Customer Reviews

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The horror of WWII seen through the eyes of the upper, upper class. The horror of WWII seen through the eyes of a romantic Argentinean caught up in Paris, wishing to look the other way but, through the love of a beautiful woman and the loss of his innocent sister to the Gestapo, must be forced to make a choice between ambivalence and his heart. His grandfather wanted to create a perfect world of love and peace on the pampas, but his heirs got sucked into Hitler's other dream of a perfect world, except for those who knew otherwise.

Damned by film critics when the film was released in the early 60's--Leonard Maltin refers to it as "glossy trash"--director Vincente Minelli goes over the top, maybe too much so, in making the film absolutely beautiful to watch. Antique dealers will salivate at the sets. Haute couture costumes by Orry-Kelly make you scream. And never has the old adage "clothes make the man" been more evident. Top all this off with excellent acting, a succinct script, and the most beautiful and effective musical score Andre Previn ever wrote, and you have a classic.

Forget all the criticism about the film's miscasting. Glenn Ford is perfect, as he usually is, understated and subtle. Ingrid Thulin, despite rumors that she was dubbed by Angela Lansbury, is very much the beautiful lady. Lee J. Cobb, in an extremely pivotal role, sets the mark for Charles Boyer and Paul Henreid. They are all very fine.

I have noticed that someone keeps bashing these WB offerings as being piratical or some other BS. Actually, the truth of the matter is, if you have Amazon Prime, the $26.00 total price is almost exactly the amount you would pay from the WB site, after they add their own shipping cost per individual item. Now, if you do not have Amazon Prime, you would be better off buying from the WB site, as the Amazon price you see listed is BEFORE they add shipping and handling. I know this because I have purchased DVDs from the WB site. This product offering isn't piracy - Amazon just bought the WB product and is offering it at a higher price, which is absolutely unethical, but it is their site, they can do what they want. They just hope noone notices.

I never felt this film received the acclaim it should have. Glenn Ford and Charles Boyer gave good performances in this film. This is not a movie with a lot of war scenes, it has to do with the lives of those families involved in the French resistance and the dangers they faced.

Bashing the rating of this film because of WB providing this film cheaper, has nothing to do with the movie itself. I checked out the price, if I had bought it through them, I would have paid almost the same after paying for shipping.

I am a Glen Ford admirer. I thought he did an outstanding job in his role.
I can't think of any movie he has made that he has bombed out. I equate this movie parallel with "The Green Glove", which was another suspenseful movie.

Lloyd

Wi
thout any doubt a true masterpiece,highly recommended.


Mahmoud Saati

This edition of MGM's THE 4 HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE was one of their "Great Books on Video" series. Stored in an oversized clamshell case, the gold-labeled tape is recorded in HiFi stereo from a clean source print. In its reduced from widescreen form, this pan and scan version often has two people conversing but we only see one of them.


Despite an enormous moment in history as backdrop, director Vincente Minnelli limits the scope to a handful of rooms. A few outdoor scenes of the City of Light that include actors may be them in front of hazy projections. An overloud, cloying music track meant to tug at one's heart has an opposite effect, it distracts the viewer.

We begin with an Argentine street festival that is backlot all the way. Cut to a family celebration which quickly turns tragic, then zip, boom! we and most of the family are in Paris (or a ROOM in Paree) shortly before it's invaded. Perhaps the original novel's size necessitated such episodic jumps.

Lee J. Cobb has too-little time as a cantankerous Argentine grandpa who drops dead after learning at the aforementioned party that one grandson is a Názi. Glenn Ford can't muster enough charisma for the romantic lead. His love interest, Ingrid Thulin has flown-in dialogue voiced by Angela Lansbury. Yvette Mimieux's lines are re-recorded and sometimes out-of-synch.

Paul Henreid's role is difficult: a French Resistance leader arrested more than once who's eventually battered into the grave. Makeup and Henreid's performance are most convincing. Use of voiceover specialist Paul Frees would've been more effective if two of his familiar accents didn't overlap. First he's a Frenchman driving Ford to Normandy, then immediately after and in-between, Frees supplies the voice of a British officer.

No sympathy here for the adulterous lead characters, so their love story and 2.5 hours of footage are wasted on me. As a fan of so many of Minnelli's movies, my reasonable expectations for this epic were surprisngly and decidedly dashed. "Horsemen" is a misfire, the sort that gives classic movies a black eye. Thumbs down!


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(6.5) The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) - Glenn Ford/Ingrid Thulin/Charles Boyer/Lee J. Cobb/Paul Lukas/Yvette Mimieux/Paul Henreid/George Dolenz/Nestor Paiva (uncredited: Fifi D'Orsay/Bobby Watson)

Not the movie itself, mind you, which I've enjoyed ever I first saw it on TV in the early 80's. While not on the same level as the Valentino classic of 40 years earlier, there is a lot to enjoy here, with a somewhat miscast Glenn Ford (original choice Alain Delon might have been better) the only weak link in an otherwise solid, stellar cast. Likewise, Andre Previn's score is one of his best, with a beautiful love theme that I've never gotten out of my head despite the passage of almost 30 years.

No, the flaws lie in the fact that there are no captions nor any real chapter index to this DVD. Warners is usually so scrupulous about this, so I wonder what happened here.

Other than that, no complaints, though. Try it, you'll like it.

In 1938 Argentina as WWII looms on the horizon, a family is torn apart by divided loyalties. A patriarch's (Lee J. Cobb) two daughters (Harriet MacGibbon, Kathryn Givney) have married a Frenchman (Charles Boyer) and a German (Paul Lukas) respectively. After the patriarch's death, the divided families move to Europe where they find themselves on opposite sides as Hitler marches through Europe. Dismissed when first released, the film's reputation is slowly turning around and getting recognized (especially in Europe) as a major work in the Vincente Minnelli canon. And some egregious casting decisions aside, it deserves the re-evaluation. It's really quite a good film, a sprawling epic examining how one family is destroyed by circumstances bigger than themselves. A 45 year old Glenn Ford is way too old to play the young playboy (the 51 year old Cobb plays Ford's grandfather!) in the role that made the young Rudolph Valentino a Star in 1921. But Minnelli's stylish direction, the compelling storyline more than compensate for the miscasting. There's a great score by Andre Previn, probably his best. With the Swedish actress Ingrid Thulin (her voice is dubbed by Angela Lansbury) looking every inch a Movie Star, Paul Henreid, Yvette Mimieux, Karl Boehm and George Dolenz.

The Warners DVD via Spain is a handsome anamorphic wide screen (2.35) transfer in both English and Spanish.

It is always thrilling to see the classic actors at work and this film brought some of the very best together.

This is one of the greatest movies of all time. While some complain about the acting the lessons delivered by this movie are timeless. It should be on everyones required list.