"The Phantom Carriage" "A tale told in living pictures under the direction of Victor Sjöström" "At the camera:" "J. Julius" "Once there was a poor Salvation Army sister at death's door." "She was stricken with galloping consumption, and she had only held out for the space of a year." "When there was no hope left she had gone home to her mother." "Waiting at the foot of her bed was another Salvation Army sister who had once worked alongside the sick girl." ""Don't fret over those poor souls now, Sister Edit."" ""You have done enough for them."" ""Send for David Holm!"" ""Please don't!" "My daughter was yours as long as she had a spark of life."" ""Let me have her to myself now that she is dying."" ""Slster Maria, why don't you do as I ask?" "Send for David Holm!"" ""l shall go fetch him at once."" ""You can't be serious, asking David Holm to attend a death bed?"" ""l haven't been able to find him, but Gustavsson is looking too."" ""He will bring him here if that is at all possible."" ""Poor Mrs Holm Poor Mrs Holm"" ""l'll take her back home."" ""lt wouldn't do for her husband to see her should he come."" "The evening on which these events took place was not an ordinary one." "It was New Year's Eve." ""Well, we will certainly know when it's time to toast the New Year!"" ""lt's a spooky place to await midnight, here among the dead."" ""You gentlemen are not afraid of ghosts, I hope?"" ""Then I'd like to tell you a story while we wait for the midnight hour."" ""l once had a pal called Georges, who was generally a jolly fellow."" ""He came of a good family, and had studied hard 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 the cart of death."" ""There is an old, old cart..."" "no ordinary driver holds the reigns."" ""He is 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 l" "The Phantom Carriage Part ll" ""Wherever he goes, he is greeted with sorrow and despair."" ""There is no escape He must perform his sorry duty."" ""Although the horse and cart remain the same, the driver will vary."" ""The last soul to die each year, the one who gives up the ghost at the stroke of midnight, is destined to be Death's driver during the coming year."" ""Now you know why i'm afraid of something fatal happening 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."" ""lf Sister Edit wants to see you, you must go at once!"" ""David, I can't believe it's you!" "You are meant to relieve me!"" ""You ought to lift me up ln your cart and take me to the hospital."" ""No living soul rides ln this cart."" ""By the time I arrive it is too late for a doctor."" ""You know well enough that I am no longer alive."" ""But, worst of all, you must face the consequences of the evil you have wrought during your lifetime."" ""David, do you think i'm unaware that it is my fault you have met such an end?"" ""lf you hadn't fallen in with me you would have led a good life with your wife, children and brother."" ""By tomorrow you will have served your time for drunken behaviour."" ""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 serve the sentence instead, since you and you alone led him astray, and made him a killer."" ""Does this not make you turn from your wicked ways, David Holm?"" ""Yes, for only now do I realise how it feels to have brought great misery upon a loved one."" ""What about your wife and children?"" ""l know how miserable they felt, but I will turn over a new leaf."" "End of Part ll" "The Phantom Carriage Part lll" ""No, she is not ill."" ""She was well enough the other day, when she left."" ""And here I was thinking I would come home to her with such joy!"" ""lf 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!"" ""l'll wipe those smiles off your faces."" ""l'll find her, and I'll teach her how it feels when your heart freezes to its very core, like mine has!"" ""l'll refrain from reminding you of your search for your wife, during which your feelings of hatred and revenge waxed stronger."" ""l will take you to a time a year ago, to last New Year's Eve, when you came here, 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 only want to sleep."" ""Leave it be!" "It may be full of germs!"" ""We don't have the sterilising oven going yet."" ""Don't you realise, Maria, how it pleases me to help the first guest God sent us?"" ""Please, go to bed. lt'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 thought to the germs she had inhaled."" ""By the time she went to bed the chill of winter had thoroughly penetrated the room."" ""Did you mend my coat?"" ""Would you mind fetching the person who did this?"" ""lt'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 next New Year's Eve."" ""You see, I prayed that our first guest would have a good year."" ""And I wanted to find out if my prayers were answered."" ""Oh, I'll be here."" ""l'll come to show you God didn't give a fig for you or your twaddle."" ""The time has come to honour that promise before you take over here."" ""From you she contracted the disease that ends her life, and now she awaits your visit."" ""You have possessed all that is most wonderful, but you have lost it!"" ""You cannot avoid the torment or remorse, just as you cannot escape taking over as Death's driver for a year."" ""Captive, take leave of thy prison!"" ""Ye spirit that left thy body at the stroke of midnight, thou wilt relieve me of my office."" ""For a year thou wilt reap souls."" "End of Part lll" "The Phantom Carriage Part lV" ""lt is Death, but too soon."" ""You see that i'm not afraid of you."" ""l will gladly heed your summons, but grant me a day's grace, for there is someone I must talk sense into."" ""You do not know what terrible misfortune I have caused."" ""l cannot approach the Lord before I have put it right."" ""l must tell you that the person i'm waiting for is the man I love." ""Do you understand?" "The man I love!"" ""l would grant you grace if it would avail you, but you have no power over this man."" ""You have tried to make him mend his ways, believing he was good, but your hopes have been dashed time and time again."" ""You're the one who enticed him away from his home and his work!"" ""You made him the drunkard he is!"" ""Don't let yourself be dragged under!"" "Salvation Army Rally" ""Run along and be saved, and upon my soul i'll come and watch you!"" ""What's the use of making such a fuss?"" ""l'm a consumptive, but I cough into people's faces in the hope of finishing them off."" ""Why should they be better than us?"" ""He's merely amusing himself." "He's not as wicked as he pretends to be."" ""How can you be filled with such bitter hatred for your fellow man?"" ""You needn't worry about that." "I'll be leaving town in a few days."" ""No, you mustn't do that!"" ""l would rather you stayed so I may challenge you again."" ""However tempting that maybe, I still can't stay."" ""You see, little missy, i'm on a journey throughout Sweden, in search of a person I must find at all costs."" ""Who ls this person you seek?"" ""You'll know that when I find the person in question"" ""l am the one David Holm is looking for."" ""l am his wife."" ""l couldn't endure the life he led."" ""I deserted him, took my children and crept away in secret."" ""l moved to this town for it was so far from our old home, that I never expected him to come looking for me here."" ""You must take him back!" "It's his only hope!"" ""l didn't mean that you must make up your mind on the spot, but promise me to listen to your heart, and we can talk again."" "She had got the better of herself and asked for none of the things that belonged to this world." ""Just come with me!" "A surprise awaits that will make you happy."" "End of Part lV" "The Phantom Carriage Part V" "She wanted to replant the seed that had fallen among the thorns, and she may well have gained her end had it not been that..." ""The doctor says it's pneumonia."" ""Her resistance is so poor for she has had ill health ever since last New Year's Eve."" ""Yes, this David Holm has been her undoing."" ""She worries so about the situation between him and his wife, but she mustn't know the truth."" ""You might at least have the heart to spare the children from infection!"" ""lt wasn't as easy to run away this time!"" ""Haven't you had enough revenge?"" ""lf only I hadn't brought them together again!"" ""His sin would be of less magnitude if not for me."" ""You must grant me grace!" "I cannot die yet!"" ""l must see him turn over a new leaf!" "." "Just spare me a few minutes!"" ""You know I love him." "I've never loved him as I do today."" ""Captive, ye of loving heart, take leave of thy prison."" ""Come along." "There ls nothing for us to do here."" ""Those who are to receive her will arrive shortly."" ""You know, David, if I could send a message to humankind," ""l would like to send them a New Year's greeting."" ""l would like them to dwell on a single New Year's prayer."" ""Lord, please let my soul come to maturity before it is reaped."" ""Why are we here?" "Surely no one here is going to die!"" ""No, I can't go on. I can't go on!"" ""l'm sorry, but I must go away, and I cannot leave them behind."" ""Please don't be angry with me." "It's not my fault."" ""This will do, David." "It will suffice for the children and myself."" ""Yes, David, I see what's coming."" ""l'm obliged to watch." "I do not shirk my duty."" ""You mustn't let it happen!" "Thls mustn't come to pass!"" ""Don't let those poor, innocent creatures die!"" ""l have no power over the living."" ""Where shall I turn?"" ""Should I pray to God or to Jesus?" "Who can tell me where to direct my plea?"" ""l'm a poor, miserable sinner," "I beseech thee Lord of life and Death!"" ""l'm not worthy, I've broken your every commandment."" ""Sentence me to eternal night!"" ""Let nothing remain of me!"" ""Do what you like to me, my Lord, only spare the three of them!"" ""David, I see that I no longer need to grieve for you!"" ""She hasn't done it yet." "I made it here in time!"" ""Sister Edit is dead, and I have been at her side."" ""l promised her to become a good husband and father."" ""You're lying!" "Sister Maria told me you refused to go to her."" ""Are you crying, David?"" ""No one believes I want to reform."" ""l want to be good, but no one believes me. ls it any wonder I cry?"" ""lt's hard to believe, David."" ""But I do believe you." "Your tears convinced me."" ""l can't help crying too."" ""l won't be truly happy until my sorrow is drained."" ""Lord, please let my soul come to maturity before it ls reaped."" "THE END" "Audio by KTL (Stephen O'Malley  Peter Rehberg)" "Mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln"