef Swickard as Marcelo Desnoyers
Bridgetta Clark as Doña Luisa
Rudolph Valentino as Julio Desnoyers
Virginia Warwick as Chichí
Alan Hale as Karl von Hartrott
Mabel Van Buren as Elena
Stuart Holmes as Otto von Hartrott
John St. Polis as Etienne Laurier
Alice Terry as Marguerite Laurier
Mark Fenton as Senator Lacour
Derek Ghent as René Lacour
Nigel De Brulier as Tchernoff
Bowditch M. Turner as Argensola
Edward Connelly as Lodgekeeper
Wallace Beery as Lieut. Col. von Richthosen
Harry Northrup as The General
Arthur Hoyt as Lieut. Schnitz
Beatrice Dominguez as the dancer