The Phantom Carriage
The Phantom Carriage is a 1921 film about the driver of a ghostly carriage that forces a drunken man to reflect on his life on New Year's Eve.
- Directed and written by Victor Sjöström, based on the novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! by Selma Lagerlöf.
Do the Dead Come Back? Can Your Soul Leave Your Body - And Return Again? Is Spiritualism a Reality?taglines
David Holm
[edit]- I want to be good, but no one believes me. Is it any wonder I cry?
Georges
[edit]- Remember that it's New Year's Eve, the last day of the year! Whoever dies on this eve must drive Death's carriage.
- There is an old, old carriage... It is no ordinary driver who holds the reigns, for he's in the service of a strict master named Death. For him, a single night is as long as 100 years on Earth. Night and day he must carry out his master's business.
- There is no escape. He must perform his forlorn duty.
- Though horse and carriage are always the same, the driver is not. The last soul to die each year - the one who passes over at the stroke of midnight - is destined to be Death's driver for the following year.
- You know, David, if I could send a message to mankind, I would send them a New Year's greeting. I would like them to dwell on a single New Year's prayer: 'Lord, please let my soul come to maturity before it is reaped.'
Edit
[edit]- [to Death] You see that I'm not afraid of you. I will gladly heed your summons, but grant me a day's reprieve, for there is someone I must talk sense into.
Dialogue
[edit]- Maria: Don't fret over those poor souls now, Sister Edit. You've done enough for them.
- Edit: Send for David Holm!
- David Holm: You should take me to the hospital in your carriage as quickly as you can.
- Georges: No living soul rides in that carriage. By the time I arrive, it's too late for a doctor. You know full well that I am no longer among the living.
- David Holm: [to a coughing woman] Why turn away so carefully? I'm a consumptive myself, but I cough in people's faces in hopes of finishing them off. Why should they be better off than us?
- Edit: He's merely amusing himself. He's not as wicked as he pretends to be.
- Mrs. Holm: I can't help crying too. I won't be truly happy until all my sorrow is drained.
- David Holm: Lord, please let my soul come to maturity before it is reaped.
Taglines
[edit]- Do the Dead Come Back? Can Your Soul Leave Your Body - And Return Again? Is Spiritualism a Reality?
- Weird, Mysterious, Thrilling Drama of a Human Life, and a Savage Lost Soul. Based Upon an Actual Experience.
- A Marvelous Picture Telling a Wonderful Story
Cast
[edit]- Victor Sjöström — David Holm
- Hilda Borgström — Mrs. Holm
- Tore Svennberg — Georges
- Astrid Holm — Edit
- Lisa Lundholm — Maria
- Einar Axelsson — David's Brother
- Nils Aréhn — Prison Chaplain
- Olof Ås — The First Driver
