The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
An Argentine family's fortunes split across the Atlantic when the outbreak of World War I turns cousins into enemies on opposite sides of the trenches, and one carefree grandson's life gives way to sacrifice on the battlefield.
Released months before The Sheik made him a household name, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is the film that actually launched Rudolph Valentino to stardom — his smoldering tango sequence became the most talked-about scene of 1921 — inside an anti-war epic that was, for a time, the highest-grossing picture Hollywood had yet produced.
Background
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse adapts a Spanish novel about a family divided by the outbreak of the First World War, with cousins on opposite sides of the conflict. It was the film that made Rudolph Valentino a star, ahead of his more famous role later that same year in The Sheik. Director Rex Ingram gave Valentino a showcase dance sequence that became one of the most talked-about scenes of 1921 and helped define the smoldering screen persona audiences would associate with him.
What to watch for
For a time, the film was among the highest-grossing pictures Hollywood had produced, remarkable for an anti-war epic released only a few years after the war itself had ended. Watch for the way it balances large-scale wartime spectacle with the more intimate story of Valentino’s carefree grandson being drawn, reluctantly, into sacrifice, and consider watching it alongside The Sheik to see the range Valentino displayed within a single year of stardom.
