The Scarlet Letter (1934) User Reviews

Oddly faithful little relic

[dr_foreman · 6/10 · 23 January 2004]

I was struck by how faithful this film is to the original novel, comparatively speaking anyway (I've seen versions of Jane Eyre with a beautiful Jane, and versions of Moby Dick where Ahab wins!). The three main characters - Hester, Chillingworth, and the tortured Reverend, are all sensitively and accurately portrayed. The story is compacted, of course, but the essential elements are there.

The only real let-down is the inclusion of strange, slapstick comic characters who show up every ten minutes, like clockwork, to perform some unfunny bit of business. A perverse part of me kinda liked them, maybe because they were so crass, and such an obvious attempt to lighten the mood. I also got a strange joy out of seeing some totally inappropriate costumes among the villagers, including what appeared to be a group of Conquistadors (!) loitering in the background.

It's amazing that, despite these horribly incongruous elements, the film works pretty well.

Immortal Hawthorne novel gets poverty row treatment

[lugonian · 4/10 · 30 June 2001]

"The Scarlet Letter" (Majestic, 1934), directed by Robert G. Vignola, is the first sound screen adaptation to the immortal novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, set in 18th century Massachusetts, starring former silent movie comedienne Colleen Moore in what was to become her final screen appearance.

Filmed eight years after the silent MGM 1926 success that starred Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson, this sound adaptation differs from the earlier film in both continuity as well as production values. In the silent version, Hester Prynne (Gish), a seamstress whose husband is away at sea, meets the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale (Hanson), who falls in love with her unaware that she is married. However, she becomes pregnant with his child and after the baby's birth, she keeps Dimmesdale's secret that he is the father in spite of the punishment she must face. In the sound version, set in 1642, the story starts off almost immediately in which the viewer finds Hester Prynne (Moore), already a mother, holding her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms, standing in front of the congregation. She is on trial for having the child out of wedlock and because she refuses to name the father of her baby, for her humiliation and punishment she must wear the scarlet letter "A" over her bosom for the rest of her natural life. Henry B. Walthall, who plays Roger Prynne, Hester's middle-aged husband in both 1926 and 1934 versions, appears in the near beginning of the story while in the silent version, his character makes his appearance almost an hour from the start of the film. In the two versions, his character returns home from his long sea journey to find his young wife has beared forth a child that is obviously not his, thus, and to save face, decides to be known through the community as Doctor Roger Dillingwell. Hester, in turn keeps her husband's identity a secret, knowing that his avenge is to learn the father's identity. Moving forward to 1647, Hester's daughter, Pearl (Cora Sue Collins), now five, must face her own humiliation by being an outcast to the neighborhood children, who refuse to play with her, and being insulted by their mothers, unaware as to why she is being treated just as cruelly as her mother, who steps in on Pearl's behalf after one scene finding Pearl getting mud thrown at her by the other children. As for the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale (Hardie Albright), he silently suffers for being worshiped by his congregation, unable to confess to all, through a promise he had made to Hester to keep silent, that he is the one responsible for Hester's guilt, and continues to suffer until the climax.

While "The Scarlet Letter" in 1926 was intelligently made and still holds up surprisingly well today, the 1934 adaptation might have equaled the earlier had it not been for its low production values and very slow pacing. Some of the dialog spoken has good intentions and meaning, but then sinks with some unnecessary comedy scenes (mostly by Alan Hale and William Kent) and poorly spoken dialog that unbalances the continuity to the story. At times I wonder what it would have been like had MGM itself remade "The Scarlet Letter" with Lillian Gish reprising her earlier role, with possibly Fredric March or Franchot Tone playing Dimmesdale. Would it have been a failure, or would it have been in the class of MGM's other literary works of that period, which include the 1935 releases of "David Copperfield," "Anna Karenina" and "A Tale of Two Cities?"

Personally, after seeing "The Scarlet Letter" of 1934 several times, a public domain title available through numerous video and DVD sources, I find its real fault is its slow pacing, and sometimes the performance of Hardie Albright fails to bring forth the strong points to his character. Aside from the actors mentioned, the movie includes screen veterans William Farnum, Virginia Howell and Jules Cowles (who can also be seen in the 1926 version). Film buffs will delight into watching this rarely seen find, which did enjoy some frequent revivals during the early years of Cable TV in the 1980s, and making it's Turner Classic Movies premiere January 28, 2024, but others will find themselves falling asleep long before the movie is over. To learn more about the Hawthorne literary classic, just read the novel. (**)

For Laughing on ye Sabbath

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 11 November 2007]

This film is probably most notable, in hindsight, as containing the last cinematic performance from Colleen Moore, one of the great "silent" stars of the 1920s. Ms. Moore's portrayal of Hester Prynne is neither great nor representative, but it does reveal the actress had the ability to carry on making pictures with sound. Sadly, the available material proved unworthy of Moore.

This is an uninspired, and unnecessary, attempt at a more comic version of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"; it is more listless than lighthearted. The drama is provided by the classic literary trio of characters: Moore as Hester Prynne, Hardie Albright as Arthur Dimmesdale, and Henry B. Walthall as Roger Chillingworth. The comedy is provided by Alan Hale as Bartholomew Hockings, William Kent as Sampson Goodfellow, Virginia Howell as Abigail Crakstone, and others. In a close call, but the comedy side of the story is slightly more entertaining.

Mr. Hale's performance is the most enjoyable of the comic players; significantly, he is able take all the attention off Mr. Albright, during one of the latter's dramatic sermons, as Reverend Dimmesdale. Mr. Walthall, who performed the same character in the far superior 1926 version, with Lillian Gish, is interesting to watch; but, his attempt at a faithful portrayal of Chillingworth does not match the surrounding production.

Adorable Cora Sue Collins plays "Pearl" Shirley Temple-like -- this is understandable, given the time of release -- consider, especially, the scene when Ms. Moore and her little girl take swords, begin a dancing march, and chant, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" Cora, take a bow!

An Adequate If Sometimes Plain Adaptation

[Snow Leopard · 23 November 2005]

This is an adequate and generally faithful screen version of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter". It is sometimes lacking in energy and dramatic tension, but both the story and its heroine are tough to do justice to on screen, and of the various attempts to do so, only the silent version with Lillian Gish has ever really worked. This features Colleen Moore as Hester, and it brings out the main points of the story well enough.

Moore's performance is actually good in its own right, but it does not really fill the shoes of Hawthorne's conception of Hester. That's nothing against Moore, a good actress, and indeed she makes this version better than the 1990s attempt, which was nearly unwatchable despite having a cast of well-regarded performers. As Dimmesdale, Hardie Albright gives a mostly plain performance, though there are times when this actually works in bringing out the character's inherent weakness of will. Henry B. Walthall gives a good portrayal of the vengeful Roger.

Most of the sequences work in telling the essentials of the story without frills. Some of the screen time is devoted to comic relief by Alan Hale and William Kent, which provides some light moments, although it never really fits in with the rest of the movie.

Overall, it's a solid effort for its time that does get across the main themes of the story. With a little more character development, it actually might have been rather good.

Dreary, Melodramatic Bore

[Space_Mafune · 3/10 · 21 January 2008]

In 1642 Puritan America, a woman named Hester Prynne (Colleen Moore) is forced to wear a mark of shame, a Scarlet Letter "A" on her chest after being found guilty of adultery after bearing a child two years after her husband disappeared thought lost at sea. The truth is known to only two others, the town's beloved Reverand Dimmesdale (Hardie Albright) who happens to be in reality secretly the child's father and Hester's returned husband Dr. Roger Chillingworth (Henry B. Walthall), who assumes that identity rather than be shamed by a cheating wife. Chillingworth is determined to gain a measure of revenge by trying to make the lives of Hester and the Reverand as miserable as he possibly can.

While this movie may be faithful to its source material, it's overall a dreary, melodramatic bore for most of its running time. Albright's sometimes hammy performance as Dimmesdale seems particularly overdone. Moore does try as Hester Prynne but ultimately the role proves fairly plain, simple and unmemorable overall. Only those comedic bits featuring Alan Hale and William Kent added here and there to lighten the mood makes this the least bit viewable at all.

Not perfect, but still very watchable.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 14 August 2010]

This movie was made by Majestic Films and has fallen into the public domain. If you'd like to see it, click the link on IMDb and you can either watch it online or download it for later viewing.

"The Scarlet Letter" begins with a prologue which, frankly, was really, really stupid and sought to undo some of the impact of the film. It talked of Puritans and their harsh ways and then described them as being '...a necessity of the times'! What?! What idiot decided to hedge the film's bets by trying to make the Puritans seem like cool folk--and nothing like Hawthorne's novel! This film features some rather familiar actors. Colleen Moore is in the lead, and while she is pretty much forgotten today, was a huge star at the time and in the late silent era. In addition, the ubiquitous Henry Walthall and William Farnum (both silent stars) are on hand as is Alan Hale. Oddly, Hale has been inserted as comic relief--and I certainly didn't think that this novel was a comedy!! However, apart from this inappropriate addition and the stupid prologue, the rest of the film is reasonably close to the novel and is quite good--though some of the more allegorical aspects have been removed--making the story more straight-forward and less symbolic. The only noticeable shortcoming in the film I haven't mentioned is the lack of incidental music--a sure sign of a low-budget production. Still, with such a small budget, the acting and production as a whole was worthy of Hawthorne's novel.

A Somewhat "Old" Feeling In A Sometimes "Bland" Movie But It's Passable

[sddavis63 · 4/10 · 4 August 2009]

I have to confess that - aside from the broad brushstrokes - I'm largely unfamiliar with the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and so am not able to speak to the faithfulness of this movie to that story. Judged on its merits as a movie, this wasn't bad. The struggle against sin and hypocrisy was fairly well represented, the judgmentalism of the early Puritan community in which its set is clearly portrayed. Having said that, it's rather bland and unemotional at times (which, admittedly, fits the stereotype of an early Puritan community) although in the few scenes in which there is emotion (I think particularly of the closing scene with Dimmesdale's public confession) that emotion is well portrayed. The settings here seemed wrong. In particular I thought the homes that were shown looked far too comfortable for the 1640's. Some of the performances (especially I thought that of Hardie Albright as Dimmesdale, with the exception of that closing scene) seemed a bit forced, although I appreciated the attempt to mix some humour into a movie that could have been very heavy, as Alan Hale and William Kent portray the attempts of Hockings to help Goodfellow court the widow Crakstone, although in some ways (again, I haven't read the novel) that seemed unconnected to the overall story. In the lead role, Colleen Moore was good as Hester Prynne, although she didn't dominate the movie in the way you would expect the lead to do. In terms of the overall quality of the movie compared to others of the era, I find the 1930's a strange decade. Some of its films seem quite modern, while others seem very old. This version of "The Scarlet Letter" seems to fit into the latter group. 4/10

A charming film of a great novel from the early talkies.

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 6/10 · 22 February 2016]

Made in 1934 not long after the 'talkies' took over from the silent era this is one of the many versions of the classic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It has been made many times and I still love the 1995 version with Demi Moore and Gary Oldman. Here we have Colleen Moore (who was a star of the silent era) playing the fallen woman Esther Prynne – ordered to wear the scarlet letter 'A' for adultery to ever mark her sin and shame.

Hardie Albright plays the Reverend Arthur Dimmsdale and they still do that acting without words that was reminiscent of earlier filmatic days. They manage to get a lot of chemistry going despite the limited dialogue in places. There is also some humour ably supplied by a strong supporting cast. One of which is an early appearance of Alan Hale who went on to appear in many of Errol Flynn's films.

It is a poor quality audio but it does not detract from the overall feel of this time piece of a film. Made about history it has become a part of cinema history in its own right. I really enjoyed it as I love films from all eras. If you are a film history fan then this will be one you will be pleased to have seen.

Sad final film for the great Colleen Moore.

[David-240 · 6/10 · 25 October 1999]

Colleen Moore was without doubt one of the best silent actresses, especially in comedy. Her wit, charm and energy were infectious - even in interviews late in life she still shone. How sad it is, therefore, that she retired so young - only 34 - and that she went out on a film such as this one. Not that this is a terrible film - it has some strong moments - and Colleen is actually very good, but it is hardly worthy of her talents and is certainly not a good showcase for them. She plays the tragic single mother in the Puritan community with strength and dignity and is well matched by Hardie Albright who is very strong as her priest-lover. But Colleen is never allowed to be funny - the part is a grim one. How much more suitable she would have been to something like "It Happened One Night". To waste a great talent like hers is appalling.

Ironically the worst thing in this movie is the attempted comic relief with Alan Hale and William Kent playing a couple of buffoons chasing an eligible widow. They really fall flat.

Favorite movie based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel

[ja_kitty_71 · 10/10 · 4 May 2017]

You know, it really baffles me when people review a movie because they read the original book and say it doesn't live up to the book. This is a movie review and not a book-to-movie comparison review. I think some people would want to know about this movie's existence and not how well it was scripted from the book. Of course, I really enjoyed this movie based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel after watching it on YouTube through my smart TV. But since I had never seen the 1926 or the 1995 versions, this film from 1934 is the only version of the novel I now love. And also, I think Disney fans would love to see this film, because Hardie Albright (Arthur Dimmsdale) was Bambi's adolescent voice.

I thought Pearl (in this film) was a cute kid, and it was sad the other kids wouldn't play with her because they are "mini-versions" of their parents, including one punk-a** kid who takes after his battle-axe mom. As for the comedy between two original characters that everyone bashes about, I found it to be a "breath of fresh air" to a somber (yet beautifully told) story. Overall, I really love this film; that is my last word.

A Society Hard On Unwed Mothers

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 4 July 2011]

This version of The Scarlet Letter starring Colleen Moore, Hardie Albright, and Henry B. Walthall was the first one done in sound and the seventh in 10 adaptions according Internet Movie Database. It marked the farewell performance of Colleen Moore who retired from the screen rather than continue in sound where she hadn't done as well as in silent films.

An independent outfit called Majestic Pictures did this one and to give it a nice ring of authenticity it was filmed at what now would be called a Puritan theme park set in Salem, Massachusetts. Author Nathaniel Hawthorne knew this culture well, one of his ancestors was the infamous Judge Hathorne of the Salem Witch Trials which occurred a couple of generations later.

These solemn and dour people who while the action of this film is taking place, 1642-1647, were also busy affecting a revolution over in the mother country that brought Oliver Cromwell to power eventually. Colleen Moore whose husband Henry B. Walthall had disappeared into the American wilderness some years before has an affair which produces a young girl child who is played by Cora Sue Collins.

But this Puritan Society is hard on unwed mothers and the town council deems her punishment to be that she be forced to wear a Scarlett Letter sewn to her garments of dress. Not unlike Jews forced to wear a yellow star of David or gays forced to wear the pink triangle under the Nazis. Walthall returns just in time to see this punishment pronounced, but he does not divulge his identity and he's welcomed in the community because he's a doctor.

Moore will not divulge the identity of the father and that would really rock this smug community as it is the town's pastor, Reverend Hardie Albright. Even back then we had people of the cloth who were not role models.

The problem is that Albright is a believer and he's really just human in a society that does not understand or tolerate human weakness. In the end it destroys him.

The whole novel with all its subtle nuances could not be filmed in a 70 minute running time. Yet I think the film managed to convey all that Hawthorne had to say on the subject. Being an independent film, it lacked production values a big studio could offer. Still the location filming made up for a lot of that.

This version of The Scarlet Letter is not a bad Cliff's Notes version of the classic novel.

Surprisingly direct version of a novel I could barely get through one chapter of in English lit.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 12 October 2016]

With apologies to my high school teachers who made this a part of my curriculum years ago, I did not have a good memory of attempting to read this "classic" piece of literature. I found it talky, judgmental and infuriating, which my teacher explained to me was the point. However, in just over an hour I can see what I missed, not having to imagine the hateful prudes in my minds eye, and laugh at the gossip, who in the opening scene, has her tongue clipped in punishment.

But for alleged widow Colleen Moore be publicly humiliated for having a baby out of wedlock, I wanted to see the townswomen all get their tongues clipped, especially the one six years later who tried to get the Puritan church to take her child (Cora Sue Collins) away from her. Of course, the father is in their midst, him being the well respected minister Henry B. Walthall. Her husband pulls an Enoch Arden and returns from the dead, vowing out of pride, not love, to get revenge. As the years go by, he obviously suspects Albright, but he keeps silent at Moore's pleading request.

There don't seem to have been very many versions of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel, and I am hard pressed to avoid the Demi Moore version. Like other "cliff notes" versions of novels at the time ("Oliver Twist ", "Jane Eyre", "A Christmas Carol", among others), this is obviously missing important details. But one thing that stands out for me is the obvious truth that the religious freedom that most Europeans came to a new world for is proved hypocritical. A narration in the titles indicates that it was necessary to form a new nation, but the sinning and gossipy nature of these puritanical old biddies proves otherwise. As I heard in a quote recently, there are two kinds of people: those who judge and those who mind their own business.

Not bad for a 1934 low budget presentation

[poj-man · 7/10 · 23 June 2013]

This film comes off as an early independent movie. There's nothing spectacular about the film but the production is rather solid. The sets, acting and dialog are all decent. The film plays like a stage presentation of the story.

The story is rather dry but that is what the Scarlet Letter is...a rather dry story. The tale is a good period piece on morality and hypocrisy but a "one-trick pony" is always a "one-trick" pony.

A good film for students of film history to see where society and film making came from. Probably real passé for anyone else. Not much else to say.

Nature of Guilt.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 8 April 2011]

Anthropologists used to divide cultures into those of "shame" and those of "guilt." Can I suggest the Mafia as an example of the former and this lot as an example of the latter? Boy, do they have guilt. One of them even dies from it. They were really puritanical. They must have been, otherwise why would they be called "Puritans"? I suppose I shouldn't joke about what is essentially a tragic tale of sin and redemption by Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose New England ancestors were responsible for some lousy goings on in the early 1600s. The author was probably trying to expiate some of his own guilt about his native culture. It's the same reason Southern authors like Faulkner and Carson McCullers wrote about the cultures they grew up in.

Anyway, what this movie is, is a kind of extremely classy and thoughtful soap opera, rather like Rhett and Scarlett in "Gone With The Wind," except that here the comic interludes are provided by a couple of town goons along the lines of Laurel and Hardy, instead of by slaves as in "Gone With The Wind." There's no other viable comparison, I don't think. Margaret Mitchell stuck us with the perspective of Scarlett O'Hara, but Hawthorne gives us an inside view of an entire stilted community.

It's not a community that I particularly admire. Not when the women have names like Hester and Abigail and Hepzibah. Yet Hawthorne shows that, although they can be mean as hell, the rules hold the community tightly together. In the end, the author seems to justify those rules.

The rules are curious in themselves. All community norms are. They're constructed in such a way as to stratify the town. Somebody always must be at the bottom of the ladder. If we didn't have small-town bums, we'd have to invent them in order to have someone to point at and tell ourselves, "At least WE'RE not as bad as THEY are." Those whores on our city streets make us feel good.

At any rate, this story involves Hester Prynne whose husband has been absent and incommunicado for, lo, two solid years. She has a child by a man she refuses to name and, as punishment, is condemned to wear the scarlet letter "A" on her dress to signify "adultress." The child is aptly named "Pearl," which is what you get when you iritate an oyster. The poor innocent kid is treated miserably by everyone. The rapscallion responsible is her own Pastor Dimmesdale, who can't reveal his sin without plunging the community into chaos -- or something. I didn't quite get his reasoning. He pays for his few moments of pleasure (or hours, if he was lucky) by branding his own chest secretly with an "A" and by getting sick and finally dying as he confesses. Of course, guilt doesn't really make you physically ill but it's a metaphor for his spiritual malaise. Final scene, Dimmesdale with his bared chest lying dead across Hester Prynne's lap, surrounded by the townspeople who have evidently found forgiveness in themselves for the two sinners. So it seems, anyway. Everyone is silent and the men remove their hats.

The melancholy story of suffering aside, it's kind of fun to watch Hollywood's treatment of period detail. I don't think they were still using Middle English forms of address like "thee" and "ye," were they? But we get to see the kind of clothing that the Pilgrims wore, and we see breadpans wielded, stocks, a joke revolving around a courting trumpet, wash boards that were really "boards", and Alan Hale as a rambunctious and finally duped carpenter.

The movie illustrates the sentiment behind Christ's pronouncement, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." It's also a good argument for birth control.