Körkarlen (1921)

Directed by Victor Sjöström. Starring Victor Sjöström, Tore Svennberg, Hilda Borgström, Astrid Holm, Lisa Lundholm, Concordia Selander, Einar Axelsson, Nils Aréhn, Tor Weijden.

After being struck dead before the toll of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the soul of drunken wastrel Sjöström is collected by Death’s carriage with deceased old friend Svennberg at the reins, and is then given an opportunity for reconciliation and redemption for his neglectful past sins. Disquieting, highly-suggestive fable sees death as a lonely, barren existence, robbed of its tapestry of possibilities. Indebted to the German Expressionism movement, which results in the ambitious narrative structure being overwhelmed by advanced visual technique, with heavy use of double exposure and superimpositions to create its layered, ghostly effects. A Swedish silent that could be “neatly” described as proto-Bergman—said director was very vocal about its influence on his own oeuvre—but it creates its own distinctly eerie spell to stand apart from those tethered to its devices before and after. Adapted from the Selma Lagerlöf novel. Title translates to “wagoner,” but it was released in English-speaking countries under alternate titles such as as Stroke of Midnight and The Phantom Carriage (it’s best known today as the latter).

85/100