The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen)

THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE

A tale told in moving pictures under the direction of VICTOR SJOSTROM

At the camera - J. JULIUS

Once there was a poor Salvation Army sister at death's door.

She'd been stricken with galloping consumption

and had only held out for the space of a year.

When there was no hope left, she'd gone home to her mother.

Waiting at the foot of her bed was another Salvation Army sister

who had worked alongside the sick girl.

"Don't fret over those poor souls now, Sister Edit.

You've done enough for them."

"Send for David Holm!"

"Please don't!

My daughter was yours as long as she had a spark of life.

Now that she's dying, let me have her to myself."

"Sister Maria, why don't you do as I ask?

Send for David Holm!"

"I shall go find him at once."

"You can't be serious!

Asking David Holm to attend to a dying person!"

“I wasn't able to find him, but Gustavsson is looking too.

He'll bring him here if it's at all possible."

"Poor Mrs. Holm!"

"I'll take her back home.

It wouldn't do for her husband to see her if he should come here."

The evening on which these events took place was no ordinary evening.

It was New Year's Eve.

“Well, we'll certainly know when it's time to toast the New Year."

"It's a spooky place to wait for midnight, here among the dead."

"You gentleman aren't afraid of ghosts, I hope?"

"Then I'd like to tell you a story while we wait for the midnight hour."

"I once had a pal named Georges, who was generally a jolly fellow."

"He came from a good family and had studied at Uppsala University,

so he knew a bit more than the rest of us."

"But a change would come over him on New Year's Eve."

"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 reins,

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."

END OF PART 1

THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE PART 2

"Wherever he goes, he's greeted with sorrow and despair?

"There is no escape. He must perform his forlorn duty."

"Though horse and carriage are always the same, tha driver is not."

"The last soul to die each year-

thé one who passes over at the stroke of midnight-

is destined to be Death's driver for the following year."

"Now you know why I'm afraid

of something fatal happening to me on New Year's Eve."

"And the odd thing is, you see,

that Georges apparently died last New Year's Eve."

"Why hasn't Gustavsson arrived with David Holm?"

"Come with me, David Holm!

Sister Edit is dying, and she has asked for you."

"If Sister Edit wants to ses you, you must go to her at once!"

"David, I can't believe it's you! It is you who is to relieve me!"

"You should take me to the hospital in your carriage as quickly as you can."

"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."

"But worst of all, you must f3C9 th€ COHSGQUGTICSS

of the evil you have wrought during your lifetime."

"David, do you think I'm unaware

that it's my fault you've met such an end?"

"If you hadn't fallen in with me,

you'd have led a good life with your wife, children, and brother."

"By tomorrow you will have served your time for drunken behavior.

But before you leave, a harsher punishment awaits you."

"Behold your brother.

While you were here, he killed a man while intoxicated,

and now a long prison term awaits?

"But we feel that you ought to sen/e the sentence in his place,

since you and you alone lad him astray and made him a killer."

“Does this not make you want to tum from your wicked ways, David Holm?"

"Yes! Only now do I realize how it feels

to have brought great misery upon a loved one."

"What about your wife and children?"

"Now I know how miserable they've been, but I will tum over a new leaf.

They need never despair of me again."

END OF PART 2

THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE PART 3

"No, she's not ill.

She was well enough the other day when she left."

"And here I thought I'd come home to her with such joy!"

"If she had gone openly, I would have understood.

But to slink off like that, to let me come home to an empty house -

that was heartless!"

"I'll wipe those smiles off your faces.

I'll find her and show her how it feels

when your heart freezes to its very core, like mine has now!"

"I'll refrain from reminding you of your search for your wife,

during which your feelings of hatred and TGVGHQG QTGW €V9I' stronger?

"l will take you to a time a year ago, to last New Year's Eve,

when you camo to this town, bringing such misfortune in your wake."

"A Salvation Army station had been set up here in town,

and it was ready for use on New Year's Eve."

"Keep your food! I just want to sleep."

"Leave it alone!

It may be full of germs, and our sterilizing oven isn't working yet."

"Don't you realize, Maria,

how happy I am to help the first guest God has sent us?"

"Please goto bed. It's been a busy day.

Let me attend to this."

"Dear Jesus, let our first guest be blessed with a happy year."

All night long she bent over the coat,

never giving a thought to the germs and filth she inhaled.

By the time she went to bed,

the icy chill cf winter had thoroughly filled the room.

"Was it you who mended my coat?"

"Would you mind calling the person who did this?"

"it's a shame you went to all that trouble, miss,

but I'm used to having it like this."

"Before you leave, I'd like to ask you to visit me again next New Year's Eva."

"You see, I prayed that our first guest would have a good year,

and I'd like to know if my prayer was answered."

"Oh, I'll be here.

I'll come show you God didn't give a fig for you or your twaddlc-:."

"The time has come to honor that promise