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Wonderful Movie

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

As were not uncommon in the silent era, The Phantom Carriage is a morality tale, meaning its whole purpose is to condemn the characters it has written, and use every frame to bring about their judgement, act God. The last person to die before midnight on New Years Eve attains the unenviable position of 'phantom carriage' driver for the next year - a ghostly horse drawn carriage that stops at the door of the newly deceased and takes them away. David is the character who suffers this misfortune here, though as things play out, it seems less like fortune and more like fate - the punishment handed to him for a life of drunkenness and immorality. While this is not a pretty rap sheet, I'm sure there were many did worse throughout the year, who had worse karma coming them, and were more deserving of the position, but hey, lets not let logic get in the way of fantasy. Throw in a melodramatic love story, and we see a film determined to live up to the definition of its genre in every way possible. The double exposures that achieve the ghostly carriage does make for a neat visual effect, but there is not a lot else going for it. It moves far too slowly, and could have been told in half the time.

When it comes to silent cinema, it's often relayed by newcomers that getting past the sound (or lack thereof) barrier is one that is difficult or near-impossible to do. Indeed, I remember my first venture into the silent realm and well, let's just say I wasn't convinced and moved away for near-on a decade. It goes without saying that, now with more than a handful of silent films (many now among my all-time favourite movies) under my belt, it's probably best to appreciate that some of cinema's forgotten treasures are easier to digest in a modern world than others. Or, at least for the uninitiated. The Phantom Carriage, I'd like to think, is one of those that crosses the barrier with ease. Whether through its imaginative storytelling, compelling visual effects that even a CGI-laden teenager might decree as "impressive", or the mere pace at which the film moves along; Victor Sjöström's 1921 classic is surely a film with no limitations set merely by its year of production. Firstly there's the plot which, although has been beaten to death on screens for the past 90 or so years, is one that is readily engaging and compelling to this day. Echoing more famous films made later down the line such as It's A Wonderful Life or Scrooge among many others, Sjöström's adaptation of Nobel prize-winning author Selma Lagerlöf's 'Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!' (the fourth adaptation of Lagerlöf's novels by Sjöström and A-B Svenska Biografteatern) is a wonderfully- told moralistic epic that swoons, sways, crashes and burns as each of the film's characters play out their parts in what is, for the most part, a very grim and starkly depressing story. It's also a tale steeped in mysticism and fantasy, and while I'm usually rather prickly when it comes to such works, when done as well as it is here you can't help but be whisked along quite willingly for 100 minutes or so. It had some small hurdles in getting green-lit back in the day because of certain touchy belief-systems, but eventually the studio decided it would better served facing the wrath of an omniscient deity than Selma Lagerlöf. A wise choice indeed.As a direct result of the plot's reliance on the supernatural and occult, Phantom Carriage also boasts visual effects that far-exceeded anything else on screens at the time in terms of realism and clarity. Even on the newly-released Criterion blu-ray the scenes involving ghostly phantoms look stunning, even though the HD format has a tendency to do the exact opposite, often drawing attention to the primitive techniques used at certain points in history. On the flip side of the coin however, Lagerlöf's story isn't merely about ghosts in the literal sense; in fact, it probably spends more time developing and exposing the emotional phantoms that haunt its characters during their waking lives. Sjöström excels here also, blending powerful but natural performances from his more than capable cast (which includes himself in the lead role) with the detailed and strikingly-lit photography of Julius Jaenzon to cast light and shadows upon the characters' emotive faces, and most importantly, their conflicted hearts. Cinematographers were doing great work already across many studios at the time, and while The Phantom Carriage stands out as one of the very best, it's the realistic and very-seldom melodramatic performances led by Sjöström himself that break the standard for 1921 more than anything else.Rounding out the package on the restored Criterion release are two soundtracks, one of which I haven't heard at this time. The first is a fantastic chamber orchestra score penned by Matti Bye in 1998. It's not your typical silent-movie score by any means; often it will delve into bizarre interludes and stanzas that mirror the action well, but never distract from the film. The second, which I haven't gotten around to yet, is an experimental piece by KTL recorded for a Tartan DVD release in 2008. From what I've read elsewhere it's even better than Matti Bye's, and if it furthers Phantom Carriage's already strong ability to step out of its 95-year-old history and appeal to modern audiences, then by all means. Overall, I cannot recommend this one enough. Compelling and highly emotive character fantasy-drama, start to finish.

This is certainly no product of Hollywood. The visuals have to be among the bleakest on record, where there's no attempt to prettify anything. So, what we've got as a result is the look and feel of what amounts to an alternate universe, grim and foreboding. It's this mood that carries the movie even when the acting and motivations falter. (I agree that Edit's undying love for David makes little sense within their skimpy context).To me the story comes across as a Christian fable of sin and redemption. David is able to escape his fate by a heartfelt act of bended-knee repentance, while the saintly Edit's prayers are finally answered. After all, David's salvation (and his family's) must be the result of supernatural intervention since the grim reaper admits he's powerless to alter anyone's fate. What the movie does so effectively is combine the subtle religious message with a supernatural mood that surprisingly suggests the absence of a divinity, an absence symbolized by the horror of the reaper and his ghostly carriage. No wonder religious existentialists like Ingmar Bergmann have been inspired by this early effort. (In fact, the hooded figure of "Death" in Bergmann's Seventh Seal {1956} bears a distinct resemblance to the reaper}.)The narrative is pretty uncompromising, conveying little distinction between reality, dream, or flashback. But I expect that adds to the overall surreal mood. The spectral images are well done for such an early stage in film technology and chillingly convey another dimension. Despite the occasional crudities the movie remains a highly compelling antique. But I wouldn't recommend it as relaxing entertainment.

1921's The Phantom Carriage is one of the many silent films I have viewed and enjoyed over the years. However, there is something that sets this film apart from the other great pieces of cinema which I have enjoyed. The story revolves around a variety of characters that are connected in some way to David Holm, (Victor Sjöström) a vile man who suffers from both tuberculosis and alcoholism. Holm is not only violent to his wife and children, but also actively tries to spread his illness to others. The film's first mentioning of him is from a dying woman who requests to see him before she passes away. Initially the audience is unsure what her relation with David Holm is; however as time passes we begin to learn that she was a Salvation Army parishioner who once looked over the homeless David Holm. Throughout this, the audience learns of the myth of Körkarlen i.e.: The Phantom Carriage. The viewer learns that at the end of every year the last evil person to die is damned to spend one year driving a carriage playing the role of death by reaping every soul who dies in the world for one year. After a fight which ends in Holm receiving a serious injury, David meets with the previous year's carriage driver and they discuss some of his wrong doings. The film is shot amazingly well, using creative camera angles and effective uses of fades, cross dissolves and double exposures. All of these things give the user an eerie feeling throughout the entire movie, as well as a sense of urgency as the dying Salvation Army parishioner moves closer and closer to her dying hour. The film effectively tells its story through uses of flashbacks, as well as through focusing on several characters, instead of just one. The film's story is similar to that of Dicken's A Christmas Carol, but has a far darker tone, as some of David's violent actions, as well as some of the carriage driver's duties are shown to the viewer in ways that are more direct than in A Chirstmas Carol. David Holm's attack on his family with an axe and attempts to give his children tuberculosis are good examples of this. The film can be accused of being a little bit preachy at times. The film makes no attempts to hide its anti-alcohol message, but this was after all filmed in an era where most countries were experiencing at least some measures of alcohol prohibition. Additionally, the film does have a very strong Christian tone to it, but it is far from being so preachy as to chase away a non-Christian viewer. When viewing the film, it is best that the viewer remembers that this film is a representation of the values and morals of the era which it was recorded in, not necessarily an attempt to tell the viewer how to live his or her lives. In its entirety The Phantom Carriage is a great film that was years ahead of its time. It is a film which is certainly on par with some of the finest pieces of cinema ever created. I believe that The Phantom Carrage can appeal to almost every viewer, even those who are not typically interested in silent films. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, if you haven't seen it yet, then do so.