It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The acting in this movie is really good.

To begin with, for those who say they can't see Glenn Ford as an Argentinian, I suggest they read up on the ethnography of Argentina. Second, although it's natural to make comparisons, I am looking at this film as a solitary work of art...not as something to compare to a silent film or to a book. I let this film stand on its own.A major criticism of this film is Glenn Ford's age (46) at the time of filming. First, stars then and now often don't play characters of their real age. But beyond that, were there no rich Argentinian men who were 46 at the time of World War II? Is it impossible to show the horror of the Four Horsemen if Glenn Ford is 46 (Conquest, War, Famine, and Death)? It depended on the country and particular time period, but soldiers in their 40s were not uncommon in World War II. You are free to like or dislike this film, but this criticism in the world of cinema is not entirely valid.I was pleased that when I read the entry in Wikipedia about this film that it noted that the film has "gained some positive critical reappraisal in recent years". And well it should. This was a fairly big budget film with excellent production values. It delineates the destruction of an entire family as a result of war. Frankly, there are few war films that have accomplished that with such class.The cast is excellent. I usually find Glenn Ford an asset to almost any film, and this is one of his better performances as one of the sons of Argentina who gets caught up in a world at war. Ingrid Thulin's performance as the wife of a member of the French resistance...and lover to Glenn Ford's character...was superb; wish she had done more American films in her career. Charles Boyer was excellent as one of the old fathers; to be honest, I had forgotten that he was still appearing in films well into the 1970s...he aged well as an actor. Lee J. Cobb...well, perhaps an exaggerated performance that, although key to the story line, only extended into the first few minutes of the film. Paul Lukas was, as usual, excellent as the other old father who loses all his children to the war...he paid the price of being a Nazi officer. Yvette Mimieux had little screen time, but it was nice seeing her in a film where she wasn't playing a mentally defective person. Paul Henreid played a member of the Resistance here, and I can't honestly say he played it well. His best days as an actor were behind him.I highly recommend this film to the serious film-watcher.

I have to stress that I watched this on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). the second time in several years. Not having seen the infamous Valentino starring silent movie, nor read the novel, my hope for a dark brooding epic remains somewhat dashed.The quality on TV was fairly soft, maybe not relevant with the DVD here but it didn't help my viewing, nor the over 3 hour running time, with ads.What does strike one is that it's a movie that's trying to get out from its limitations; Cinemascope at the cinema at the time, with its stereo soundtrack and Metrocolour (very washy on TCM), score by Andre Previn and the best part, the lush, majestic and often attractive globe- trotting location cinematography by Milton R. Krasner, it must have been a very different beast on release.I mention this TV version so much as the DVD is expensive and there aren't many alternative sellers and so for many people, it may well remain their only method of viewing.The odd and poorly cast set of stars is well known; Glenn Ford rarely shines or engages however and one feels that there is a great story somewhere - there's also an epic and expensive feel - director Vincente Minnelli has made some fabulous films - but one has to try just too hard to glean anything from it.To me, this means that it just floats by and one doesn't give it the attention it deserves. I'm not saying it should be re-made, re-cast etc but my recent re-watch was a disappointing one. It's impossible for me to say if the DVD quality (even if it is any better?) would raise the overall watchability to warrant a higher score. Somewhat disappointing.

In Argentina, the family man Julio Madariaga (Lee J. Cobb) is the patriarch of his family and considers his farm the paradise on Earth. One of his daughters, Luisa Desnoyers (Harriet MacGibbon), has married the Frenchman immigrant Marcelo Desnoyers (Charles Boyer) and they have one son, the playboy Julio (Glenn Ford), and one daughter, the gorgeous student of Sorbonne Chi Chi (Yvette Mimieux). His other daughter, Elena von Hartrott (Kathryn Givney), has married the German Karl von Hartrott (Paul Lukas), and they have three sons: Heinrich (Karl Boehm), Gustav and Franz.In 1938, Heinrich returns from Germany for a family reunion and when he tells that he has joined the SS, the displeased Julio Madariaga has a heart attack and dies. When France is occupied by the Germans, the family reunites in Paris and Franz is the Nazi administrator in France. The alienated Julio has a studio where he paints, and has a love affair with Marguerite Laurier (Ingrid Thulin), the wife of the owner of a newspaper Etienne Laurier (Paul Henreid) that is fighting in Belgium. Meanwhile Chi Chi joins the French resistance and is arrested. Julio uses the influence of his uncle Franz to release her. However, Chi Chi has an argument with Julio for his neutral position. When Chi Chi is tortured to death by Gestapo, Julio joins the resistance, using his relationship with the Germans to get inside information. "The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse" is an epic romance with the awakening of a playboy in times of war. The cinematography, art direction and costumes are amazing, but unfortunately the screenplay is shallow and the film is miscast in the lead role. Glenn Ford is never convincing as a French-Argentinean, and too old (46 years old) to be a playboy and son of Charles Boyer (63 years old). Further, it is ridiculous the actors and actresses speaking in English forcing accents in French, German and Spanish. I have never had the chance to see the 1921 original film to compare with this remake by Vincente Minnelli. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Os Quatro Cavaleiros do Apocalipse" ("The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse")

When I saw this during its first-run release, I was already an avid Minnelli fan but had been forewarned by the reviews that this was not one of his best. I recall enjoying it, nevertheless, and much of my pleasure was due to Minnelli's always inventive visual style, the expensive mounting in CinemaScope and Metrocolor, the interesting cast (not all of them well-chosen, especially the deadly-dull Glenn Ford, who was being assigned to what seemed like every other big budget M-G-M picture during that period), the astute use of Angela Lansbury to dub Ingrid Thulin's lines (though I'm sure that Miss Thulin's own voice, even if she had learned her lines phonetically, would have been preferable), and Andre Previn's very expressive score. (Mr. Previn came to disown a lot of his Hollywood work once he concentrated on conducting major classical orchestras, but I suspect he wouldn't have included this one among those he would prefer that we forget.) Tony Duquette's Four Horsemen figures are a striking addition to the lavish mounting of this production. It's not available on DVD (yet, anyway) and it's probably a safe bet that the VHS version is (ugh!) "formatted"...don't bother! You'll be missing the greater percentage of this film's achievement.