The Scarlet Letter (1926)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Victor Sjöström

Writers:

Nathaniel Hawthorne (novel)
Frances Marion (adaptation)

Release Date:

8 January 1927 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

In Puritan Boston, seamstress Hester Prynne is punished for playing on the Sabbath day; but kindly minister Arthur Dimmesdale takes pity on her...

Plot Keywords:

Seamstress | Love | Child | Adultery | Church

Cast

Lillian Gish	...	Hester Prynne
Lars Hanson	...	The Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale
Henry B. Walthall	...	Roger Chillingworth
Karl Dane	...	Master Giles
William H. Tooker	...	The Governor
Marcelle Corday	...	Mistress Hibbins
Fred Herzog	...	The Jailer
Jules Cowles	...	The Beadle
Mary Hawes	...	Patience
Joyce Coad	...	Pearl
James A. Marcus	...	A Sea Captain

Runtime:

Sweden:115 min | 98 min (2000 restored version)

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Miss Gish played her scenes in ‘The Scarlet Letter’ in English, and Hansen in Swedish.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "MGM: When the Lion Roars" (1992)

See it for what it is.

MGM's 1926 adaption of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" is, quite possibly, the best motion picture to have been released in the silent screen era's latter days. It can, undoubtedly, be looked upon as the best that two of that era's best actors-Lillian Gish & Lars Hanson-were paired up in. And, too, one very talented child actress, by the name of Joyce Coads, deserves to be given big credit. (She made only 10 more films before taking a final bow from the limelight; in her 2nd to last-"Devotion" 1931-she didn't get billing.) "The Scarlet Letter" should also be noted as, perhaps, the very best that Victor Seastrom- whom Charlie Chaplain had called "the best director in all the world" ever delivered. Just don't make the mistake of seeing this film as a good adaption of Hawthorne's novel. Because it's not. The film is a total of an hour and 20 minutes. Had it been really true to the novel, it just might have been longer than "Gone With The Wind." (And, speaking of the wind, as fate would have it, Seastrom directed only one more film in the US, which also teamed up Gish and Hanson: namely, "The Wind" (1928). MGM gave Seastrom his walking papers because he'd refused to give "The Wind" a happy ending. "The Scarlet Letter" of 1926 should also be seen by anyone who just might be under the mistaken impression that silent films can't leave a lasting impression.