Rex Ingram’s blockbuster The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was one of most impressive movies of the 1920s
A global mega-hit, Rex Ingram’s The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse remains an impressive multifaceted drama – there are family issues, romantic issues, social issues, political issues – decades after its initial release.
Though hardly a great – or even a good – actor, Rudolph Valentino has the appropriate smoldering looks required for the role of son, lover, soldier, and tango dancer. In a less showy role, director Ingram’s wife Alice Terry is excellent as the romantic interest, managing to turn what could have been a thankless, one-dimensional role into a memorable three-dimensional personal showcase.
Terry is even better in Rex Ingram’s other 1921 effort, the more modest – in scope, in budget, in box office receipts – but compelling psychological drama The Conquering Power, in which Rudolph Valentino is the one cast in the subordinate role. One the silent era’s foremost Latin Lover can’t quite bring to life.
Both The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Conquering Power were written by June Mathis, at the time the second most powerful woman in the film industry – trailing only to Mary Pickford.
Best Film
The Affairs of Anatol – Dir.: Cecil B. DeMille; Scr.: Jeanie Macpherson
The Conquering Power – Dir.: Rex Ingram; Scr.: June Mathis
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Dir.: Rex Ingram; Scr.: June Mathis
Nobody – Dir.: Roland West; Scr.: Roland West & Charles H. Smith
Best Actor
Richard Barthelmess – Tol’able David
Jackie Coogan – The Kid
Ralph Lewis – The Conquering Power
Best Actress
Jewel Carmen – Nobody
Alice Terry – The Conquering Power
Alice Terry – The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Best Supporting Actress
Agnes Ayres – The Affairs of Anatol
Wanda Hawley – The Affairs of Anatol
Best Cinematography
The Affairs of Anatol – Karl Struss & Alvin Wyckoff
Camille – Rudolph J. Bergquist
The Conquering Power – John F. Seitz
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – John F. Seitz & Tom Storey
Little Lord Fauntleroy – Charles Rosher
The Love Light – Charles Rosher & Henry Cronjager
Nobody – Harry Fischbeck
Through the Back Door – Charles Rosher
Tol’able David – Henry Cronjager
“Best Films of 1921” notes
Alice Terry and Rudolph Valentino The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse image: Metro Pictures.