86.500

The Phantom Carriage is actually fairly spooky and has a handful of fantastic scenes, but the underlining moral thread that drives the film makes it come off as sort of a pro-temperance A Christmas Carol. Besides, Sjostrom shouldn't have even gotten a second chance, dude was coughing his death germs and shit all over everyone. He had it comin'!

I do think it gets a tad one note eventually ("oh, look at how bad he was!") in its retelling of Dicken's A Christmas Carol, but I'd also say that the ending is so effective that I'm actually rather willing to forgive that. Its effects are fantastic, and it's very well lit, but as with some other Sjostrom films it's tempting to summarise its main strength as taking a classic story that verges on archetypal and telling it so well you forget quite how archetypal it is.

#763

One of the finest silents I've seen. The message is poignant without being cheesy, the story is engaging, the acting is superbly naturalistic, and the direction and effects are out of this world. It's entertaining, it's moving, and it's undeniably creepy. Perfectly paced, delightfully moody. A gem of silent cinema.

661

Vid%u011Bla jsem tento film s %u017Eivým hudebním doprovodem a bylo to ú%u017Easné!!

# 599

An incredible film about guilt and responsibility. Sjöström is excellent both as the lead and as the director. The acting is top notch and especially Sjöström gives an incredibly deep performance that makes you really feel for his character. Visually the film shows its age but there's a lot to like, especially the ghostly scenes with the Phantom Carriage. I'm not sure I entirely agree with some of the film's views but they are well presented.

Reportedly the movie that made Bergman want to be a filmmaker, and almost certainly an influence on Kubrick as well. It's a gripping ghost story about redemption, much in the style of Dickens and "A Christmas Carol". The look of this film is astonishing and haunting, with phenomenal lighting and double-exposure effects that are impressive for 1921. Sjostrom himself is terrific in the lead, playing quite a scoundrel. It's clear why Bergman wanted to cast him in Wild Strawberries.

I was quite surprised at how emotionally invested I became in the characters of this silent film. The framed story is simple but hits the right notes with a strong message, and there's a ton of small, interesting moments like the axe-through-the-door scene, or a suicide that seems pretty shocking for the time period. Everything surrounding the Phantom Carriage itself rocked; the looks, the special effects, and the fact that it's a goddamn ghostly corpse cart. Metal.

One of my favorite silent movies. I was excited through all of the movie eventhough I watched it alone and tired on the sofa. The acting is sort of in a limbo between naturalism and unreal the silent way, but it just works for me. And the scene that is copied in detail in The Shining is fantastic. Gripping, heartbreaking and spooky, you don't get them any better.

It's full of devices: It's a frame story as well as one of those morality ghost tales along the lines of Capra's It's a Wonderful Life or Dickens' Christmas Carol. And yet I'm not impressed by morality tales and it sort of bored me, even though it had its moments. The only thing I really liked is the cinematography - good staging, framing and lighting, and yeah, the phantom carriage scenes were nicely done.

an eerie, and morbid feel to it, with a plot far superior to most of the stuff that came out of the 20's. victor sjostrom's mastery of silent era directing and technique is something that makes even the most close minded capable of watching this movie. it is completely and utterly fantastic.

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