Körkarlen (Korkarlen) (The Phantom Carriage) (Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness) (1920)

100% of critics liked it
(6 reviews)
88% of users liked it
(1,011 ratings)

Also known as Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness, The Phantom Chariot was the most famous of Swedish director Victor Sjöstrom's pre-Hollywood films. Based on a novel by Selma Lagerlöf, the film is predicated on an ancient Scandanavian legend. It is said that each year, on St. Sylvester's Night (New Year's… More Also known as Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness, The Phantom Chariot was the most famous of Swedish director Victor Sjöstrom's pre-Hollywood films. Based on a novel by Selma Lagerlöf, the film is predicated on an ancient Scandanavian legend. It is said that each year, on St. Sylvester's Night (New Year's Eve), a phantom chariot materializes to carry off the souls of those who have sinned. On one such occasion, David Holm (played by Sjöstrom) is forced to recall his past misdeeds, especially his brutal treatment of his wife. Holm's only hope for salvation lies in his performing a spectacular act of selflessness. As the chariot approaches, Holm despairs: how can he possibly be redeemed before the clock strikes twelve? Sjöstrom's masterful direction is superbly complemented by Julius Jaenzon's multi-exposure cinematography. When artists like Victor Sjöstrom and Mauritz Stiller were lured away by Hollywood, their exodus very nearly brought the wrath of "The Phantom Chariot" on the entire Swedish film industry. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.
Directed By: Victor Sjöström
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1920 Limited
On DVD: Sep 26, 2011
Studio: Criterion Collection

Critic Reviews

Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
The Phantom Carriage was quite spiritually and emotionally advanced for its day, comparable to Chaplin's The Kid, from the same year, and to D.W. Griffith.
Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant Magazine
"Don't get killed on New Year's Eve" and "give your special effects narrative agency" are among the crucial lessons to be learned from this essential Blu-ray.
Jamie Graham, Total Film
Using superimposition and double-exposure to bring the rickety wagon and its wretched occupants to ghostly life, The Phantom Carriage balances visual poetry with emotional violence.
, Film4
Slower than death itself, but just as spine chilling, this metaphysical morality play feels less like an artefact from a different era than a wintry warning from another world.
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
The double-exposure photography used throughout is a stupefying achievement of its own, an incantation of overlapping worlds and a visualization of the characters' growing awareness of the connection between body and soul.
Anton Bitel, Eye for Film
Sjöström's film is not just an early horror, but an argument for the moral validity of cinema itself.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Still is impressive technically.

Read all 7 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Tim S

Based on Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! by Selma Lagerlof, The Phantom Carriage is one of the masterworks of Swedish Cinema. Directed by actor and director Victor Sjostrom, the film inspired Ingar Bergman to make movies, if that tells you anything. The groundbreaking special effects,… More
Based on Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! by Selma Lagerlof, The Phantom Carriage is one of the masterworks of Swedish Cinema. Directed by actor and director Victor Sjostrom, the film inspired Ingar Bergman to make movies, if that tells you anything. The groundbreaking special effects, the Charles Dickens type story and the performances are absolutely amazing. It also influenced people like Stanley Kubrick, most notably in The Shining. I actually hadn't heard of this before but I bought the Criterion Blu-ray release and fell in love with it. For those who have the patience for silent films, this is an amazing film.
Eric B

Not really the journey of gothic horror that one expects, "The Phantom Carriage" is more like a bittersweet cousin to "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life." Victor Sjostrom directs and stars in this 1921 silent, decades before his famed… More
Not really the journey of gothic horror that one expects, "The Phantom Carriage" is more like a bittersweet cousin to "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life." Victor Sjostrom directs and stars in this 1921 silent, decades before his famed role in Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries." Sjostrom is David Holm, a down-and-out wastrel who has lost his family and carries tuberculosis. One New Year's Eve in a lonely graveyard, he tells a couple of seedy friends about the supernatural "cart of death" that eternally rolls around the world collecting souls. The cart is not driven by Death himself. Instead, it has a new, unlucky rider every year: the last person to die on New Year's Eve, the night before. And wouldn't you know? David dies himself, just before the clock strikes midnight. Of course the cart and its sickly horse arrive, ironically manned by the deceased friend who first lured David away from righteousness (a needless bit of confusion: the two look so much alike that I initially wondered if the driver was an aged David -- in fact, three characters look annoyingly similar as the story jumps around in time). David's spirit barters with his shadowy friend, but Death's rule of succession is firm. Meanwhile, a good-hearted Salvation Army nurse is on her deathbed, mysteriously asking for David. We don't understand why at first, and the script is quite modern in how it presents quizzical situations that aren't explained until later. Christopher Nolan probably loves this film. Most of the story is relayed through flashbacks. Sometimes, flashbacks within flashbacks. We learn that David alienated his wife and children through excessive drinking, and that they moved away while he was drying out in prison. And that he angrily sought his wife after being released, just to wreak revenge. But there is hope. Perhaps his ghostly companion can push him to drop his bitterness, much like other spirits revitalized poor Scrooge. "The Phantom Carriage" makes abundant use of double images, which is not a gimmick but the perfect way -- considering 1920's technology -- to depict ghosts walking among the living. An underwater scene is especially spooky. The cinematography has that archaic split between blue-tinted night scenes and brown-tinted interiors but, on the other hand, the acting is considerably more natural than the era's usual exaggerated mugging and gestures. The worst part of my own viewing experience was not Sjostrom's fault. I'm talking about the score. It was just one long, evolving drone, recorded by the contemporary duo KTL. The textures were interesting at first, but turned more and more emotionally deadening as the film progressed and changed moods. The growling soundscapes were powerful during scenes of desolation, but sadly inappropriate during more sentimental moments. Occasionally, the shapeless din faded into what sounded like someone banging nails into a metal bucket. But this was not enough. Please hire another composer for the next edition?
George M

Really ahead of its time. There's a complex narrative structure for its age that begins by an unexplained event (the dying nurse asking for someone to visit her) that slowly gains in significance as the relations between the characters unfold through flashbacks. There's even… More
Really ahead of its time. There's a complex narrative structure for its age that begins by an unexplained event (the dying nurse asking for someone to visit her) that slowly gains in significance as the relations between the characters unfold through flashbacks. There's even a flashback within a flashback here (well, kind of), and we are speaking about 1921. Amazing mise en scene that greatly helps the atmosphere and the acting is superb! Not the ultra stylistic acting that one can find in films of the period; here it is raw and almost naturalistic at times (especially Victor Siostrom himself). As a whole the film hasn't aged a bit, except for its montage which makes the rhythm drag to a point of becoming cumbersome at times. Well, it seems that believing montage to be the greatest technique of the cinema wasn't just an idea of the early Soviet filmmakers. Also, the moralistic ending and the Christmas-Carol-like twist in the end do not resonate well today. Still, one cannot but admire this film for what it achieves in narrative and visual splendor with its super imposition effects and the moody cinematography. Oh, and the axe scene in Kubrick's The Shining seems to owe much to this film too...
Chris B

Technically brilliant and filmed remarkably well, it's shocking that this was made in 1921. 90 year later the transfer to Blu-ray by Criterion is amazing and really adds amazing detail and clarity never before seen in previous releases. The film itself is a wonderful age old… More
Technically brilliant and filmed remarkably well, it's shocking that this was made in 1921. 90 year later the transfer to Blu-ray by Criterion is amazing and really adds amazing detail and clarity never before seen in previous releases. The film itself is a wonderful age old tale of morality and turning one's life around before it is too late. What a beautiful and inspiring piece of cinema. No wonder it inspired Bergman to become a film director! Highly Recommended!
Alice S

Scary... it is not, or at least I assume that depends on the image one already has about death... But in any case it is quite dramatic and impressive.
MJS M

Here?s a relative obscurity, a silent Swedish film featuring the Grim Reaper. The special effects here are amazing for their time, they are able to make actors (and a carriage) look like translucent ghosts for extended scenes, not an easy feat in 1921. The story has also proved… More
Here?s a relative obscurity, a silent Swedish film featuring the Grim Reaper. The special effects here are amazing for their time, they are able to make actors (and a carriage) look like translucent ghosts for extended scenes, not an easy feat in 1921. The story has also proved inspirational, the setup of a man meeting Death for a while is said to have been a catalyst for Bergman?s The Seventh Seal. The story itself is fairly reminiscent of the story of Scrooge in The Christmas Carol, and makes for a nice little morality tale.