The Phantom Carriage

The Phantom Carriage (Korkarlen) (1921)

Runtime: 107 minutes

Directed by: Victor Sjostrom

Starring: Victor Sjostrom, Hilda Borgstrom, Tore Svennberg, Astrid Holm, Concordia Selader

From: Svensk Filmindustri

I saw this classic silent film last night and that was a wise move. The Letterboxd review is below. Note that I won't be posting here for a few days as right now I am rewatching the first four Mission: Impossible films, which I have reviewed here before.

Last night I noticed that TCM would be showing this classic silent drama and as I had never seen it before, it was the perfect opportunity to check it out... and I am glad I did.

Based on a Swedish novel, it's a fable of how a man turned wicked after being introduced to alcohol (his name is David; he's also ravaged by tuberculosis) is killed right before midnight on New Years Eve... which is a problem as there's a legend revolving around the title vehicle where the last person to die on the 31st of December has to pilot it and collect souls for Death. David is now in the afterlife and meets up with the previous carriage driver, Georges... who happened to be the man to introduce him to booze. Now, David has to atone for his sins and via flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks) you see that he was a real A-hole, and through his body language and attitude director/writer/star Victor Sjostrom does a tremendous job with that... along with the feelings of remorse later.

This movie was as great as I had heard. It was certainly well-made and more through its actions than the dialogue displayed on screen you went through various emotions. There was spookiness and creepiness early on, then anger at how awful David acted, then you felt inspired at the end. They were able to use at the time revolutionary special effects to make all the spirits transparent and it is certainly effective. The version I saw had an appropriate soundtrack from the musician Matti Bye and it only added to the experience.

This film influenced many people for decades to come. This was one of Bergman's all-time favorites and that was a big reason why he wrote Wild Strawberries for years to come and had Sjostrom as the lead. In addition, a key scene here was borrowed by Kubrick and became one of the most memorable moments of The Shining. I am thankful that even 95 years later this is still a quite effective movie that works as a tale against being selfish and treating others poorly as the ramifications of those actions can hurt many others.