The Scarlet Letter

I love this film for everything that it is. The story, the acting, the direction, everything about it is great.

The story revolves around Hester Prynne(Lillian Gish) and her love for the Reverrend Arthur Dimmesdale(Lars Hanson). Poor Hester is marked with the 'scarlet letter' when she gives birth to her lovechild with the bishop, and the bishop suffers on his own as his heart begins to fail on account of the guilt he feels.

The orchestration of this film helps a lot because the wonderful music helps you follow the story more and bring intensity. I love Lars Hanson's performance, he has the perfect profile for love scenes.

There just aren't enough words to describe the beautiful performances in this film....not that words are needed, then or now. Victor Seastrom's lovingly crafted scenes provide perfect visual frames for the transcendent performances of Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson. An artistic triumph for everyone concerned, and a bittersweet reminder of what was lost with the death of the art of the silent film. (The Turner restoration is alas, also bittersweet, as prints of wildly differing quality had to be "married" in order to create a substantially complete copy of the subject. Thus, viewers move from scenes that shimmer with pristine beauty to muddy, contrasty dupes. It's a tribute to the art of all concerned however, that this is not the distracting issue it might be with a lesser film. Like any work of art, you won't notice the cracks and flaws after a while if you're paying attention as you should. It's just a shame that the entire film isn't as mint-fresh as some of its scenes.)

A young mother is forced to wear THE SCARLET LETTER of adultery by her repressive society.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel is brought brilliantly to life in this excellent Silent film from MGM. Because the book was on the censored list, Lillian Gish, the era's finest actress, had to campaign vigorously with both the studio hierarchy and civic morality groups around the country to be allowed to make the film, causing her to ironically deal with the same sort of moral strictures her heroine would face in the film.

Her persistence paid off. She was able to obtain the services of director Victor Sjöström and actor Lars Hanson, both from Sweden. Sjöström instructed Miss Gish in the Scandinavian method of natural acting and he gave the film a blunt, no-nonsense look, crisp & clean, utilizing the Studio's excellent sets to the best of their advantage. Frances Marion, the most celebrated screenwriter of the day, was responsible for the literate script.

As the much harried Hester Prynne, Gish is beatific, her face radiating as if from an inner glow. She is playfully sweet as the community seamstress, wanting to cavort on the Sabbath or wear frilly clothing, only two of the actions proscribed & punishable by the Puritans' implacable rigidity. Later, with Hanson, she takes the viewer along as she delights in her new, hidden joy as he returns her love. Whether calmly standing on the scaffold to endure her shame, or fiercely protecting the unbaptized offspring of her forbidden passion, Gish never for an instant loses her grip on the pathetic character she's portraying.

Although he spoke no English, this was not a hindrance to Hanson. Playing the conflicted Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, Boston's saintly parson, he paints the portrait of a good man literally dying of guilt, a weak man who dare not defend his wife & child. Hanson's face reflects his agony, his left hand twitching at his own breast where his secret symbol of shame is hidden. With Gish unobtainable in this world, he moves steadily towards the inevitable, and deeply poignant, conclusion.

Henry B. Walthall, Miss Lillian's costar in Griffith's THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915), has the supporting role of a mysterious stranger whose arrival in Boston foreshadows a dire denouement for the wretched lovers.

Also in the cast are Karl Dane who acts out the viewers' dismay at the solemnity of the Puritans, most especially in the person of vindictive gossip Marcelle Corday; there is no love lost between this pair. Movie mavens will recognize diminutive Polly Moran & dour Nora Cecil as rigid Puritan matrons, both uncredited.

Victor Seastrom's magnificent retelling of Hawthorne's important novel is beautifully directed with an incredible performance by Lillian Gish. It is a disgrace that this film is not available in either VHS or DVD format (and especially so since the ludicrous version with Demi Moore is).

Exactly what we've lost since the end of the silent era is magnificently on display in Victor Seastrom's THE SCARLET LETTER: shimmering black and white photography of superbly composed and paced scenes capturing the essence of the American classic novel by Hawthorne, though certain details of the story have been altered and may annoy literary purists. This is not the novel but a separate work, more than a perceptive and intelligent picturization. Here is the great, lost art of silent screen acting, with Lillian Gish, unforgettable as Hesther Prynne, leading an accomplished cast. The result is pure visual poetry.