FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE {PHOTOPLAY RESTORATION} (TV)

Summary

One in a series of silent films restored and orchestrated by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill for British television. This 1921 anti-war film about an Argentine family that finds itself on both sides of World War I catapulted Rudolph Valentino to stardom. The film begins in the new world, where the colorful Madariaga, who has worked his way up from poverty to become a cattle baron, surveys his domain. Madariaga has two daughters -- Luisa, married to the French Marcelo Desnoyers, and Elena, married to the German Karl von Hartrott. Luisa and her husband are the old man's favorites, and he promises that their son Julio will be his heir, deaf to the claims of Elena and her three sons. Julio grows up the spoiled darling of his grandfather; as the boy matures, Madariaga takes him to bars where he performs the tango with dance-hall girls. When the old man finally dies, however, it is discovered that his legacy is evenly divided between his two daughters, or rather their husbands. Both von Hartrott and Desnoyers decide to cash in their fortunes and return to the old world, where Von Hartrott teaches his sons the joys of German culture and duty to the fatherland. The members of the Desnoyers family are less at ease in Europe than their relatives, however. Marcelo succumbs to the world of possessions, obsessively attending auctions where he purchases antiques with which to fill his castle in the town of Villefranche, on the Marne River. Julio continues life as a dilettante in Paris. He dabbles at art by painting studies of naked women and spends hours each day dancing the tango, which has taken Paris by storm. The young man has few scruples. On a trip home to cadge money from his mother to pay his many bills, he meets Marguerite Laurier, the young wife of a friend of his father, and decides to seduce her. Their affair is discovered, however, by Marguerite's husband Etienne, who agrees to divorce his wife. In the meantime, war is stirring in Europe. Julio's mysterious, Christ-like neighbor, Tchernoff, predicts that the war will bring about the coming of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse foretold by St. John. Tchernoff shares his terrifying, colorful vision of the Four Horsemen -- war, conquest, pestilence, and death -- who descend upon a wretched humanity.

Soldiers leave for the war, and Marguerite trains as a nurse. Julio sees no reason to become involved in the war effort, however, as he is an Argentine citizen. Marcelo, who feels guilty because he himself did not serve in the Franco-Prussian war, despairs of his son and leaves town to hole up in his castle on the Marne. He soon learns of the horrors of war firsthand as German soldiers take possession of the castle; his nephew, Otto von Hartrott, is among the brutal invaders. In Lourdes, Marguerite nurses her husband, who has been blinded in the war. Julio arrives to bring Marguerite back to Paris, but she renounces their love, choosing to stay with Etienne and try to atone for her adultery. Ennobled by her sacrifice, Julio decides to enlist in the French army. He returns home to Paris for a visit and finds his father, who has been saved from the Germans by the French army although his castle and possessions are in ruins. A sobered Desnoyers family enjoys a brief reunion before Julio heads off to war. Four years pass, and in the army Julio has finally become the man of whom his grandfather and father dreamed -- unselfish and brave. Soldiers from the new world have come to the aid of the allied war effort. Nevertheless, the Four Horsemen have not yet finished their work. As the war winds down, two of Madariaga's descendants, one French and one German, meet for the final time on the field of battle.

Details

• NETWORK: Channel 4 (United Kingdom)
• DATE: November 30, 1992
• RUNNING TIME: 2:14:23
• COLOR/B&W: B&W
• CATALOG ID: T:64915
• GENRE: Drama
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; International Collection - United Kingdom; World War I - Drama
• SERIES RUN: N/A
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• David Gill … Producer, Director
• David Brownlow … Producer, Director
• Patrick Stanbury … Associate Producer
• Rex Ingram … Director
• John F. Seitz … Cameraman
• June Mathis … Writer
• Vicente Blasco Ibanez … Based on the novel by
• Carl Davis … Music by, Conductor
• Philippe Koch … Music (Misc. Credits), Orchestra leader
• Franz Liszt … Music (Misc. Credits), Apocalypse Theme based on the Fantasia Sonata by
• Symphony Orchestra of Radio-Tele-Luxembourg, The … Symphony Orchestra
• Pomery Cannon … Cast, Madariaga
• Josef Swickard … Cast, Marcelo Desnoyers
• Bridgetta Clark … Cast, Dona Luisa
• Rudolph Valentino … Cast, Julio Desnoyers
• Virginia Warwick … Cast, Chichi
• Alan Hale … Cast, Karl von Hartrott
• Van Buren, Mabel … Cast, Elena
• Stuart Holmes … Cast, Otto von Hartrott
• John Sainpolis … Cast, Etienne Laurier
• Alice Terry … Cast, Marguerite Laurier
• Mark Fenton … Cast, Senator Lacour
• Derrick Ghent … Cast, Rene Lacour
• de Brulier, Nigel … Cast, Tcheroff
• Brodwitch Turner … Cast, Argensola
• Wallace Beery … Cast, Lieut. Col. von Richthosen
• Harry Northrup … Cast, the General
• Arthur Hoyt … Cast, Lieut. Schnitz
• Jean Hersholt … Cast, Prof. von Hartrott
• Henry Klaus … Cast, Heinrich von Hartrott
• Georgia Woodthorpe … Cast, Lodgekeeper's Wife
• Kathleen Key … Cast, Georgette
• Jacques D'Auray … Cast, Capt. d'Aubrey
• Curt Rehfeld … Cast, Maj. Blumhardt
• Claire de Lorez … Cast, Mademoiselle Lucette, a Model
• Bull Montana … Cast, The French Butler
• Isabelle Keith … Cast, German Woman
• Jacques Lanoe … Cast, German Woman's Husband
• Noble Johnson … Cast, Conquest
• Minnehaha … Cast, The Old Nurse
• Beatrice Dominguez … Cast, Dancer
• Rose Dione … Cast, Flag Bearer