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      The Scarlet Letter

      1973 1h 34m Drama List
      Reviews 29% Audience Score 250+ Ratings Based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale of a colonial Salem woman who is forced to wear an emblem signifying a grave sin. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

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      Fernando F. Croce CinePassion A lumpy mlange of naturalism and melodrama Feb 13, 2011 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member An awkward period drama where everything, from the casting right and the setting right down to the music score seems out of place. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review eric b To hear the cruelest review of this erratic version of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel, just listen to director Wim Wenders' DVD commentary. He'll tell you how it's a perfect example of a difficult "second film." How the story demanded an American setting, but had to be shot in Spain and Germany because of budget problems. How the camera couldn't point through windows and doors, because this would reveal the artificial studio setting. How the cast spoke a wide variety of languages and had to be dubbed in post-production. How the experience permanently soured Wenders on period films. How the awkward costumes make at least one actor stumble onscreen (really, Wim, it's more than one). A flaw Wenders does fail to address is Jurgen Knieper's strangely awful score. Given Knieper's superb work on later projects such as "The State of Things" (1982), "River's Edge" (1986) and "Wings of Desire" (1987), it's baffling how far off the mark the music is here. The problem is particularly glaring in early scenes, where grim, plodding action is accompanied by grandiose swells that seem swiped from the climax of a 1940's romance. What happened? Senta Berger (as the iconic Hester Prynne) is more of a beauty than an actress, but the cast's saving grace is little Yella Rottlander, who plays the stoic daughter Pearl. She communicates sorrow much better than blank-faced Berger, whose runway-ready makeup continually defies the historical era. Wenders himself was so taken with Rottlander that he made her the title character of his next movie, "Alice in the Cities." Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The feeling of the 17th century in this picture is what I love, and it's a lovely story and some good acting, but the music sound like it's taken from a TV drama. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member This is second(?) movie of Wim Wenders and I have understood that he was close to stop making movies because of it. The same distance from the characters is present as in his later works. Filmography is beautiful, soundtrack tries to underline and at the same time takes the sting out of the movie. Dialogue is dubbed which adds the artificial nature. Recommended only because of the camera work - otherwise I'd advice everyone to stay away from this one. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member An extremely odd and beautifully adaptation of Hawthorne's novel. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Le regard de Wenders sur l'Amérique est étonnant, et prend le dessus sur l'histoire qu'il aimerait raconter...la musique est insupportable et les symboles, surabondants. À éviter... Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Scarlet Letter

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale of a colonial Salem woman who is forced to wear an emblem signifying a grave sin.
      Director
      Wim Wenders
      Production Co
      Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Elías Querejeta Garate, Produktion 1 IM Filmverlag der Autoren
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      German
      Runtime
      1h 34m