The Scarlet Letter

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Steve D Passable version of the often told tale. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/04/24 Full Review Audience Member Didnt suck as bad as expected Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member One of the weaker adaptations of Nathaniel Hawthorne's American classic The Scarlett Letter, this 1934 version took some definite short cuts especially in the early portion of the film. Even if it's been a while since reading the book, the former reader will be disappointed. While the atmosphere and attitude is right, the film is far too short to successfully demonstrate the book's messages about intolerance, sin, knowledge, evil, personal identity, and Puritan society. The film is very formulaic when it cries out not be. Colleen Moore seems distracted all the time and does not present a very memorable Hester Prynne (in fact, she planned to leave Hollywood and the film industry immediately after filming wrapped). The Reverend Dimmesdale character is forgettable as well with Hardie Albright looking shocked-and-awed with his mouth-open all the time instead of showing audiences a man wrenched with inner guilt. The Hollywood formula might not be well-suited to The Scarlett Letter, but the comic relief provided by Alan Hale Sr. is much welcomed and his scenes are the only memorable portions of the film. With that being said, H.B. Walthall gives a seriously good performance as Roger Chillingsworth, his speech, personality, and gravitas give the film its only real power. The viewer can tell Walthall is very comfortable in this role and the film benefits from a veteran actor who has played the part before in the 1926 silent version. The best way to watch this film is in tandem with one or two other Scarlett Letter films, such as the aforementioned 1926 silent version directed by Victor Sjöström and starring Lillian Gish, the 1973 German version directed by Wim Wenders, or the 1995 version directed by Roland Joffe starring Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, and Robert Duvall. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Nathaniel Hawthorne's Novel is such an amazing story so well told, but this film adaption wasn't the most amazing. Colleen Moore was a hit in the 20's but her career wavered in the 30's. The acting and sound and overall production value of the film was a little poor, but the film itself overall was enjoyable. You feel for Hester's character, it's so unfair how she was treated it's easy to connect with her troubles. I am keen to see the 1926 version with Lillian Gish, I've herd it's a fair better version to watch. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member So this is quite clearly a poverty row B film and though it's got some interesting things going on, it's not terribly good. There's a fairly lame comedy story-line added and much of the nuance of the novel is removed, despite the fact that it sticks fairly closely to the basic plot. For my purposes, pretty much all the allegorical elements are deleted. The kid who plays Pearl is pretty cute, though. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member this has been one of my favs since high school Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Scarlet Letter

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