''The Phantom Carriage'' ( sv, Körkarlen, literally "The Wagoner") is a 1921 Swedish
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
directed by and starring
Victor Sjöström
Victor David Sjöström (; 20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960), also known in the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden, before moving to Hollywood in ...
, based on the 1912 novel ''
Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!
''Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!'' (Swedish: ''Körkarlen'') is a 1912 novel by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf. It was translated into English by William Frederick Harvey in 1921. Lagerlöf was commissioned to write it by a Swedish association ...
'' (''Körkarlen'') by Swedish author
Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish author. She published her first novel, ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the 1909 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Pr ...
. In the film, Sjöström plays a drunkard named David Holm who, on the night of
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
, is compelled by the ghostly driver of
Death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
's carriage to reflect on his past mistakes. Alongside Sjöström, the film's cast includes
Hilda Borgström
Hilda Teresia Borgström (13 October 1871 – 2 January 1953) was a Swedish stage and film actress.
Biography
Born in 1871 in Stockholm, Borgström made her film debut in 1912. She starred in leading parts in Victor Sjöström's silent film ...
,
Tore Svennberg
Olof Teodor "Tore" Svennberg (28 February 1858 – 8 May 1941) was a Swedish actor and theatre director whose career spanned more than five decades.
Biography
Born in Stockholm, Tore Svennberg made his stage debut at the Folkan Theatre in ...
, and
Astrid Holm
Astrid Holm (born Astrid Vilhelmine Rasmussen; 29 March 1893 – 29 October 1961) was a Danish theater and film actress whose career began on the stage and in the early silent film era.
Early life and stage career
Born Astrid Vilhelmine Rasmuss ...
.
''The Phantom Carriage'' was released in Scandinavia on
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
1921. The following year,
Metro Pictures Corporation
Metro Pictures Corporation was a motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List ...
re-edited and released the film in the United States under the title ''The Stroke of Midnight'';
it was known as ''Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!'' in the United Kingdom.
''The Phantom Carriage'' is notable for its special effects, its innovative narrative structure with
flashbacks within flashbacks, and for having been a major influence on the works of
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...
. It has been characterized as belonging to several genres—it has been called a
morality tale
The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...
,
a
melodrama
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
,
a
fantasy film
Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...
, and a
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
.
It is sometimes considered one of the first horror films due to its atmosphere and its impact on later entries in the genre.
The film is generally considered to be one of the central works in the history of
Swedish cinema
Swedish cinema is known for including many acclaimed films; during the 20th century the industry was the most prominent of Scandinavia. This is largely due to the popularity and prominence of directors Victor Sjöström and especially Ingmar Be ...
.
Plot
On
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
, dying
Salvation Army
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
Sister Edit has one last wish: to speak with David Holm. David, a drunkard, is sitting in a graveyard, telling his two drinking buddies about his old friend Georges, who told him about the legend that the last person to die each year has to drive Death's carriage and collect the souls of everybody who dies the following year. Georges himself died on New Year's Eve the previous year.
Gustafsson, a colleague of Edit, finds David, but is unable to persuade him to go see her. When his friends try to drag him there, a fight breaks out, and David is struck on the head with a bottle just before the clock strikes twelve. David's soul emerges from his body as the carriage appears. The driver is Georges.
Georges reminds David of how the latter once lived a happy life with his wife Anna, their two children and his brother, until Georges led him astray. As shown in a flashback that follows, David was jailed for drunkenness. Before being released from prison, he was shown his brother, who had been sentenced to a long term for killing a man while drunk. When David went home, he found the apartment empty. Furious, he became determined to track Anna down and have his revenge.
During his search throughout Sweden, David arrives at a new Salvation Army Mission on New Year's Eve. Maria does not want to answer the bell, as it is very late, but Edit lets him in. Despite his rudeness to her, she mends his coat while he sleeps. The next day, she asks him to return in one year; she had prayed that the first visitor would have good fortune for that period and wants to know the outcome of her prayer. He agrees, but before he leaves, he tears out her patches.
Georges informs David that the promise has to be fulfilled and takes him against his will in the carriage to Edit. In another flashback it is shown how Edit once found David in a bar with Gustafsson and another man. Edit persuaded the other man to go home with his wife and gave Gustafsson an advertisement for a Salvation Army meeting. At the meeting, Gustafsson submitted himself to God, but David remained completely unrepentant. Anna was at the meeting, but David did not recognize her. Later, Anna told Edit who she was, and Edit tried to effect a reconciliation. At first, the couple were optimistic, but soon David's behavior drove Anna to despair once again. One night, Anna pleaded with him not to expose their children to his
consumption
Consumption may refer to:
*Resource consumption
*Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically
* Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms
* Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...
(the same fatal disease Edit caught from him). When he refused, Anna locked him in the kitchen and tried to flee again with their children, but fainted. He broke through the door with an axe, but did not physically hurt her.
When Georges goes into Edit's room, she begs him to let her live until she sees David again. She thinks she is the one to blame for his magnified sins, as she brought the couple together again. When David hears this, he is deeply moved. He kisses her hands, and when Edit sees his regret, she can die in peace. Georges does not take her, saying others will come for her. He then shows David that Anna, afraid of leaving her children alone after she herself dies of consumption, is planning to poison them and herself. David begs Georges to do something, but Georges has no power over the living. Then David regains consciousness in the graveyard. He rushes to Anna before she can act. With great difficulty, he convinces her that he sincerely wishes to reform.
Cast
Production
Development
From 1917, there was a deal between Selma Lagerlöf and
A-B Svenska Biografteatern to adapt at least one Lagerlöf novel for film every year. Prior to ''The Phantom Carriage'', Sjöström had made three of these adaptions which had all been well received by critics, the audience and Lagerlöf herself. Since all of them had taken place in a rural setting, Sjöström felt that he wanted a change for the fourth and suggested the urban, gritty
Körkarlen
''Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!'' (Swedish: ''Körkarlen'') is a 1912 novel by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf. It was translated into English by William Frederick Harvey in 1921. Lagerlöf was commissioned to write it by a Swedish association ...
. Lagerlöf was initially sceptical of adapting the novel's elements of
occult
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...
ism and
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
to film, and Sjöström was well aware of the difficulties. The script took eight days to finish and in April 1920 Sjöström travelled to Lagerlöf's mansion Mårbacka in
Värmland
Värmland () also known as Wermeland, is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are ''Va ...
to present it. After two hours of Sjöström reading aloud and performing the whole script himself, Lagerlöf responded by offering him dinner, which Sjöström took as an approval.
[Grönkvist, Lars]
Selma Lagerlöf försökte stoppa Stillers filmversion
" (in Swedish) Selma Lagerlöf 150 år
Filming
Shooting took place from May to July 1920 in the newly started
Filmstaden
Filmstaden was a film studio situated in Råsunda, Solna Municipality in Stockholm, Sweden.
History
Filmstaden was once one of the most modern film studios in Europe. It was built in 1919–1920 on the basis of designs by Swedish archit ...
studios in
Solna
Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of t ...
. The set design was inspired by the southern Swedish town
Landskrona
Landskrona (old da, Landskrone) is a town in Scania, Sweden. Located on the shores of the Öresund, it occupies a natural port, which has lent the town at first military and subsequent commercial significance. Ferries operate from Landskrona t ...
, which corresponded to what Lagerlöf had in mind when writing the novel. Lagerlöf's original wish was to film it on location in Landskrona, but Sjöström chose to do it in the studio for technical reasons.
Post-production
Post-production was famously long and intense due to the extensive use of special effects, developed by cinematographer
Julius Jaenzon
Julius Jaenzon (8 July 1885 – 17 February 1961) was a Swedish cinematographer, essential in the early Swedish silent cinema. He is most known for his collaborations with directors Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller, particularly in adap ...
and lab executive Eugén Hellman.
Double exposure
In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be ide ...
s made
in-camera
''In camera'' (; Latin: "in a chamber"). is a legal term that means ''in private''. The same meaning is sometimes expressed in the English equivalent: ''in chambers''. Generally, ''in-camera'' describes court cases, parts of it, or process wh ...
(
optical printing
An optical printer is a device consisting of one or more film projectors mechanically linked to a movie camera. It allows filmmakers to re- photograph one or more strips of film. The optical printer is used for making special effects for motio ...
was not available until the early 1930s), had been used before by Jaenzon, already in ''
Sir Arne's Treasure
''Sir Arne's Treasure'' ( sv, Herr Arnes pengar) is a 1919 Swedish crime-drama film directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Richard Lund, Hjalmar Selander, Concordia Selander and Mary Johnson. It is based on the novel '' The Treasure'' by Selma La ...
'' from 1919, but were here developed to be far more advanced with several layers. This allowed the ghost characters to walk around in three dimensions, being able to first be covered by an object in the foreground, but when in the same take walking up in front of the object, it would be seen through the ghost's semi-transparent body.
One difficulty was that the cameras were hand-cranked, meaning that the camera had to be cranked at exactly the same speed in different exposures for the end result to appear natural.
Release
''The Phantom Carriage'' was released in Scandinavia on
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
1921.
The film had its first screening abroad in London on 4 February 1921.
In the United Kingdom, it was released under the title ''Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!''
The following year,
Metro Pictures Corporation
Metro Pictures Corporation was a motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List ...
re-edited and released the film in the United States under the title ''The Stroke of Midnight''.
This version of the film alters its narrative structure in such a way that the legend of Death's carriage is not introduced until about halfway through its running time.
This version of the film screened at the
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588.
Building the theatre
In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
According to
Paul Mayersberg
Paul Mayersberg (born 18 June 1941) is an English writer and director and was the film critic for ''Movie magazine'' in the early 1960s and author of 1968 film book ''Hollywood, The Haunted House''.
Awards
He received a nomination for Best Motio ...
, the different titles under which the film was released "reflect the uncertainty of distributors at the time in identifying its genre: ghost story, horror,
thriller, religious fable?"
Critical reception
Upon release, a reviewer for the magazine ''The Bioscope'' concluded that "Wherever
'The Phantom Carriage''is shown it will help to add dignity and importance to the art of cinema".
Legacy
Retrospective assessments
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on , with a rating average of 8.9/10.
In 1976, Justin Fox of ''
Films and Filming
''Films and Filming'' was the longest-running British gay magazine prior to the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales.Bengry, Justin"The Queer History of Films and Filming."''Little Joe: A magazine about queers and cinema ...
'' wrote of ''The Phantom Carriage'' as being inferior to the 1920
German Expressionist
German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...
horror film ''
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (german: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) is a 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. Considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema, ...
'', asserting that ''Caligari'' avoids "the melodramatic naïveties to be found in Sjöström's interesting but overly sober 'second chance' allegory".
Years later,
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...
of the ''
Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
'' praised ''The Phantom Carriage'', calling it Sjöström's masterpiece. In 2008, Marco Lanzagorta of ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' applauded the film's camera techniques and narrative structure; he noted elements of
social commentary
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace ab ...
, citing the film's "politically charged storyline around the negative social effects of alcoholism and poverty in 1920s Sweden", and called it "arguably
..one of the greatest films ever made".
In 2012, ''The Phantom Carriage'' was voted the best Swedish film of all time by a poll of 50 film critics and academics conducted by Swedish film magazine ''FLM''.
In 2019, ''
Collider
A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators.
Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...
''s Dave Trumbore named ''The Phantom Carriage'' one of the best horror films released between 1900 and the 1950s. That same year, Jim Vorel of ''
Paste'' named it the best horror film of 1921, calling it "a masterpiece of composition and a breakthrough in early practical effects (especially double exposures to simulate ghostly transparency) within the horror genre, although the film functions just as much as a morality playlet and over-the-top melodrama."
Influence
''The Phantom Carriage'' was an influence on the later Swedish film director
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...
who also utilised the figure of Death in ''
The Seventh Seal
''The Seventh Seal'' ( sv, Det sjunde inseglet) is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) and a game of ch ...
'', where the referring to him as a "strict master" is a reference to ''The Phantom Carriage''. Bergman also cast Sjöström in the leading role for ''
Wild Strawberries'', which also features references to the film. Bergman has said that he first saw it at 15 and watched it at least once every year. The television play ''
The Image Makers
''The Image Makers'' ( sv, Bildmakarna) is a 2000 Swedish television play directed by Ingmar Bergman and written by Per Olov Enquist. The drama is set in the year 1920 at Filmstaden where the film director Victor Sjöström is shooting the film ...
'' (2000), directed by Bergman, is a historical drama depicting the making of ''The Phantom Carriage''.
It is listed in the film reference book ''
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
''1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die'' is a film reference book edited by Steven Jay Schneider with original essays on each film contributed by over 70 film critics. It is a part of a series designed and produced by Quintessence Editions, a ...
'', which reads: "''The Phantom Carriage'' not only cemented the fame of director-screenwriter-actor Victor Sjöström and Swedish silent cinema, but also had a well-documented, artistic influence on many great directors and producers."
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
's 1980 horror film ''
The Shining'' features several thematic and visual similarities with ''The Phantom Carriage'', namely the effects of alcoholism on a family unit, and a sequence in which a father uses an axe to break through a wooden door to reach his fleeing wife and child. The 1979 film ''
The Amityville Horror
''The Amityville Horror'' is a book by American author Jay Anson, published in September 1977. It is also the basis of a series of films released from 1979 onward. The book is based on the claims of paranormal experiences by the Lutz family, b ...
'' contains a similar scene.
Restorations and home media
For decades, ''The Phantom Carriage'' was only available in poor quality, black-and-white prints, often of the American release version, with English intertitles.
1975: The
Swedish Film Institute
The Swedish Film Institute ( sv, Svenska Filminstitutet) was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the ''Filmhuset'' building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm. The building, comp ...
combined two incomplete positive nitrate prints, one B&W with Swedish intertitles and the other colour-tinted with English intertitles, to make a complete 35mm B&W duplicate negative with Swedish intertitles (approx. 6438 ft at 16fps). New viewing prints were struck from this restored negative, using the tinted nitrate print as a colour reference.
1995: An incomplete (approx. 6057 ft at 18fps) but good quality,
colour tinted print with a custom score by
Elena Kats-Chernin
Elena Davidovna Kats-Chernin (born 4 November 1957) is a Soviet-born Australian pianist and composer, best known for her ballet ''Wild Swans''.
Early life and career
Elena Kats-Chernin was born in Tashkent (now the capital of independent Uzbek ...
was broadcast on
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
/
Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...
, and later released on German VHS (1995) and DVD (2009).
1998: The tinted Swedish restoration was released domestically on VHS with a brand new custom score by Swedish musician
Matti Bye
Matti Bye (born July 25, 1966) is a Swedish pianist and composer. He has composed music for over 30 films and TV series as well as additional scores for Theatre and Dance pieces. In 2014, he was nominated twice at Sweden´s Guldbagge Awards in whic ...
. In 2007, it was also released on Swedish DVD with the Bye score. In 2008, it was simultaneously released on two UK DVDs, one with Bye's score and the other featuring a new score by electronic duo
KTL.
2011: In collaboration with the Swedish Film Institute,
the Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
released a new digital scan of the Swedish Film Institute's restoration on US Blu-ray and DVD, featuring both the Bye and KTL scores.
2015: The Swedish Film Institute carried out a further digital transfer of their restoration; this version is only available as a
DCP, with or without Bye's recorded score.
References
External links
*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Phantom Carriage, The
1921 films
1920s fantasy films
1921 horror films
1920s ghost films
Holiday horror films
Swedish silent feature films
Swedish fantasy films
Swedish horror films
Swedish black-and-white films
Films based on Swedish novels
Films based on works by Selma Lagerlöf
Films directed by Victor Sjöström
Films about alcoholism
Films about death
Films set around New Year
Articles containing video clips
Phantom vehicles
1920s Swedish-language films
Silent horror films