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Körkarlen (1921 film)
Encyclopedia
The Phantom Carriage is a 1921 Swedish film generally considered to be one of the central works in the history of Swedish cinema
. Released on New Year's Day
1921, it was directed by and starred Victor Sjöström
, alongside Hilda Borgström
, Tore Svennberg and Astrid Holm. It is based on the novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! (Körkarlen; 1912), by Nobel-prize winning Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf
.
The film is notable for its special effects, its advanced (for the time) narrative structure with flashback
s within flashbacks, and for having been a major influence on Ingmar Bergman
.
It is also known as The Phantom Chariot, Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! and The Stroke of Midnight.
In 2011, the Criterion Collection released a restored version of the film on Blu-ray and DVD.
, the dying Salvation Army
girl Edit has one last wish: to speak with David Holm. David, an alcoholic, is sitting in a graveyard with two drinking buddies, talking about his old friend Georges who told him about Death's carriage—the legend that the last person to die each year has to work under the "strict master" Death and collect the souls of everybody who dies the following year. Georges himself died on New Year's Eve last year.
Gustafsson, a friend of Edit who is looking for David, finds him and tries to convince him to go and see her, but David refuses. When his friends too try to convince him, a fight breaks out where David is accidentally killed just before the clock strikes twelve. The carriage appears, and the driver is revealed as Georges.
As David’s soul steps out of his body, Georges reminds him of what he once had, how he once lived a happy family life with his wife Anna before ending up in bad company with Georges and the other drinkers. It is revealed how Anna left him after he was jailed for intoxication. He also reminds him how David exactly one year ago was taken care of by Edit, and while treating her badly, he gave her his promise to find her the following year so she would find out whether her prayers for him had worked or not.
Georges informs David that the promise has to be fulfilled and brings him in the carriage to Edit’s house. In another flashback it is shown how Edit once found David in a bar with his friend Gustafsson. Edit persuaded them to go to a Salvation Army meeting. At the meeting, Gustafsson submitted himself to God, but David stayed cynical. Present at the meeting was also David's wife. Edit tried to bring the couple together again. At first they were optimistic, but soon David's drinking drove them into despair. One night David became aggressive when Anna tried to protect their children from being infected by David's tuberculosis
. He was locked in the kitchen, but broke through the door with an axe.
When the driver arrives in 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 guilt, as she brought the couple together again. When David hears this he is moved. He kisses her hands, and when Edit sees his regret she can die in peace. Georges then takes David to Anna, who is planning to kill herself and their children. David begs Georges and God to let him interfere. Georges allows him to return to life. David and Anna embrace each other and cry.
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
. Lagerlöf was initially sceptical about the possibility to adapt the novel's elements of occult
ism and mysticism
, 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
to present it. After two hours of Sjöström reading loud and performing the whole script by himself, Lagerlöf responded by offering him dinner, which Sjöström took as an approval.
studios in Solna
. The set design was inspired by the southern Swedish town Landskrona
, 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 do it in studio for the technical benefits.
and lab executive Eugén Hellman. Double exposures made in the camera (optical printing wasn't available until the early 1930's), had been used before by Jaenzon, already in Sir Arne's Treasure
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 the different exposures for the end result to appear natural.
, Mendelsohn
, Saint-Saëns
and Max Reger
were performed by the orchestras. For a long time several different soundtracks, generally of low quality, were used for television screenings and video releases. However in 1998, on demand from the Swedish Film Institute
, a new soundtrack was composed by renowned Swedish silent film composer and live pianist Matti Bye, which was highly praised and has been featured on all following VHS and DVD releases.
At the 2007 San Francisco International Film Festival
a new soundtrack was composed and performed live by pop icon Jonathan Richman
. No Region-1 DVD release with this version has been announced.
In 2008, the now defunct Tartan Films (now Palisades Tartan), under license from Swedish Film Institute
, released a region 2 DVD version with a newly commissioned soundtrack by the electronic music group KTL
.
who also utilised the figure of Death in The Seventh Seal
, 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
(2000), directed by Bergman, is a historical drama depicting the making of The Phantom Carriage.
Stanley Kubrick
's 1980 horror film The Shining
features several similarities in themes, and the famous sequence where Jack Nicholson
uses an axe to break through a wooden door is a homage to a scene in this film. However it has been argued that the scene itself is a reference to a similar scene in D. W. Griffith
's Broken Blossoms
from 1919.
Cinema of Sweden
Swedish cinema is known as producing many critically acclaimed movies, and during the 20th century was the most prominent of Scandinavia. This is largely due to the popularity and prominence of the directors Ingmar Bergman, Victor Sjöström, and more recently Lasse Hallström and Lukas...
. Released on New Year's Day
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
1921, it was directed by and starred Victor Sjöström
Victor Sjöström
Victor Sjöström was a Swedish actor, screenwriter, and film director.- Biography:Born in Silbodal, in the Värmland region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died when he was seven years old in 1886...
, alongside Hilda Borgström
Hilda Borgström
Hilda Teresia Borgström was a Swedish stage and film actress.Born in Stockholm, Borgström is considered one of Sweden's most legendary silent film actresses. She made her film debut in 1912...
, Tore Svennberg and Astrid Holm. It is based on the novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! (Körkarlen; 1912), by Nobel-prize winning Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf was a Swedish author. She was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and most widely known for her children's book Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige ....
.
The film is notable for its special effects, its advanced (for the time) narrative structure with flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s within flashbacks, and for having been a major influence on Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
.
It is also known as The Phantom Chariot, Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! and The Stroke of Midnight.
In 2011, the Criterion Collection released a restored version of the film on Blu-ray and DVD.
Plot summary
On New Year's EveNew Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
, the dying Salvation Army
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
girl Edit has one last wish: to speak with David Holm. David, an alcoholic, is sitting in a graveyard with two drinking buddies, talking about his old friend Georges who told him about Death's carriage—the legend that the last person to die each year has to work under the "strict master" Death and collect the souls of everybody who dies the following year. Georges himself died on New Year's Eve last year.
Gustafsson, a friend of Edit who is looking for David, finds him and tries to convince him to go and see her, but David refuses. When his friends too try to convince him, a fight breaks out where David is accidentally killed just before the clock strikes twelve. The carriage appears, and the driver is revealed as Georges.
As David’s soul steps out of his body, Georges reminds him of what he once had, how he once lived a happy family life with his wife Anna before ending up in bad company with Georges and the other drinkers. It is revealed how Anna left him after he was jailed for intoxication. He also reminds him how David exactly one year ago was taken care of by Edit, and while treating her badly, he gave her his promise to find her the following year so she would find out whether her prayers for him had worked or not.
Georges informs David that the promise has to be fulfilled and brings him in the carriage to Edit’s house. In another flashback it is shown how Edit once found David in a bar with his friend Gustafsson. Edit persuaded them to go to a Salvation Army meeting. At the meeting, Gustafsson submitted himself to God, but David stayed cynical. Present at the meeting was also David's wife. Edit tried to bring the couple together again. At first they were optimistic, but soon David's drinking drove them into despair. One night David became aggressive when Anna tried to protect their children from being infected by David's tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. He was locked in the kitchen, but broke through the door with an axe.
When the driver arrives in 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 guilt, as she brought the couple together again. When David hears this he is moved. He kisses her hands, and when Edit sees his regret she can die in peace. Georges then takes David to Anna, who is planning to kill herself and their children. David begs Georges and God to let him interfere. Georges allows him to return to life. David and Anna embrace each other and cry.
Cast
- Victor SjöströmVictor SjöströmVictor Sjöström was a Swedish actor, screenwriter, and film director.- Biography:Born in Silbodal, in the Värmland region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died when he was seven years old in 1886...
as David Holm - Hilda BorgströmHilda BorgströmHilda Teresia Borgström was a Swedish stage and film actress.Born in Stockholm, Borgström is considered one of Sweden's most legendary silent film actresses. She made her film debut in 1912...
as Anna Holm - Tore Svennberg as Georges
- Astrid Holm as Edit
- Concordia SelanderConcordia SelanderConcordia Cornelia Johanna Selander, née Hård , was a Swedish actress and theatre manager.She first trained at the school of the Royal Swedish Ballet and later at the Royal Theatre's acting school Dramatens elevskola...
as Edit's Mother - Lisa Lundholm as Maria
- Einar Axelsson as David's Brother
- Nils Aréhn as Prison Chaplain
- Olof Ås as The First Driver
- Tor Weijden as Gustafsson
- Simon Lindstrand as David's Companion
- Nils Elffors as David's Companion
Development
Since 1917 there was a deal between Selma Lagerlöf and A-B Svenska BiografteaternAB Svensk Filmindustri
AB Svensk Filmindustri or Svensk Filmindustri is a Swedish film production company, distributor and movie theatre chain, currently owned by the Bonnier Group. It was established on December 27, 1919....
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
Körkarlen
Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! 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 as a means of public education about tuberculosis...
. Lagerlöf was initially sceptical about the possibility to adapt the novel's elements of occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
ism and mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, 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
' is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are Vermelandia and Wermelandia. Although the province's land originally was Götaland, the...
to present it. After two hours of Sjöström reading loud and performing the whole script by himself, Lagerlöf responded by offering him dinner, which Sjöström took as an approval.
Filming
Shooting took place from May to July 1920 in the newly started FilmstadenFilmstaden
Filmstaden was a film studio situated in Råsunda, north of Solna, Sweden. Built by the main Swedish film producer at the time, Svensk Filmindustri, in 1919–1920, Filmstaden was one of the most modern film studios in Europe. Some 400 movies have been created at Filmstaden. The first movie to be...
studios in Solna
Solna Municipality
Solna Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, located just north of the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the 'city' of Solna....
. The set design was inspired by the southern Swedish town Landskrona
Landskrona
Landskrona is a locality and the seat of Landskrona Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 28,670 inhabitants in 2005.-History:The city of Landskrona was founded at the location of Scania's best natural harbour, as a means of King Eric of Pomerania's anti-Hanseatic policy, intended to compete...
, 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 do it in studio for the technical benefits.
Post-production
Post-production was famously long and intense due to the extensive use of special effects, developed by cinematographer Julius JaenzonJulius Jaenzon
Julius Jaenzon 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 adaptions of novels by Selma Lagerlöf...
and lab executive Eugén Hellman. Double exposures made in the camera (optical printing wasn't available until the early 1930's), had been used before by Jaenzon, already in Sir Arne's Treasure
Sir Arne's Treasure
Sir Arne's Treasure 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 Herr Arne's Hoard by Selma Lagerlöf, originally published in 1903...
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 the different exposures for the end result to appear natural.
Soundtracks
The original screenings didn't have an original soundtrack, instead various pieces by Ture RangströmTure Rangström
Anders Johan Ture Rangström belonged to a new generation of Swedish composers who in the first decade of the 20th century introduced modernism to their compositions. In addition to composing Rangström was also a musical critic and conductor.Rangström was born in Stockholm, where initially he...
, Mendelsohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
and Max Reger
Max Reger
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
were performed by the orchestras. For a long time several different soundtracks, generally of low quality, were used for television screenings and video releases. However in 1998, on demand from the Swedish Film Institute
Swedish Film Institute
The Swedish Film Institute 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...
, a new soundtrack was composed by renowned Swedish silent film composer and live pianist Matti Bye, which was highly praised and has been featured on all following VHS and DVD releases.
At the 2007 San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
a new soundtrack was composed and performed live by pop icon Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Michael Richman is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970 he founded The Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key, generally acoustic backing...
. No Region-1 DVD release with this version has been announced.
In 2008, the now defunct Tartan Films (now Palisades Tartan), under license from Swedish Film Institute
Swedish Film Institute
The Swedish Film Institute 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...
, released a region 2 DVD version with a newly commissioned soundtrack by the electronic music group KTL
KTL
KTL is a musical duo consisting of Stephen O'Malley ))) and Peter Rehberg , originally formed to create the music for a theatre production titled Kindertotenlieder by Gisèle Vienne and Dennis Cooper...
.
Influence
The film was a powerful influence on the later Swedish film director Ingmar BergmanIngmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
who also utilised the figure of Death in The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death , who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play...
, 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
Wild Strawberries (film)
Wild Strawberries is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, about an old man recalling his past. The original Swedish title is Smultronstället, which literally means "the wild strawberry patch", but idiomatically means an underrated gem of a place...
, 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
The Image Makers is a 2000 Swedish TV drama directed by Ingmar Bergman and written by Per Olov Enquist....
(2000), directed by Bergman, is a historical drama depicting the making of The Phantom Carriage.
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's 1980 horror film The Shining
The Shining (film)
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
features several similarities in themes, and the famous sequence where Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
uses an axe to break through a wooden door is a homage to a scene in this film. However it has been argued that the scene itself is a reference to a similar scene in D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
's Broken Blossoms
Broken Blossoms
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl is a 1919 silent film directed by D.W. Griffith. It was distributed by United Artists and premiered on May 13, 1919...
from 1919.
External links
- Film clip/trailer with English subtitles (from San Francisco International Film FestivalSan Francisco International Film FestivalSan Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
)