in 1642 puritan america and a woman name hester prynne ( colleen moore ) be force to wear a mark of shame and a scarlet letter a on her chest after be find guilty of adultery after bear a child two year after her husband disappear think lose at sea . the truth be know to only two others and the town beloved reverand dimmesdale ( hardie albright ) who happen to be in reality secretly the child father and hester return husband dr. roger chillingworth ( henry b. walthall ) and who assume that identity rather than be sham by a cheating wife . chillingworth be determine to gain a measure of revenge by try to make the life of hester and the reverand as miserable a he possibly can . while this movie may be faithful to it source material and it overall a dreary and melodramatic bore for most of it running time . albright sometimes hammy performance a dimmesdale seem particularly overdone . moore do try a hester prynne but ultimately the role prove fairly plain and simple and unmemorable overall . only those comedic bit feature alan hale and william kent add here and there to lighten the mood make this the least bit viewable at all .