Monday, 7 April 2014

A New Year's eve carol

The Phantom Carriage (1921)

Directed by Victor Sjostrom this film based on the novel “Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness” stars it's director, Hilda Borgstrom and Tore Scennberg. On New Year's eve a dying Salvation Army girl wishes to speak with an alcoholic.

The basic plot of this film seems to take a cue from A Christmas Carol in that a spectre, this time Death's henchman, helps a man realise the error of his ways. Where this film is unusual for early films is in it's complicated structure that managers to use flashbacks with in flashbacks. With the depiction of many ghostly apparitions the special effects in this film hold up well and it is easy to see why it is considers so influential.


4/5

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