The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

1962

Drama / War

7
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 44% · 2 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 44% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.6/10 10 2606 2.6K

resistance ss (nazi schutzstaffel) argentina death

Plot summary

In Argentina, one daughter of patriarch Madariaga is married to a Frenchman while the other is married to a German thus leading to a crisis when Nazi Germany occupies France and some Madariaga family members fight on opposite sides.

Director

Vincente Minnelli Photo
Vincente Minnelli

Top cast

Kathryn Givney Photo
Kathryn Givney as Elena von Hartrott
Angela Lansbury Photo
Angela Lansbury as Marguerite Laurier
Nestor Paiva Photo
Nestor Paiva as Miguel
Gregory Gaye Photo
Gregory Gaye as Salesman
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1.32 GB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
25 fps
2 hr 26 min
Seeds 1
2.45 GB
1916*798
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
25 fps
2 hr 26 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Nazi_Fighter_David 7 / 10

Minnelli's version tries to be 'more' than a war or anti-war film...

Vincente Minnelli brought his aspiring "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" to the events of World War II... The new version tries to be 'more' than a war or anti-war film...The quality of the Argentinean family with its members fighting on both sides (French and German), revealed great nationalism in their habits of thought and expression... They arouse love and ideal even in their attitudes, interests and actions to each others... They put everything at the stake, specifically two important talents, Julio (Glenn Ford) and Heinrich (Karl Boehm), trapped in this entertaining remake of "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."Karl Boehm, the ambitious Colonel Heinrich, member of the S.S. envies his cousin's independence... The dinner sequence makes it evident: When Heinrich sees his charming cousin, spending pleasant time with a beautiful woman, he warns General Von Kleig (George Dolenz), not to abuse excessively his rank as Commander of Paris in his own private interest... The film describes the awakening of a wealthy high-living Franco-Argentinean to his duty to France after his sister is killed by the Gestapo and his father implored him to act and do what he never did... Julio finds his manhood as a member of the French resistance during War World II.
Reviewed by JoeytheBrit 6 / 10

A performance from the Ford production line...

Vincente Minnelli's updating of Vicente Blasco Ibanez's novel is an absorbing melodrama which, as another viewer has noted, must have been watched by Visconti before he made his film The Damned a few years later.The film begins with the Desnoyers family gathering for dinner following the return of Heinrich (Karl Boehm) from a spell in Germany where, to the disgust of grandfather Julio, he has been indoctrinated into the ideology of the Nazi party. The grandfather is played by Lee J. Cobb and it's a blessing that the old boy pegs it during dinner because Cobb not only chews the scenery but the sets and props as well. Despite this, the lines are clearly drawn between the two sides of the family: Heinrich and his father Karl (Paul Lukas) on one side, Julio No' 2 (Glenn Ford) and little sister Chi Chi (Yvette Mimieux) on the other.Julio is a playboy with no interest in the war; he prowls swish parties for available women, sidling between arguments of the impending war as he closes in on his prey. Sadly, Ford, usually a likable enough leading man, doesn't possess the necessary predatory swagger to pull of the role. In fact, he is so badly miscast that he seems to be adrift throughout the film, as if trying to figure out how he was ever chosen for the role (Minnelli wanted Alain Delon, apparently, and we can only imagine what an altogether different interpretation he would have given to the part).The predicament in which the Desnoyer family find themselves is wholly absorbing as the war slowly tears its members apart. Most imaginable sea-changes in personal opinions are explored during the course of the story, from the discovery of a hidden integrity on Julio's part, to disillusion on the part of Karl, the WW1 veteran who allows himself to be swept up in the triumphalism of the Nazi's rise only to find his son becoming irrevocably morally corrupted by the same experiences.The movie never won any awards, which is probably how it should be, but it provides an intelligent and literary exploration of a fascinating subject that makes it easy to watch despite its bloated running time.
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