The Phantom Carriage

Much said without words.

This is an excellent movie. It was made in color-not color as in today's films, but a special mono-color use (with shadings) that portrayed meaning, mood, sense and time. It should be seen in color, as it becomes an entirely different film. The story, by Nobel prize-winner Selma Lagerlöf, is effectively presented. One never has a clear sense of real, memory or phantom. Changes going on in Swedish society at the time are subtly layered. Most highly recommend. Try to rent it or find it on-line. I saw it in a Swedish film class and I want to add it to my film library.

Revisited this movie recently. The Phantom Carriage acted and directed by Victor Sjostrom is a masterpiece on a technical level. It is a supernatural tale about sins, guilt and redemption.

The story is about David, a despicable drunkard, who doesn't mind spreading his pathogens on other people's faces. In fact he even tells others to do so. In search of her wife who ran away from him while he was in prison, David seeks shelter in a homeless shelter run by the Salvation Army Mission. Ther he is given a bed to sleep n inspite of being rude to sister Edith, she mends his jacket n in doing so she contracts his disease. One year has passed n the dying sister has one last wish, to speak to David, while our drunkard is sitting in a cemetery 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......

Of course the story is preachy, melodramatic n too simple but aft two years from the date of this review this film will be hundread years old. Apart from the solid direction n acting, the effects are brilliant. The ghostly illusion, the long shots of the carriage set against a vast dark landscape, the narrative structure with flashbacks within flashbacks, all this makes it a masterpiece considering it was made in 1921. God bless the fellas at the Criterion Collection.

One of the best silent dramas I've seen. As dark and shadowy as anything the German Expressionists produced, but featuring performances that were quite understated and naturalistic for the day. No camera mugging and no unintentional laughs due to wild-eyed arm-waving histrionics. Sjostrom gave a convincing performance as the drunken, mean-spirited and frightening David Holm.

Set mostly at night in a dingy Swedish slum, the film had a very claustrophobic set-bound feel to it, aided by the low key lighting and extensive use of irising.

There was a deep, and typically Scandinavian, sense of despair and hopelessness to the narrative: the film begins in a rather grim present, and then we're told David Holm's story in a series of flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks--a pretty complex story structure for 1921), where his character is offered numerous chances at redemption, but he doesn't take them, and we know he won't take them, because we've seen him die drunk and wretched and mean as ever in the present. The penultimate scene is as dark as any I have seen in all of cinema.

The writing and directing is tight and intelligent, even by today's standards. In several instances, Sjostrom skillfully sets the audience up to suspect one thing, and then pulls out a surprise. The ending might not be such a surprise to some viewers, but I didn't see it coming.

This movie deserves a full restoration and DVD release. Or even a crappy budget release. It just needs to be out there so people can see and appreciate it.

9.5/10, which rounds up to 10/10

The best silent movie I've ever seen. It's so harrowing and perfectly describes the feelings I've had about death, life, love and especially hope. It's optimistic ending makes it even stronger. I cried when I saw this movie the first time, which was the day after my grandfather's death.

He once told me this was the first movie he ever saw, in a cinema, to which there was a 10 kilometers walk in the snow. The cinema used to be so crowded the humidity got so high the walls were completely wet. Naturally I had a lot in mind that day. It wasn't the first time I saw the movie, but the first time I experienced it's meaning completely. I've never seen any silent film like this and that it's silent actually makes it scarier.

Not as well known as the English, American, German and French cinema, though cinema from Sweden from the '20's was also quite good, interesting and revolutionary.

This is a movie that is made great by its story. The story is told in 'A Christmas Carol' kind of way, in which the death himself confronts the deceased with his past, present and what could have been. It's of course a story that concentrates on morals and it does this very well. The message comes across as very powerful and effective. This is of course also definitely due to the effective directing from the father of Swedish cinema; Victor Sjöström.

The story is based on the novel by other Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf. The story is adapted by Victor Sjöström himself, who perhaps should had taken out a few more elements, to let the story and movie flow better. It perhaps takes a bit too long before the movie starts to take form and the story gets clear but when the movie does take form and pace it becomes a really wonderful one.

The movie does not only have a great story, it also is a good looking one. The movie uses some early and effective effects and uses some different color filters to create the right mood and to indicate what it past, present and 'future'.

Sjöström did not only wrote and directed this movie, he also plays the main character. Of course the acting in the movie is over-the-top at times, by todays standards but not as bad as in for instance early German movies was the case. And after all, this movie is more about its story and morals than it is about the acting, so it really doesn't matter much, or distracts.

A really great and effective underrated silent-movie classic from Sweden.

9/10

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