Demi Moore

Gary Oldman

Robert Duvall

Lisa Andoh

Edward Hardwicke

Robert Prosky

Roy Dotrice

Joan Plowright

Malcolm Storry

James Bearden

Larissa Laskin

Amy Wright

George Aguilar

Tim Woodward

Joan Gregson

Dana Ivey

Diane Salinger

Jocelyn Cunningham

Sheldon Peters Wolfchild

Eric Schweig

Kristin Fairlie

Sarah Campbell

Judd Jones

Anthony Paton

Marguerite McNeil

Kennetch Charlette

Deborah Tennant

Kateri Walker

Shaun Clarke

Jay Carmichael

Jason Parkhill

Jeremy Keddy

Nicholas Rice

Len Doncheff

Ashley Nolan

Steve Cosmic

Evelyn Francis

Gary Joseph

Stephen Micalchunk

Jeremy Akerman

Scout LaRue Willis

Tallulah Willis

Jodhi May

Roland Joffé

Tova Laiter

Andrew G. Vajna

Thom Noble

John Barry

Alex Thomson

Dodi Fayed

Douglas Day Stewart

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Brian Best

Cinda-Lin James

Alison Reid

Corry Glass

Jeff 'JJ' Dashnaw

Elisabeth Leustig

Cynthia Patton

Roy Walker

Buddy Joe Hooker

Francesca Paris

Robert F. Colesberry

John Stoneham Jr.

Rosalind Shingleton

Gabriella Pescucci

Ben Gauthier

Jim Finkbeiner

Fabrizio Sforza

Alex Green

Mike Mitchell

Warren A. Stevens

Bryan Forde

Dennis Maguire

David Jacox

Paul Rutledge

Jennifer Bower O'Halloran

Tony Woollard

Elizabeth Kuchurean

Mark Berger

John Dodds

Linda Steeves

Lars P. Winther

Flint Eagle

Jamie Jones

Billy Linders

Greg Schlosser

Duane Howard

Holly Huckins

Guy Bews

Michael Lee Baron

Dave McMoyler

François Gauthier

Joy Hooper

John Gallagher

Jason Glass

Tom Glass

Fred Perron

Brent Woolsey

Eric Bryson

Sue Parker

Drama

Romance

Western

The Scarlet Letter

Cinergi Pictures

Lightmotive

Allied Stars

Moving Pictures

Hollywood Pictures

United States of America

English

based on novel or book

boston, massachusetts

pregnancy

witch burning

puritan

period drama

extramarital affair

17th century

CinemaSerf

Heavens, but this is heavy going. Demi Moore is "Hester", sent on to a Massachusetts colony ahead of her husband to set up their new home. Determined to stand on her own two feet, she invites the enmity of the community by insisting on living on her own. Her only ally seems to be the preacher "Dimmesdale" (Gary Oldman) and he becomes more crucial when it looks like her husband has been killed in a shipwreck and when, shortly thereafter, she becomes pregnant. Determined not to reveal the identity of the father, she endures the disdain from her somewhat puritanical neighbours and both her and her daughter are shunned. Suddenly, enter Robert Duvall ("Roger") her long lost, and not very likeable, husband who decides that vengeance shall be his - and a burning might soon be in the offing. Despite an half decent cast, with some very solid supporting characters from the likes of Edward Hardwicke and Joan Plowright, the story is stolid in it's delivery. The opportunities to illustrate and expose the superstitious and hypocritical standards of the day; of the population who lived in a male-dominated, god-fearing society are lost in a stodgy dialogue with repetitive scenarios that look good, but take the story forward with the speed of a rhino stuck in treacle. This suffered from too much resource, too long a filming schedule and a very weakly delivered narrative and at the end I may well have volunteered myself for the flames.

**_A glimpse of what it was like to live on the Northeast coast in the mid-1600s_**

Hester Prynne arrives at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1666 (Demi Moore) to set up a homestead in preparation for her husband. As she gets to know the local pastor, Arthur Dimmesdale (Gary Oldman), they get word of tragedy concerning her spouse (Robert Duvall).

"The Scarlet Letter” (1995) is notorious for being one of the worst adaptions of a well-known novel ever made, but movies usually make significant changes, such as Coppola & writer James Hart adding a love story to “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” which didn’t hinder that movie from being a popular (modest) hit. Even films based on recent novels make notable changes, such as “Serena.” How much more so with a book from 1850? 

Adding details on how Hester meets Arthur and how their relationship evolves works in my book. After all, viewers need to know why the protagonists were susceptible to the moral transgression in question. Of course, the reason Hawthorne’s book delayed the revelation of who Hester committed adultery with was to create suspense and provoke shock when it’s revealed to be the minister.

Speaking of Arthur, he’s more noble here compared to the book where he’s an over-the-top hypocrite. They made the lumber baron in “Serena” more honorable as well. Or consider Roger Moore, who refused to portray James Bond as a woman-beater after his first movie in the role, which was a hit. Once actors gain an amount of clout, they’ll play the part the way they want to, not the way the book (or scriptwriter or director) technically says.

Other changes include the addition of a slave woman, Mituba, but her role is so marginal, it doesn’t matter. Expanding the roles of the Wampanoag and Mi'kmaq peoples (the latter referred to as the Tarrantines) is also so slight that it’s not a big deal. And, honestly, I feel their expansion enhances the proceedings. So, the biggest change, is the ending, which isn’t as downbeat as the book, but isn’t exactly Disney-fied either, if you pay attention to Pearl’s narration.

What I like most is how the movie successfully puts you into the setting of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of the mid-1600s and makes the Puritans & others come alive. While this is romantic drama within a historical setting, there are bits of adventure, thrills, moral complexity and theological ruminations, as well as tragedy. It comes across as a mixture of films like “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Rob Roy” and “The Crucible,” the latter not debuting until the year after this one.  

It runs 2 hours, 15 minutes, and was shot on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, including areas around Campbell River. Other scenes were shot on the other side of Canada in Nova Scotia; specifically in the towns of Yarmouth and Shelburne, as well as the village of Saint Alphonse in Clare.

GRADE: B+/A-

The Scarlet Letter (1995) ORIGINAL TRAILER

The Scarlet Letter( 1995)

When intimacy is forbidden and passion is a sin, love is the most defiant crime of all.

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A review by CinemaSerf

Written by CinemaSerf on Mon Mar 28 2022

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