This is a fine Scarlet Letter; it tries to get into the heads of those long-ago people, who might be a little bit like us. Four hours give the story room to breathe, and include extras like Transcendendalism and a cool witch. John Heard is perfectly cast as tortured yet basically weaselly Dimmesdale. His pinched features and dark, narrow eyes say "Hester, enough about you! What about me?"

A wonderful story, yet the film actually adheres too closely to the novel that a viewer will swear never to read it. A modernized version would be more tolerable and appealing. I recall reading the book word by word. This, however, is a disappointment in that it does not do the audience justice.