Based on the 1916 Spanish novel The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, the 1921 silent film is one of the very first anti-war movies made. It wound up becoming the top-grossing film of 1921!
The story’s main crux is about an extended family who are separated and wind up in both France and Germany. They find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I. Pomeroy Cannon (The Thunderbolt) is Julio Madariaga, the patriarch of a wealthy family who has two daughters and three sons, one of which is Julio Desnoyers (silent screen legend Rudolph Valentino, The Sheik, Blood and Sand) which the plot mainly focuses on. When Madariaga dies, the family the winds up going their separate ways to France and Germany. Julio Desnoyers falls in love with Marguerite Laurier (Alice Terry, Scarmouche) a married woman. The affair is discovered, and Marguerite’s husband agrees to divorce her. Julio and Marguerite plan to marry and start a family, but the war brings a halt to their plans. She becomes a nurse, and he joins the French Army!
The story is nothing short of epic with a lot of subplots including some great shots of the four horsemen in different color tones. Anything I could write about the film simply could not do it justice. The two-hour film has great production values, excellent cinematography, an appropriate soundtrack and a wonderful cast which includes:
Josef Swickard (Dick Tracy’s G-Men) as Marcelo Desnoyers, Julio’s father, whose Marne Army is overrun by the Germany army, is arrested during the war. His three German nephews try to protect him but to no avail.
Alan Hale (Pursued, Captains of the Clouds, Of Human Bondage) as Karl von Hartrott, a German who Julio Madariaga loathes!
John St. Polis (The Lady in Scarlet, Mr. Wong, Detective) as Etienne Laurier who was married to Marguerite until Julio steps in and is later blinded.
The legendary Wallace Beery (The Lost World, The Big House, Dinner at Eight, Drifting) who was in a supporting role as Lieut. Col. von Richthosen. His star would shine greater in a few more years.
Warner Archive has released The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on Blu-ray. This offering boasts a new 2025 1080p HD Master from 4K scans of the best preservation elements. Also part of the restoration process is the1993 photoplay restoration courtesy of Photoplay Productions, led by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill as mentioned in the press release.
The picture quality for this release is simply magnificent with beautiful color tones, that include red, yellow and purple. The details and textures for this feature are incredibly beautiful. You can tell a lot of time and effort went into this restoration as there were little to no vertical lines or any kind of speckles or print damages that I noticed. The image for this feature looks smooth, clean and what I like to call a polished-up look. Film grain is present throughout. What really stands out to me on this release are the attractive visuals. The lush cinematography is courtesy of John F. Seitz who did a stupendous job here.
The DTS HD-MA 2.0 stereo is equally as impressive. The stereophonic music score composed and conducted by Carl Davis is loud and clear without as much as hiccup. Just perfect all the way through.
There are no supplemental materials for this release. Even though there aren’t any supplements, the film itself, which looks and sounds as good as it might ever get make this any easy pickup for fans of silent films. Movie enjoyment is based on one’s own taste and I feel this movie should be seen at least once, if not more by cinephiles!
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Director – Rex Ingram
Cast- Rudolph Valentino, Pomeroy Cannon, Josef Swickard, Virginia Warwick, Alan Hale
Country of Origin-USA
Distributor – Warner Archive/ Warner Home Video
Number of Discs –1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date- 4/1/2025