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quiet_curiosity) wrote2011-02-20 11:44 am
quiet_curiosity) wrote2011-02-20 11:44 am
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Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Summary: Two families in Argentina - one with a German parent and the other with a French parent - return to the fathers' homelands after the death of the patriarch. One succeeds in the interim and one bumbles along on caprice. But World War I forces the families to take sides.
Starring: Pomeroy Cannon, Josef Swickard, Bridgetta Clark, Rudolph Valentino, Virginia Warwick, Alice Terry, Alan Hale, Mabel Van Buren, Stuart Holmes, John St. Polis, Derek Ghent, Nigel de Brulier, Wallace Beery
Directed by: Rex Ingram
Viewed Via: TCM/DVR
Current Commercial Availability: Unavailable
1) This is the film that made Valentino. It's also important because it's the film that hooked him up with screenwriter June Mathis, one of his closest friends and biggest supporters. So how does the performance hold up? Pretty well. He smolders without all the wild-eyed theatrics that some feel dominate later roles. The tango scene is justifiably famous. This is as much to Ingram's credit as it is to Rudy. At the same time, I think he had the tendency to look "pouty" when the character wasn't getting his way/was troubled in nearly any way. But his character is also a spoiled playboy so this was perhaps deliberate. He and the always wonderful Alice Terry have very good chemistry.
I'm not completely sold on the Valentino mystique, but you can tell that something interesting was going on here.
2) Ingram certainly bought his A-game. The lush sets are shot to show off their full potential. The battle scenes, while not as grand as others that would be shot later, are still pretty tense.
3) While the modern focus is always on Valentino, the film is necessarily about him. We have long detours where his character just doesn't show up for a while. Josef Swickard, who plays the character's father, has a particularly harrowing experience where the city he is staying in is taken over by German soldiers and he must deal with the horrors of war first hand. Terry's character, while intimately tied to Valentino's, has a nice turn as the guilt stricken former wife taking care of her injured husband.
4) The Anti-War Theme. It's there but it is so often undercut. Swickard's character is often guilt stricken by his decision to dodge military service as a young man and it seems to tie in with his behavior once he returns to France. The nobility of joining the war effort isn't tinged with the "you're caught up in the patriotic fervor and aren't thinking clearly" notion that is emphasized in The Big Parade. Characters are certainly caught in the fervor yet the film portrays this as fine and it feels as if we're supposed to find it wrong that Valentino's character won't initially give in. And the treatment of German characters is really bad. It's not that war does terrible things to people...no. For the movie, Germans are naturally pillagers and rapists and if you meet your cousin on the battlefield YOU SHOULD KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH! Most of these characters, while not outlandish looking, are made up in such a way that they are quite physically repulsive. It was disconcerting.
But war is shown as hell. Bombs land and terrain is forever altered. Soldiers lose limbs and walk around in a daze. The bombed out remains of the town have a ghostly, barren feel that may shake you. The rows and rows of crosses at the end are well shot and heartbreaking.
5) And the actual Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Bad-ass. The sequence where each horseman comes out and we get to see them in all their horrific glory is great. Each one had their own distinct personalities and attire. Death, as it should be, was particularly fascinating and ghastly. They aren't overused and nearly each use of them is done to great effect. It was something that could have looked really cheesy but came out great.
It's a good looking film with fine performances. But don't be surprised when you can't buy into the much praised anti-war themes.
Master List of Posts on Silent Films
Starring: Pomeroy Cannon, Josef Swickard, Bridgetta Clark, Rudolph Valentino, Virginia Warwick, Alice Terry, Alan Hale, Mabel Van Buren, Stuart Holmes, John St. Polis, Derek Ghent, Nigel de Brulier, Wallace Beery
Directed by: Rex Ingram
Viewed Via: TCM/DVR
Current Commercial Availability: Unavailable
1) This is the film that made Valentino. It's also important because it's the film that hooked him up with screenwriter June Mathis, one of his closest friends and biggest supporters. So how does the performance hold up? Pretty well. He smolders without all the wild-eyed theatrics that some feel dominate later roles. The tango scene is justifiably famous. This is as much to Ingram's credit as it is to Rudy. At the same time, I think he had the tendency to look "pouty" when the character wasn't getting his way/was troubled in nearly any way. But his character is also a spoiled playboy so this was perhaps deliberate. He and the always wonderful Alice Terry have very good chemistry.
I'm not completely sold on the Valentino mystique, but you can tell that something interesting was going on here.
2) Ingram certainly bought his A-game. The lush sets are shot to show off their full potential. The battle scenes, while not as grand as others that would be shot later, are still pretty tense.
3) While the modern focus is always on Valentino, the film is necessarily about him. We have long detours where his character just doesn't show up for a while. Josef Swickard, who plays the character's father, has a particularly harrowing experience where the city he is staying in is taken over by German soldiers and he must deal with the horrors of war first hand. Terry's character, while intimately tied to Valentino's, has a nice turn as the guilt stricken former wife taking care of her injured husband.
4) The Anti-War Theme. It's there but it is so often undercut. Swickard's character is often guilt stricken by his decision to dodge military service as a young man and it seems to tie in with his behavior once he returns to France. The nobility of joining the war effort isn't tinged with the "you're caught up in the patriotic fervor and aren't thinking clearly" notion that is emphasized in The Big Parade. Characters are certainly caught in the fervor yet the film portrays this as fine and it feels as if we're supposed to find it wrong that Valentino's character won't initially give in. And the treatment of German characters is really bad. It's not that war does terrible things to people...no. For the movie, Germans are naturally pillagers and rapists and if you meet your cousin on the battlefield YOU SHOULD KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH! Most of these characters, while not outlandish looking, are made up in such a way that they are quite physically repulsive. It was disconcerting.
But war is shown as hell. Bombs land and terrain is forever altered. Soldiers lose limbs and walk around in a daze. The bombed out remains of the town have a ghostly, barren feel that may shake you. The rows and rows of crosses at the end are well shot and heartbreaking.
5) And the actual Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Bad-ass. The sequence where each horseman comes out and we get to see them in all their horrific glory is great. Each one had their own distinct personalities and attire. Death, as it should be, was particularly fascinating and ghastly. They aren't overused and nearly each use of them is done to great effect. It was something that could have looked really cheesy but came out great.
It's a good looking film with fine performances. But don't be surprised when you can't buy into the much praised anti-war themes.
Master List of Posts on Silent Films