Suffice it to say that this is a laughable "freely adapted" version of Hawthorne's classic tragic romance between a New England woman (Demi Moore) and a Puritan preacher (Gary Oldman). Demi Moore is as capable of playing Hester Prynne as Arnold Schwarzengger would be in the role of Hamlet. Regardless of all the tinkering Moore & Co. did to the script to make it more palatable to the unwashed non-literary masses, the boxoffice take on this bloated costume drama (Moore has more gaudy outfits than Hester could even have imagined) was only a shameful $10 million. Not recommended. (R. Pitman) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Jan. 15, 2019—Kino Lorber, 135 min., R, DVD: $14.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1995’s The Scarlet Letter features a fine transfer with a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include audio commentary by director Roland Joffé. Bottom line: a literary travesty—as well as a commercial and critical disaster—that does not improve on Blu-ray.]
The Scarlet Letter
(Hollywood, 135 min., R, avail. Apr. 16) Vol. 11, Issue 2
The Scarlet Letter
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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