The Scarlet Letter

This public television production is so magnificently acted and tooted in its period that it's hard not to feel as though you've been transported to the 17th century to relive Nathaniel Hawthorne's tragic tale. 1842: Novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne (Josef Somer) discovers old historical documents detailing the sad affair of sinful Hesther Prynne (Meg Foster) who, in 1642, refused to name the father of her illegitimate baby, Pearl. As Hawthorne recounts, the unwed mother is shunned by her community, wearing the scarlet "A" for adulteress on her dress, moves into an outcast's cabin, and makes her livelihood as a seamstress. Believing that her English husband drowned at se...