The Phantom Carriage

1921 film by Victor Sjöström

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

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  • I want to be good, but no one believes me. Is it any wonder I cry?

Georges

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  • 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.'

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  • [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

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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

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  • 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

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