The Scarlet Letter (1934)

Colleen Moore

Robert G. Vignola's The Scarlet Letter, from 1934, is a woeful film in terms of its design and execution. Slow and ponderous, its 69 minutes feel like three hours. Vignola, who had some success during the silent era helming Marion Davies comedies, directs in an overly static fashion, the lone tracking shot is some 67 minutes into the film. The film contains very little of Hawthorne's sinister romance, just a few highlights padded with lame attempts at comic relief. Like nearly every film adaptation of this book, it eradicates most of the traces of the supernatural contained in the novel. This version is worse even than the Roland Joffe adaptation starring Demi Moore which, at least, has more vulgar energy to it.

I don't think the novel is unadaptable, but there are hurdles. The world of the Puritans was so far removed from modern America that even in 1934 the producers of the film offered a disclaimer at the beginning:

This is more than the story of a woman -- It is a portrait of the Puritan period in American life. Though to us, the customs seem grim and punishments hard, they were a necessity of the times and helped shape the destiny of a nation.

The irony is that Mr. Hawthorne would have been appalled at this statement. His life work in letters stands as a repudiation of his Puritan forebears and their values. The Puritan legacy hung over Hawthorne his life, particularly that of one of his ancestors who helped judge the Salem witches. Even during his bucolic years at Bowdoin College in Maine, there was no escaping his Puritan forebears, Hawthorne was once given a demerit for picnicking on the Sabbath. An adaptation of his greatest book must contain both sturm und drang and a healthy dose of weirdness. Hawthorne portrays a reality that contains more mysteries than religion and reason can explain.

The 1934 film follows the lead of the 1926 version directed by Victor Sjostrom and starring the great Lillian Gish. I find that version to be too lightweight, but it towers above the 1934 flick. Colleen Moore, who was in the midst of a comeback try, was most renowned for starring in flapper colonies during the silent era. She studied Miss Gish's performance and creates a good facsimile of her dignified mien, but was not really suited for this role. This was her last film role, but she invested well and was noted for doll house designs. Hardie Albright is a complete washout as Dimmesdale, projecting mild indigestion rather than inner turmoil. Henry B. Walthall (The Birth of a Nation's "Little Colonel") repeats his role as Chillingworth from the Sjostrom version. It is arguable whether Walthall had made the transition to talkies and he would be dead within two years of the release of this film. 

The best film version of the book is a little seen television series from 1979 starring Meg Foster, John Heard, and Kevin Conway. The mini-series format provides enough amplitude to fully explore the novel's themes and uncanny digressions.