GLENN FORD RIDING 'THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE'

Title: THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE  Year: 1962 Rating: ****

In Argentina, at the heels of the Second World War, lusty family patriarch Lee J. Cobb — after an all-night celebration with favorite grandson Glenn Ford — gathers his entire family at a grand dinner party consisting of his two daughters... one married to a German (an intense Paul Lukas), the other a Frenchman (a regal Charles Boyer)... and their offspring: all soon divided by borders and ideology...

So by the time Cobb's grandfather checks out of the picture, an entire first act is done: and with so much over-the-top energy, the remaining characters can only reveal themselves in a comparably subtle fashion...

Glenn Ford and  Ingrid Thulin in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Including Ford himself, a flaky and, despite his age, still youthfully handsome artist and womanizer, who falls in love with married Frenchwoman Ingrid Thulin, nothing new to CASABLANCA cuckhold Paul Henreid as her patriotic husband... 

Who's the polar opposite of Ford, wanting nothing to do with taking sides, even as the Germans approach France in nightmarish visuals using saturated dark-red lenses, inserted by director Vincente Minnelli, deliberately contrasting from his otherwise colorful and stylish, sophisticated living-room melodrama...

Lee J. Cobb and Karlheinz Böhm in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Then there's Ford's German cousin Karlheinz Böhm, who, back from German schooling, is a polite (for the time being) Nazi: his previous dead-eye conversation with grandfather Cobb basically put the old man in his grave... right before hallucinating the titular Book of Revelations HORSEMAN racing through dark clouds... 

Meanwhile, younger sister Yvette Mimieux has joined the French Resistance much to passive brother Ford's chagrin, whose affair with Thulin is more intriguing and philosophical than Harlequin cliche, and their talky downtime before dealing with the encroaching German takeover provide the best scenes, since Ford plays the romantic charmer far better than the inevitable surreptitious Resistance member — and he wouldn't remain a youngish leading man for long. 

Charles Boyer and Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Paul Henried in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Ingrid Thulin and Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Yvette Mimieux and Charles Boyer in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Yvette Mimieux in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Karlheinz Böhm in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

 Lee J. Cobb in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford and Lee J. Cobb in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Paul Henreid in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Yvette Mimieux and Ingrid Thulin in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

From THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Ingrid Thulin in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford and  Ingrid Thulin in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford and  Ingrid Thulin in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Ingrid Thulin in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE with Ingrid Thulin

Paul Lukas in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE with Ingrid Thulin

George Dolenz in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE with Ingrid Thulin

Ingrid Thulin and Glenn Ford in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE