Körkarlen (1921)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Victor Sjöström

Writers:

Selma Lagerlöf (novel)
Victor Sjöström (writer)

Release Date:

4 June 1922 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Plot:

It's New Year's Eve. Three drunkards evoke a legend. The legend tells that the last person to die in a year...

Plot Keywords:

Chariot | Dying Woman | Ghost Story | Runaway Wife | Alcoholic

Cast

Victor Sjöström	...	David Holm
Hilda Borgström	...	Mrs. Holm
Tore Svennberg	...	Georges
Astrid Holm	...	Edit
Concordia Selander	...	Edit's Mother
Lisa Lundholm	...	Maria
Tor Weijden	...	Gustafsson
Einar Axelsson	...	David's Brother
Olof Ås	...	Driver
Nils Ahrén	...	Prison Chaplain
Simon Lindstrand	...	David's Companion
Nils Elffors	...	David's Companion
Algot Gunnarsson	...	Worker
Hildur Lithman	...	Worker's wife
John Ekman	...	Police constable

Also Known As:

The Phantom Carriage
The Phantom Chariot
The Stroke of Midnight
Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness

Runtime:

93 min | Germany:100 min | Sweden:107 min (16 fps) (2004 TV version)

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Iceland:L | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Svensk Filmindustri, Filmstaden, Råsunda, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Trivia:

The film should have been heavily censored due to its supernatural content in accordance with the censorship guidelines at the time, but the board of censors decided to leave the film intact rather than risk a dispute with Selma Lagerlöf.

Quotes:

David Holm: What can I do? What are the words, the prayer - the words?
David Holm: [prays] A sinner whose lips are stained with wickedness, asks, beseeches - Oh, break me, crush me, only save these three innocent ones!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Blodigt jävla helvete (2008)

a classic

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