In the film, Sjöström plays a drunkard named David Holm who, on the night of New Year's Eve, is compelled by the ghostly driver of Death's carriage to reflect on his past mistakes.

Alongside Sjöström, the film's cast includes Hilda Borgström, Tore Svennberg, and Astrid Holm.

The following year, Metro Pictures Corporation re-edited and released the film in the United States under the title The Stroke of Midnight;[1][2][3] it was known as Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!

The next day, she asks him to return in one year; she had prayed that the first visitor would have good fortune for that period and wants to know the outcome of her prayer.

Since all of them had taken place in a rural setting, Sjöström felt that he wanted a change for the fourth and suggested the urban, gritty Körkarlen.

Lagerlöf was initially sceptical of adapting the novel's elements of occultism and mysticism to film, and Sjöström was well aware of the difficulties.

[2] Post-production was famously long and intense due to the extensive use of special effects, developed by cinematographer Julius Jaenzon and lab executive Eugén Hellman.

Double exposures made in-camera (optical printing was not available until the early 1930s), had been used before by Jaenzon, already in Sir Arne's Treasure from 1919, but were here developed to be far more advanced with several layers.

[3] The following year, Metro Pictures Corporation re-edited and released the film in the United States under the title The Stroke of Midnight.

[1][2][3] This version of the film alters its narrative structure in such a way that the legend of Death's carriage is not introduced until about halfway through its running time.

[3] According to Paul Mayersberg, the different titles under which the film was released "reflect the uncertainty of distributors at the time in identifying its genre: ghost story, horror, thriller, religious fable?

"[3] Upon release, a reviewer for the magazine The Bioscope concluded that "Wherever [The Phantom Carriage] is shown it will help to add dignity and importance to the art of cinema".

[13] That same year, Jim Vorel of Paste named it the best horror film of 1921, calling it "a masterpiece of composition and a breakthrough in early practical effects (especially double exposures to simulate ghostly transparency) within the horror genre, although the film functions just as much as a morality playlet and over-the-top melodrama.

[15] The television play The Image Makers (2000), directed by Bergman, is a historical drama depicting the making of The Phantom Carriage.

[citation needed] It is listed in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which reads: "The Phantom Carriage not only cemented the fame of director-screenwriter-actor Victor Sjöström and Swedish silent cinema, but also had a well-documented, artistic influence on many great directors and producers.

"[16] Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror film The Shining features several thematic and visual similarities with The Phantom Carriage, namely the effects of alcoholism on a family unit, and a sequence in which a father uses an axe to break through a wooden door to reach his fleeing wife and child.

For decades, The Phantom Carriage was only available in poor quality, black-and-white prints, often of the American release version, with English intertitles.

6057 ft at 18fps) but good quality, colour tinted print with a custom score by Elena Kats-Chernin was broadcast on ZDF/Arte, and later released on German VHS (1995) and DVD (2009).

[21] 2015: The Swedish Film Institute carried out a further digital transfer of their restoration; this version is only available as a DCP, with or without Bye's recorded score.