The Library Police
  • Home
  • The Library Police Podcast
    • Episode 250: Endings
    • Episode 249: The Lightning Round Returns
    • Episode 248: Lightning Round!
    • Episode 246: What A Difference A Decade Makes
    • Episode 245: The Portrayal of Violence in Fiction
    • Episode 244: Books to Cheer You Up
    • Episode 243: How To Read Gooder
    • Episode 242: Romance In Fiction
    • Episode 241: The Past Looms Large
    • Episode 240: How We've Grown As Readers
    • Episode 239: Saladin Ahmed's Black Bolt
    • Episode 238: A Hannibal Playlist
    • Episode 237: The Mini-Primers
    • Episode 236: Revenge of the MiniTopics
    • Episode 235: Flawed Books That We Love
    • Episode 234: Expectations and Entitlement
    • Episode 233: The Literary Canon
    • Episode 232: Playlist - The Marvel Cinematic Universe
    • Episode 231: The Perfect Nanny
    • Episode 230: SciFi V. Fantasy
    • Episode 229: Playlist - Legion
    • Episode 228: Playlist - The Americans
    • Episode 227: Should you read YA Fiction?
    • Episode 226: The Dark Tower, Books 5-7
    • Episode 224: Media for Non-Readers
    • Episode 223: Getting Into A Reading Groove
    • Episode 222: 2017 Gift Guide
    • Episode 221: The Dark Tower, Books 1-4
    • Thanksgiving Throwback: Episode 128, Featuring Christopher Merchant
    • Episode 220: The Taboo Topics
    • Episode 219: SCBWI 2017
    • Episode 218: Classics Vs. Modern
    • Episode 217: A Primer for Thrillers
    • Episode 216: The Adventure Zone Balance Arc
    • Episode 215: Young Adult Fight
    • Episode 214: What Does An Author Owe You
    • Episode 213: Adaptations
    • Episode 212: Beach Reading
    • Episode 211: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
    • Episode 210: Interactive Storytelling
    • Episode 209: Audiobooks and Audio Storytelling
  • Features
    • A Good Story Poorly Told
    • Where Everyone Has Gone Before
    • Top Twenty Board Games of All Time
    • The Joy of Desperation
    • Prometheus: A Debate
    • Dude Writes Like A Lady
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • Film Reviews
    • Television Reviews
  • Interviews
    • Kristin O'Donnell Tubb
    • Katie McGarry
    • Gennifer Choldenko
    • Donald Bain
    • Logan L. Masterson
    • Catriona McPherson
    • Graham Brown
    • F. Paul Wilson
    • Will Lavender
    • Jeffery Deaver
    • Peter Straub
    • Dr. Bill Bass
    • Bruce DeSilva
    • D. Alan Lewis
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Forums
  • Announcement

The Phantom Carriage

10/28/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
On a basic level, The Phantom Carriage shares so much in common with Charles Dickens' Christmas Carolthat it's almost distracting. Both take place during the holidays; both are movies about men who have lost touch with human decency - in Dickens, it's due to greed, while Carriage focuses instead on alcoholism - and their families; both feature the men getting a visit from unearthly spirits; both feature near-death experiences and spiritual reawakenings of a sort. But while Dickens focused on Christmas spirit, The Phantom Carriage instead brings Death into the story as a literal, physical presence; moreover, the film's treatment of his alcoholism is horrific (if melodramatic) - and those two changes combine to make the tale feel more different than a summary might suggest. For all of that, though, what people always remember from The Phantom Carriage are the visuals, and it's not hard to see why - with its double-exposure phantoms, its shadowy recesses, and its generally haunting atmosphere, Phantom Carriage is a marvel of mood and visual storytelling. As an actual story, it's fine enough; while it's well told, it's nothing incredibly special or memorable, really, and it left me respecting it more than enjoying it. But as a visual innovation and as a demonstration of just how a silent film could convey everything simply through it's visuals, it's great viewing.


- Josh Mauthe

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.