The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The pre-war drama is pretty interesting, and the performances are quite good. Once the War arrives, the intention of the film is clear but it doesn't really seem to have a lot to say, and frankly the mythical horsemen, ghost, & Jesus figure just seem like an easy way to obscure this fact.

I saw the 133 minute version of this. It's easy to see why this made Valentino a star and the Four Horsemen imagery is cool (though there isn't enough of it.) Certain aspects seem very abrupt to the point where I wonder if there are scenes missing. There very well might have been since a 156 minute cut also exists. It's also not uncommon for films of this period to be missing shots or entire scenes. Watchable, though.

You can beat The Kid only once

One of the 20's biggest blockbusters, a sprawling war epic spanning three generations and incorporating graphic representations of Christian demonology (the four horsemen, dragons, etc), not particularly deep (there's some melodrama and a bland anti-war message) but historically important. You get a good sense of how the "Great War" was viewed in its almost immediate aftermath, and that a woman (June Mathis) wrote the adaptation and pretty much produced this was groundbreaking at the time.

One of those pictures that tries to pack in everything: picturesque scenery, dance sequences, romance, explosions, a trained monkey, etc. It's very watchable, but works best in the parts meant to be pretty and diverting, and gets silly when it tries to be serious, cramming plot and characterization into turgid inter-titles, treating us to overdone reaction shots of actors in goofy wigs, and never quite deciding if it's about how horrible war is or the heroism of facing ludicrous yet brutish Huns

From the Argentine pampas to the Paris of WW1, the film aspires to saga and achieves it -- even the central metaphor of the Four Horsemen is literally, and impressively, rendered. Valentino himself shows sensitivity as an actor.

Highly derivative dramatic spectacle, almost a pageant, from a fairly unreadable novel. Despite its variable if exotic style, it made a star of Rudolph Valentino.

Silent classic and star maker for Valentino.

It's funnier if you imagine Will Ferrell as James Lipton reading the intertitles.

Solid drama with good visuals for the time and a compelling story.