The Scarlet Letter (1995) USA
The Scarlet Letter Image Cover
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Director:Roland Joffé
Studio:Walt Disney Video
Producer:Victor Sjöström
Writer:Nathaniel Hawthorne, Douglas Day Stewart
Rating:3
Rated:R
Date Added:2007-03-06
Purchased On:2007-06-03
ASIN:6303977871
UPC:0786936595932
Price:$9.99
Awards:1 win & 9 nominations
Genre:Erotic
Release:1996-12-11
IMDb:0114345
Duration:135
Aspect Ratio:2.35 : 1
Sound:Dolby
Languages:English
Roland Joffé  ...  (Director)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Douglas Day Stewart  ...  (Writer)
 
Demi Moore  ...  Hester Prynne
Gary Oldman  ...  Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale
Robert Duvall  ...  Roger Chillingworth
Lisa Joliffe-Andoh  ...  Mituba
Edward Hardwicke  ...  Gov. John Bellingham
Robert Prosky  ...  Horace Stonehall
Roy Dotrice  ...  Rev. Thomas Cheever
Joan Plowright  ...  Harriet Hibbons
Malcolm Storry  ...  Maj. Dunsmuir
James Bearden  ...  Goodman Mortimer (as Jim Bearden)
Larissa Laskin  ...  Goody Mortimer
Amy Wright  ...  Goody Gotwick
George Aguilar  ...  Johnny Sassamon
Tim Woodward  ...  Brewster Stonehall
Joan Gregson  ...  Elizabeth Cheever
Dana Ivey  ...  
Diane Salinger  ...  
Jocelyn Cunningham  ...  
Francie Swift  ...  
Sheldon Peters Wolfchild  ...  
Lisa Andoh  ...  Mituba (as Lisa Joliffe-Andoh)
Comments: When intimacy is forbidden and passion is a sin, love is the most defiant crime of all.

Summary: In yet another example of Demi Moore's astonishing narcissism, this appalling adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Great American Novel becomes a teary, talk-show-worthy story of a woman rediscovering the erotic, of interrupted love, of a brave-but-beleaguered heroine's personal struggle against male stupidity. Never mind that this has little to do with Hawthorne's magnificent, protofeminist book, which is a million times more relevant today than this film could ever be. Director Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields) deserves to be horsewhipped for colluding with Moore's self-fascination, while Gary Oldman should be kicked in the pants for allowing the novel's main character to come off as an inconsequential ninny. Making matters worse, Robert Duvall can be seen ridiculously dancing with a deerskin on his head. If this film were a joke, it would be a very bad joke. But it's not, and that's worse. --Tom Keogh