The Scarlet Letter (1926)

Directed by Victor Sjöström. Starring Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Henry B. Walthall, Karl Dane, Marcelle Corday, William H. Tooker.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic American novel of romance, repression and repentance, brought to life in silent swooning form, compressed to a series of vignettes that bear witness to the tumultuous plight of Hester Prynne (Gish), a woman in a Puritan community who dares to love a man out of wedlock. Frances Marion’s adaptation reworks the novel’s structure with supplemental material; it may not be artful, but it’s illuminating to see how Hester ended up bearing the shameful mark of sin. Gish demonstrates playfulness and sensuality beneath modest frock, inflaming the ire of her bigoted neighbors; she doesn’t overreach for effect and achieves an unexpectedly moving portrayal. Her key supporting actors are a bit more variable—Walthall’s possessed menace as Hester’s long-lost husband is visceral, but it’s on the overdramatic side; in between his scenery-chewing outbursts, Hanson does a lot of fretting and gawping, but at least the reverend’s chemistry is palpable with the leading lady. One of several silent film versions of Hawthorne’s book, and easily the best known today.

73/100