Some 100 years after the premiere of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the city of Valencia is preparing a tribute to the famous writer Vicente Blasco Ibàñez.
Valencia City Council is working on the development of a programme of activities in memory of the Homage Week (15 to 22 May 2021) dedicated by the Ayuntamiento to Vicente Blasco Ibàñez.
Although something like this has been planned for years, the reason given is the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the release of the film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, a screen adaptation of the famous novel by Vicente Blasco Ibañez, which made the Valencian writer famous throughout the world.
Considered to be one of the first true anti-war films, it had a huge cultural impact and became the top-grossing 1921 film in the US, one of the first movies to pass $1,000,000 at the box office, finishing with total earnings of $4,500,000. The film turned the little-known actor Rudolph Valentino into a superstar as the iconic Latin lover. This film also inspired a tango craze and introduced gaucho pants as a new fashion item.
Metro Pictures Corporation paid Ibañez $20,000 and 10% of its gross earnings for the rights to adapt its novel, a true fortune considering the movie’s success. After the premiere, the City of Valencia prepared a series of functions to celebrate the return of Blasco Ibañez to his native land, who after this success was seen as a true Valencian hero.
Now, a hundred years have passed, and the city wants us to remember. Many events are planned, including a show the Exhibition Hall of Valencia City Council, the creation of virtual routes through Valencia that Blasco Ibañez visited when he reunited with his town. The most important one will probably be a final transfer of his Sarcophagus, sculpted by Mariano Benlliure, and currently housed in the Museum of Fine Arts to the lobby of the General Cemetery.
One of the recent announcements also confirmed the establishment of the Blasco Ibañez Study Center in Burjassot and a second Ibañez House Museum, but with no plans to compete with the one already at Malvarrosa Beach.
The author’s connection to Burjassot was very strong. He lived there for a long time, and he even wrote about this town in some of his most famous novels. His family home, where he began writing, is still in the Plaza Emilio Castelar.
© 2021: The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse Ride Again – TheValencian
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