The Scarlet Letter
Edgar Cochran ✝️

Review by Edgar Cochran ✝️ Patron

The Scarlet Letter 1926

★★★★½

Watched 28 Oct 2024

*Twitch Redeem by Stephanie Castro.*

Swedish mastermind of silent drama Victor Sjöstrom adapts Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel of the same name with an uncompromising and unapologetic approach to fundamentalist puritanism, especially the one that proliferated in Boston, based on deeming everything “non-pure” as “Satanic”, physical punishments and torture, executions, and extreme pharisaism. Lillian Gish shines more brightly than anyone present in this film (who did her lines in English), not disregarding Hanson’s appealing theatrical expressions and mannerisms (who did his lines in Swedish), and Henry B. Walthall’s deep stare, a stare as scary as an angry Toshiro Mifune character. Cinematography is completely stellar and the art direction is reminiscent of the landmark efforts by titan Griffith.

Unafraid of religious backlash, the film is as accurate as portraying the courtship tube for couples. I have seen zero plus one film adaptations of the novel and I’d have zero reasons to believe this is not the best.

Also, imagine how insane Lillian’s power at Hollywood was at MGM that she was able to handpick both the director and the male lead for the adaptation... Holy moly... At the end, she ended up picking Sjöström and Harson because she considered Sweden was closer to Puritanism than the U.S.

It is important to note the version I saw is fully restored and with good quality, but has no score. I’d initially thought this would affect my viewing, but please, do yourself a favor and never doubt Sjöström power of visual dramatic storytelling like I shamefully did.

92/100

Block or Report

Edgar liked these reviews

' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_3efb767b-742d-43ac-a770-7799d1588e6c" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-3efb767b-742d-43ac-a770-7799d1588e6c'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-3efb767b-742d-43ac-a770-7799d1588e6c'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-3efb767b-742d-43ac-a770-7799d1588e6c'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_7cfbd2c2-8774-41a8-9d1a-12fa94927b8d" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-7cfbd2c2-8774-41a8-9d1a-12fa94927b8d'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-7cfbd2c2-8774-41a8-9d1a-12fa94927b8d'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-7cfbd2c2-8774-41a8-9d1a-12fa94927b8d'));