The Phantom Carriage (1921)
"Körkarlen" (original title)

It's New Year's Eve. Three drunkards evoke a legend. The legend tells that the last person to die in a year, if he is a great sinner, will have to drive during the whole year the Phantom ... See full summary »

Director:

Victor Sjöström

Writers:

Selma Lagerlöf (novel), Victor Sjöström

Stars:

Victor Sjöström, Hilda Borgström, Tore Svennberg

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Victor Sjöström	...	David Holm
Hilda Borgström	...	Mrs. Holm
Tore Svennberg	...	Georges
Astrid Holm	...	Edit
Concordia Selander	...	Edit's Mother
Lisa Lundholm	...	Maria
Tor Weijden	...	Gustafsson
Einar Axelsson	...	David's Brother
Olof Ås	...	Driver
Nils Aréhn	...	Prison Chaplain
Simon Lindstrand	...	David's Companion
Nils Elffors	...	David's Companion
Algot Gunnarsson	...	Worker
Hildur Lithman	...	Worker's wife
John Ekman	...	Police constable

Storyline

It's New Year's Eve. Three drunkards evoke a legend. The legend tells that the last person to die in a year, if he is a great sinner, will have to drive during the whole year the Phantom Chariot, the one that picks up the souls of the dead... David Holm, one of the three drunkards, dies at the last stroke of midnight...

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Plot Keywords:

alcoholic | fight | chariot | cemetery | salvation | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

4 June 1922 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Phantom Carriage

Filming Locations:

Svensk Filmindustri, Filmstaden, Råsunda, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company Credits

Production Co:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 107 min (2004 TV) 103 min (original release)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film should have been heavily censored due to its supernatural content in accordance with the censorship guidelines at the time, but the board of censors decided to leave the film intact rather than risk a dispute with Selma Lagerlöf.

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Quotes

David Holm: Forgive, forgive me.

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Connections

Featured in Victor Seastrom (1981)

User Reviews

One of the best movies of all time

This is perhaps among the best movies ever made. If you rent it or buy it, and take the time to see it you will never regret it. If you are tired of reviews, you can stop reading here....now run along and get it.

Based on Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöfs tale about a carriage driving around on New Years eve, collecting the souls of the dead.The tale is at once a ghost story, a morality and a social statement much like the best of Charles Dickens. The film was made when movies were very young but as with many of those pictures by Lang, Murnau, Wiene and even Stiller, they remain very modern both in language and story. (In those days the best movies were made in Europe; Griffith seems ridiculous compared to this.)

The film was made in heaven by a true genius, Victor Sjöström. By the time he started to dabble with pictures he was an actor employed by the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre. He not only directed the movie, he played one of the main characters and built the backgrounds when needed. To help him along came camera man Julius Janzon and those two created magic much like Orson Welles and Gregg Toland would do on Citizen Kane, later.

If you're not simply captured by the movie, think of this: Janzon double exposed up to x9 to gain the ghost effects; on a hand turned movie camera.

For Sjöström, just to prove his genius, he moved to Hollywood to make a few movies including masterful renditions like "He Who Gets Slapped" with Lon Chaney and "The Scarlet letter" with Lilian Gish. Both are masterpieces and if you see these movies you will recognize Sjöströms mark. Some say he left Hollywood, disappointed, after having seen Stiller been treated bad by Hollywood's "industry". Legend or not, he did leave.

Ingmar Bergman gave Sjöström a tender and loving exit part; a beautiful homage; in his legendary "Wild Strawberries" from 1957. Sjöström played old professor of medicine, Isaac Borg, traveling through Sweden and at the same time through the memories of his life. Wild Strawberries in turn is another legendary film...but that's another story.