Amoeba Music

The last person to die on New Years Eve before the clock strikes twelve is doomed to take the reins of Deaths chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year. So says the legend that drives THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE (KORKARLEN), directed by the father of Swedish cinema, Victor Sjostrom (THE WIND), about an alcoholic, abusive ne'er-do-well (Sjostrom himself) who is shown the error of his ways and the pure-of-heart Salvation Army sister who believes in his redemption. Based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlof, this extraordinarily rich and innovative silent classic (which inspired Ingmar Bergman to make movies) is a Dickensian ghost story and a deeply moving morality tale, as well as a showcase for groundbreaking special effects.

Special Features:

• New digital transfer, restored in collaboration with the Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute.
• Two scores, one by acclaimed Swedish composer Matti Bye and the other by the experimental duo KTL.
• Audio commentary featuring film historian Casper Tybjerg.
• Interview with Ingmar Bergman excerpted from the 1981 documentary Victor Sjöström: A Portrait, by Gösta Werner.
• The Bergman Connection, an original visual essay by film historian and Bergman scholar Peter Cowie on The Phantom Carriage's influence on Bergman.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• Booklet featuring an essay by screenwriter and filmmaker Paul Mayersberg.