Before I start on the massive undertaking of what I'm calling "The Criterion Project," I'm having a silent film marathon. First up:
Körkarlen aka The Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjöströmm, 1921)
plot synopsis: It’s New Year’s Eve. Three drunkards evoke a legend. The legend tells that the last person to die in a year, if he is a great sinner, will have to drive during the whole year the Phantom Chariot, the one that picks up the souls of the dead… David Holm, one of the three drunkards, dies at the last stroke of midnight…
i almost feel like i should do two different reviews for this film because, in a way, it is two different films; the action on the screen being one of them, and the bone-chilling, endlessly bleak, pulsing score (composed for the 1998 restoration of the film by matti bye). i actually had to watch this in about six different 15-20 minute installments; the score is so relentlessly brutal on your mind that i think watching in one sitting could drive someone crazy. that being said, it’s a brilliant score; right from the opening credits sequence, which consists of nothing more than a constant hammering sound (incredibly creepy in context), it reminds the viewer that, even when the action onscreen isn’t always bleak, the message of the film is.
which brings me to the film itself, which i actually didn’t find to be anything particularly special. it’s basically just a variation on “a christmas carol,” with a sinful man being shown the error of his ways. at times the way the story is told (flashbacks, story-within-a-story, etc.) can get a bit confusing. i occasionally found myself wondering whether what i was watching was a flashback, or a story being told, or actually happening at that moment.
still, that score more than makes up for any weaknesses in the story. again, don’t watch this in one sitting; if you do, i can’t be responsible for the week of depression that follows.