Well, actually, I'd say second best. The NUMBER ONE is the 1950 Westinghouse Studio One television production with Mary Sinclair, Richard Purdy (Chillingworth), and John Baragrey (the best Dimmesdale of anyone, and it's one of the most difficult of all literary characters to cast and portray).
And I have to rate Meg Foster (1979 miniseries) the best of all Hesters, although I admit I've got a for Meg, but unfortunately that miniseries was badly flawed (far too drawn out, and this is one book that works best in a short, condensed adaptation). Still, Senta Berger was a pretty decent Hester and Hans Christian Blech a good Chillingworth.
My big problem in this one is Lou Castel as Dimmesdale. As I've already noted, Dimmesdale is an extraordinarily difficult character. He can't be such a hunka-hunka that you wonder why he didn't just take charge and set things to rights, but at the same time he can't be such a drip that you wonder what Hester saw in the poor schmuck to begin with. Lou Castel errs in the direction of poor schmuck.
And bless Lillian Gish, but I've just never seen her as Hester. She put on an excellent performance, but she's too petitely pretty. My image of Hester is as a strong, athletic woman able to survive on her own with a young child in an early colonial settlement. That's where Meg Foster fits the bill to perfection.
Conventionality is not morality.
reply
share