Benedito Dias Rodrigues Actually this movie wasn't enough understood by audiences and also have a low ratings from IMDb's reviewers,there some weak points to discuss as the age of Julio around forty years old,that's a problem really,but the main message is about peace,still...the four horseman are the Ghosts of the war bringing suffering,looses,and pain...breaking families whose are the key reason the entire production,another good point is about french's pride,when Julio saw a lot of young french women surrounded of German officers he realize that make something to do and accept to struggles against the invaders,more when your father beg for Chi Chi's life is quite touching...and finally the final clash between two cousins on a long frozen friendship due they are in opposites sides shown how world gone wild!!! Resume: First watch: 1980 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 8

tomsview In the early 60's, this movie seemed old-fashioned. The new wave of just about everything had arrived and it seemed an attempt by MGM to recapture past glories. However, 50 years later, it is no longer associated with the movies of its time that made it seem so out of touch. After a shaky start, this movie gains momentum and delivers a powerful second half.The story starts just before World War 2. The patriarch of an Argentine family, Julio Madariaga - The Old One - played by Lee J Cobb, holds court over his extended family. His two daughters have married Europeans: a Frenchman played by Charles Boyer, and a German played by Paul Lukas.The story focuses on the grandchildren, who, although born in Argentina, form allegiances with their fathers' homelands. World War 2 is played out in microcosm within the family. The German side become confirmed Nazis, while the French connection supports the Resistance.One hurdle the film struggles to overcome is Cobb's over-the-top performance as The Old One.The movie opens as The Old One demonstrates his love of life. He performs a number of frenetic, boot-stomping gaucho dances in between taking chin-dribbling slurps of wine from a gourd - he also yells a lot. Lee J Cobb was a great actor with gravitas to spare, but he blew this one, and threw the movie off balance from the start. However, just as the crew of a ship in danger of capsizing can often save the situation by jettisoning excess cargo, twenty minutes into the film, The Old One throws a tantrum, staggers out into the rain and collapses face down in the "rich, dark soil of Argentina", exiting the movie.Glenn Ford plays Julio Desnoyers, the favourite grandson of The Old One. Ford was cast against type, he was such a solid screen presence that he seems awkward in the earlier scenes as the feckless, politically neutral playboy, but he eventually gives the film a degree of substance as his character gains a conscience and takes a stance.This must have been just about the last hurrah for actors such as Charles Boyer and Paul Lukas. Paul Hendreid as Etienne Laurier virtually revisits his role as Victor Laszlo from "Casablanca".The film features two striking actresses, one older and one younger. Beautiful and enigmatic Swedish actress, Ingrid Thulin who played Marguerite Laurier, apparently had her voice dubbed by Angela Lansbury. If so, she did it with an accent that sounded very much like Ingrid Thulin. Chi-Chi, Julio's passionate and altruistic younger sister, was played by Yvette Mimieux, who had imprinted herself on a generation of young males when she played the nymph-like Weena in "The Time Machine". Despite being somewhat studio-bound, the film opens out with effective location scenes in Paris. One thing I remember reading at the time was that Parisians were taken aback with the recreation of the Germans marching past the Arc de Triomphe - the war had been over for 17 years, but memories were still raw.Although the film is based on a novel and a silent film, the story in both those cases involved World War 1. Some critics compare this film unfavourably with the silent version, but surely there aren't many who could sit through it these days? The 1962 version is far more enjoyable.The movie boasts a powerful score by Andre Previn with a gorgeous love theme. The film also has an unexpected ending. All things considered, this is a movie well worth at least one viewing.

nomoons11 This is a pretty obvious stinker. Not long into this you realize why the stars signed up for this one. They probably got payed well.Where to start. Can you imagine Glenn Ford playing the role of a college age student just flitting about Argentina and Europe during the start of WWII? By this time he was 45 years old. Dying his and darkening his skin a bit couldn't convince me. His acting was so wooden in this I believe I could get more out of staring at a Cigar Store Indian.I won't even get into Ingrid Thulin. Let's just say she musta owed someone to star in this. For me the only actor worth mentioning is Charles Boyer. For the little part he had he did OK. He usually does.For me the whole reason, or most of the reason, for this negative review is the first 15 minutes and the acting by the grandfather character. For around 15 minutes or so we get a speech from this patriarch of the family and when he spewed this drivel out, all I could imagine was if he were wearing a Shakespeare costume and the sets were different, it would just be like a Shakespearean play. This long and winding oratory sounded like it came straight outta Macbeth or Othello or whatever. It had no place in this film. He overacted his small part and I knew then I was in for a dud...and it was.This screenplay was just plain bad. I mean some of the dialog just didn't work. I think what made it worse was the acting. To say it was bad would be an understatement (listen for some really bad audio dubs to...it's a laugh).Simply put, this film was obviously in trouble in pre-production...screenplay wise...so they got a few big stars and tried to make it work...It didn't.

JoeytheBrit 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.