The Phantom Carriage 1921

Directed by and starring:
Victor Sjöström

This black and white Swedish film was the earliest I could lay my hands on immediately. It feels quite magical watching a piece of film history. Even before anything has happened the sepia toned images give the images drama.

Sister Edit is dying of consumption and she asks for a man named David Holm to come to her bedside. Her friends consider this a scandalous request but they set out to find him anyway.

David (Sjöström) is celebrating New Years Eve with some friends and several drinks. David begins to tell a tale about their old friend Georges and we are transported into a story within the story.

David recalls how Georges was mortally afraid of dying on New Years Eve as he believed that he would be doomed to drive Death's carriage to collect the souls of the dead. He says that each day of servitude feels like a hundred years.

For the silent format I believe the acting was wonderful,  mixing naturalism with melodrama for effect. This is a different way of telling stories than a 21st century audience is used to, but it really captured my imagination. The images are also remarkably clear and the music is perfect - woodwind and brass weep and sigh ethereally.

We are shown the ghostly carriage and the hooded figure moving through doors collecting the dead. The cart and figure are given a spectral translucent quality through the use of a double exposure technique (which at the time would have been technically difficult). It remains an impressive visual effect.

David recieves the message to visit Edit but he refuses and winds up in a drunken brawl which sees him killed just before the stroke of midnight. As the phantom coach arrives David's spirit sits up from his body to see its arrival. The driver is none other than his friend Georges, who explains that it is now David's turn to take the reigns.

Through a series of flashbacks we witness David's life of drunken selfishness.  He is a self pitying and unrepenting figure who made life unbearable for those around him. There is a very frightening scene where he hacks through a door with an axe to get to his terrified wife (scarier than Jack Nicholson in my book). Sjöström does a great job of eliciting both disgust and pity from the audience.

We begin ro understand why it is so important for Edit to see David and the dramatic irony is gripping as we know this cannot be.

In terms of film making this seems to my humble untrained eye to be a work of great skill. It uses non-linnear narrative, flashbacks and special effects as well as excellent performances. This is a tragic morality tale (similar to but darker than A Christmas Carol). The suspense is high at the ending - I was on the edge of my seat.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this film and it deserves 7/10.

I was planning to look at Nosferatu next HOWEVER I have seen it before and I am very well versed with Bram Stoker's tale. I don't think I can give this iconic film an objective review and until I feel this is possible I have decided to leave it alone.