The Phantom Chariot (DVD)

A homeless vagrant, David Holm, is selected by the Angel of Death to be his successor. David reflects on his life, recalling how he was once a loving husband and father before being led astray by the temptations of alcohol and easy living. Seeing the good man he could be again, David vows to be the first to beat Death at his own game and escape eternal damnation.

Considered one of the first great works of Swedish cinema, The Phantom Chariot was released on New Year's Day, 1921. Writer, director and star Victor Sjostrom adapted the 1912 novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlof. The film's gothic visuals would be an influence on both F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) and Carl Dreyer's Vampyr (1932), while its storyline heralded the darker moments of Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Ingmar Bergman also noted The Phantom Chariot as an inspiration, and would cast Sjostrom as the lead in Wild Strawberries (1957).

• silent