"The Scarlet Letter" (1926)

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Out Yonder 1919 The Woman God Forgot 1917 That Model from Paris 1926 For Better for Worse 1919 Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall 1924

OUR DOCUMENTARY

We are proud to present to all silent film lovers our multiple award-winning documentary! In March 2015 it won the distinction "Award of Merit" at the San Francisco Film Awards. In May it won the Silver Award at the 2015 International Independent Film Awards. In September 2015 it won the Award of Recognition at the Accolade Global Film Competition. Of equal merit is the inclusion of the documentary in the Official Selection of the San Jose International Short Film Festival in October 2015. In December the documentary won the extremely prestigious Diamond Award at the 2015 California Film Awards. The amazing run of recognition for our documentary continued in 2016. In February it was included in the Official Selection of the Buffalo Niagara International Film Festival.

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Lillian-Gish-in-The-Scarlet-Letter-1926-director-Victor-Seastrom-00

Lillian Gish

Directed by       Victor Seastrom
Produced by Victor Seastrom
Screenplay by       Frances Marion
Based on    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Starring          Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Henry B. Walthall, Karl Dane, Marcelle Corday
Cinematography       Hendrik Sartov
Editing by    Hugh Wynn
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date           8 January 1927
Running time       98 mins
Country    United States
Language    Silent, English intertitles

This film is part of our Silent Gems Collection and the DVD is available on Ebay.

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This film is part of our series 'Hidden Gems'. It can be watched by registered users who make a donation. For more details, please click here.

"The Scarlet Letter" (1926) is a powerful drama starring Lillian Gish. This film illustrates the work of our star director Victor Seastrom.

In 17th century Boston a woman is ostracized for having a child out of wedlock, which also brings the downfall of the child's father, a minister.

PLEASE NOTE:

The review posted below contains spoilers, so you may want to skip it if you intend to watch the whole film.

Hester, played by Lillian Gish, is a young woman who is subjected to a public punishment: her legs and arms are locked in a wooden artifact, one of many inquisition devices made by creative and imaginative minds to torture fellow human beings for religious reasons. Her horrible crime is that she went outside of her home trying to catch her canary that flew out of the cage during a religious holiday when she was supposed to stay at home. Those were the Puritan times in colonial Boston.

The priest, who delivered the verdict, but not the actual sentence, is moved by the view of the suffering girl. He gives her water and ends her torture. Later they meet again and fall in love. Then the priest has to leave for England and he asks Hester to marry him. He is shocked to learn that she is the legal wife of another man, who has been absent for years and whom she does not love.

Upon his return the priest finds out that Hester will be publicly punished yet again, this time for having a baby out of wedlock. The priest, who is the baby's father, is ordered to extract from Hester a public confession about who is her fellow sinner. She refuses to name the father of the child, and in private dissuades him from admitting adultery himself. Hester is taken to the scaffold for public punishment and humiliation: she is ordered to wear for life on her chest the letter "A" for adulteress.

Then one day Hester's daughter becomes very sick. The child is only saved by Hester's lost husband, a former doctor, who shows up during that time. The man then forcefully inquires who is the child's father. Hester doesn't intend to tell him, but the priest rushes in to see the child's condition and the secret is revealed. Hester's husband says that he will not reveal to the world their secret, but that his punishment will be lifelong.

Although the priest is in poor health, Hester talks him into leaving Boston on a ship for another place to start a new life. Hester's husband overhears this conversation and later tells the priest that he will follow them everywhere to prevent their happiness.

Then the priest has to deliver a speech and he shocks the entire congregation with the admission that he is the father of Hester's child. He also shows the letter "A" for adulterer that he burned on his chest. The priest then suffers a fatal heart attack and dies in Hester's arms.

The film enjoys a strong rating in IMDB.

Click to enlarge:

Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson in The Scarlet Letter 1926 director Victor Seastrom 11

Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson

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Below is a short preview of the film.