Scarlet Letter, The

1159. THE SCARLET LETTER (1934-usa). With colleen moore, hardje albright, henry B. WALTHALL, ALAN HALE, WILLIAM FARNUM, BETTY BLYTHE. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter written in 1850, is one Of the best-known and admired Of all American historical novels. It is a story Of a forbidden love, which results in adultery and revenge within a repressed society, and it has been compellingly translated to the screen in this little-seen early sound version. Colleen Moore, the great silent screen star best remembered for her numerÂous roles as exuberant jazz babies and flappers, appears in one Of her last leading parts as a character quite unlike those she played at the height Of her stardom: Hester, a young Puritan seamstress. The setting is mid 17th Century Massachusetts, a time Of grim customs and hard punishments. On her father’s orders, Hester had wed someone she did not care for, an older man named Roger Prynne (Henry B. Walthall, the star Of D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth Of a Nation,” who by the 1930s was playing supporting and character roles). However, on her husband’s long absenses, she passed the hours with her pastor, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale (Hardie Albright). They soon fell in love, and a daughter was born to her. As the film opens, Hester refuses to name the man who fathered her child. She is condemned in her community, and must forever wear a scarlet letter across her bosomÑan “A,” for Adulteress… 70 minutes. Drama