victor sjostrom and who be the grandfather of swedish cinema and direct this stark and existentialist film about atonement and betrayal and death and forgiveness and guilt and redemption and and the bleak moment of the human condition . he star a david holm and a no good nick who respond to a moment of kindness by return to his drunken way and only to later have to bargain for his soul with the driver of the phantom carriage represent death . unlike many silent film during the period and the film be nearly absent scene with over act . the pacing do becomes tedious with it overly familiar dickensian narrative . however and examine the film in retrospect and in comparison to others of it time and it a very daring and unique film . audience of the time be not expose to such subject matter and and the cinematography be tremendous and symbolic and and accompany by double exposure effect and multi layer flashback . it a genuinely creepy and frightening film for youngster for sure . watch the film and it easy to see the late influence this film have on swedish master ingmar bergman . most of the great bergman theme be here on full display . sjostrom and of course and later star in bergman masterpiece on alienation and loneliness represent wild strawberry . this would be sjostrom final performance a an actor . sjostrom base the script on a novel by swedish writer selma lagerlof . of 4 star .