The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) on Netflix
Approved19622h 33m
Julio and Heinrich are grandsons of Madariaga, who runs an Argentine cattle ranch. Julio's father is French, Heinrich's is German, and Heinrich returns from his studies in Germany a Nazi.
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Plot summary
In 1938, Madariaga is eighty and owns a cattle ranch in Argentina, a place he thinks of as paradise. One of his daughters, Dona Luisa, married the French immigrant Marcelo Desnoyers; their children are Julio, a playboy, and Chi Chi, a student. Another daughter, Elena, married the German Karl von Hartrott. Karl's son Heinrich comes back from his studies in Germany and announces that he has joined the SS. Madariaga strikes him and foretells that the four horsemen of the apocalypse will lay waste to the world. Julio then travels to Paris with his family, grows friendly with Marcelo's anti-Nazi friend Etienne Laurier, and falls for Marguerite, Laurier's wife.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ava Gardner was cast in August 1960 as the female lead, the part Alice Terry had played in the 1921 film, but Gardner dropped out and Swedish actress Ingrid Thulin, best known for Wild Strawberries (1957), took the role.
- Vincente Minnelli wanted Alain Delon for the lead role and met him while vacationing in Rome, but MGM did not feel he was well enough known; German actor Horst Buchholz was turned down as a candidate for the same reason.
- While preparing to shoot German Wehrmacht troops marching into the Champs-Élysées, Vincente Minnelli was refused a filming permit by the French police, who also denied his request to shoot Resistance battle scenes near the Sorbonne.
- After a sneak preview in Santa Barbara, California drew negative audience scores, Alex North's instrumental score was thrown out and André Previn was hired to compose a new one.
- André Previn's main theme was later given lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and the resulting song, "More in Love with You", was recorded by Barbra Streisand for her 2003 album The Movie Album.
- Minnelli hired Tony Duquette to design the armor for the Four Horsemen, and spent two weeks filming the quartet on horseback galloping on parallel treadmills with surrounding smoke and colored lights.
- For the duration of production, most of the film was shot on Sundays so that the actual Paris streets would be relatively clear and free of traffic congestion.
- Saul Bass spent months in 1961 creating four historical newsreel montages, "Sports Palace", "Warsaw", "Rotterdam" and "La Martinique", but except for brief shots they were removed from the final cut, and he reused some edits for The Victors (1963).
