The 1921 Swedish silent film The Phantom Carriage follows a Salvation Army worker who is dying on New Year’s Eve because she picked up deadly germs the New Year’s Eve before when she sewed up the coat of drunken, n’er do well David Holm. She calls for Holm on her death bed.

Holm’s life is one of debauchery and drunkenness. He makes life miserable for whoever he encounters. On that very New Year’s Eve, he tells a story in a graveyard that the last person to die in any year is doomed to be the Angel of Death for a year.

That angel, the dying Salvation Army sister and Holm’s relationship with them both is a complicated but incredible story. It’s a nice fit for a new year where hope, dreams and resolutions dominate our thoughts and are pretty much our focus for at least the first week.

Mr. Movie rating: 5 stars

Not rated but probably PG for mature themes. It plays at 8 p.m. Jan. 4 at the Battelle Auditorium in Richland.

5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it’s your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on DVD.
2 stars to 1 star: Don’t bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.