Nathaniel Hawthorne

Rappaccini's Daughter

A young poet in the midst of crafting his epic masterpiece discovers a hidden Oasis within a vast forest. Inside this forbidden world a dark and alluring maiden, appearing both innocent and malevolent, lures him into an alternate reality of beauty and poison. Within this secret garden, the poet is confronted with a very harsh and introspective question. Is Man a unified cosmos, or a phantasm immortally trapped between two dark, warring forces?

Easy A

Olive, an average high school student, sees her below-the-radar existence turn around overnight once she decides to use the school's gossip grapevine to advance her social standing. Now her classmates are turning against her and the school board is becoming concerned, including her favorite teacher and the distracted guidance counselor. With the support of her hilariously idiosyncratic parents and a little help from a long-time crush, Olive attempts to take on her notorious new identity and crush the rumor mill once and for all.

The Scarlet Letter

Set in puritanical Boston in the mid 1600s, the story of seamstress Hester Prynne, who is outcast after she becomes pregnant by a respected reverend. She refuses to divulge the name of the father, is "convicted" of adultery and forced to wear a scarlet "A" until an Indian attack unites the Puritans and leads to a reevaluation of their laws and morals.

Young Goodman Brown

Based of Nathaniel Hawthorn's short story of the same name. Newly married husband leaves for the night only to discover his wife maybe a witch.

The Birthmark

At the end of the 19th century, a man becomes obsessed with removing the small birthmark from his bride's cheek.

Rappaccini's Daughter

Set in 18th Century Italy, RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER is the tale of a young scholar named Giovanni (Kristoffer Tabori) who falls in love with a beautiful, yet forbidden, girl who tends her father's poison garden. However, the strange and unearthly beauty of Beatrice (Kathleen Beller) masks a terrifying curse which Giovanni must tragically discover. Her father, the mysterious Dr. Rappaccini, has made her the subject of a diabolical experiment. In Giovanni's attempt to free Beatrice from the control of her father and to escape the poisonous effect she begins to have on him, he unwittingly destroys her. From the short story of master American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, two quintessential Hawthorne themes are explored: the sins of interfering with another's soul and the futility of trying to tamper with nature.

The Scarlet Letter

In 17th-century Salem, Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet A because she is an adulteress, with a child out of wedlock. For seven years, she has refused to name the father. A vigorous older stranger arrives, recognized by Hester but unknown to others as her missing husband. He poses as Chillingworth, a doctor, watching Hester and searching out the identity of her lover. His eye soon rests on Dimmesdale, a young overwrought pastor. Enmity grows between the two men; Chillingworth applies psychological pressure, and the pastor begins to crack. A ship stops in Salem, and Hester sees it as a providential refuge for her daughter, herself, and her lover. But will Dimmesdale flee with her?

Dr. Heidegger's Experiment

Dr. Heidegger invites four of his respected friends to try out the elixir of youth.

Twice-Told Tales

3 horror stories based on the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the 1st story titled "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", Heidegger attempts to restore the youth of three elderly friends. In "Rappaccini's Daughter", a demented father is innoculating his daughter with poison so she may never leave her garden of poisonous plants. In the final story "The House of the Seven Gables", The Pyncheon family suffers from a hundred year old curse and while in the midst of arguing over inheritance, a stranger arrives.

La Nuit de Tom Brown

How did Master Brown turn from a man of faith into a cantankerous, distrustful and cynical man? Nathaniel Hawthorne's character recounts the night when everything changed. In Canada, in a village where everyone seems more virtuous than he is, Tom Brown meets a man who claims to be the devil.

The House of the Seven Gables

In 1828, the bankrupt Pyncheon family fight over Seven Gables, the ancestral mansion. To obtain the house, Jaffrey Pyncheon obtains his brother Clifford's false conviction for murder. Hepzibah, Clifford's sweet fiancée, patiently waits twenty years for his release, whereupon Clifford and his former cellmate, abolitionist Matthew, have a certain scheme in mind.

The Scarlet Letter

In the seventeenth century, in Massachusetts, a young woman is forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress for bearing a child out of wedlock.

The Scarlet Letter

In Puritan Boston, seamstress Hester Prynne and kindly Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale fall in love. After Dimmesdale must go away for a time to England, he returns to discover that Hester has given birth to their child and is the focus of local censure.

Puritan Passions

Goody Rickby has a child out of wedlock, but it dies when the father, Gillead Wingate, refuses to acknowledge the child or help the mother get medical aid. Wingate becomes one of the foremost figures in the witch hunts, and Goody plots her revenge with Dr. Nicholas, who is really the Devil.

The Marble Faun

The film, a swirling drama of love and death, is loosely adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1860 novel The Marble Faun. Princess Maria (Elena Sangro) is married to the Duke of Helgoland (Ugo Bazzini), the leader of an anti-government plot about to be exposed by their house guest Count Giorgio (Carlo Gualandri). Giorgio tries to involve Maria, and in his fatal fight with Helgoland, her husband is killed using the knife that Maria hands to Giorgio. Forced to flee, they meet up again in Rome, where Maria has changed her name to Myriam and Giorgio has become a monk. Giorgio still desires Myriam, who rejects his advances, and she convinces her suitor Donatello (Giorgio Fini) to kill him.

The Scarlet Letter

The film tells the story of a noble but poor woman who arrives at Boston in the 17th century. There she marries an old but quite rich doctor but does not become happy.

Feathertop

Elsie Green cannot decide which of her two suitors to marry. When she reads Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Feathertop", she dreams that she is its heroine Polly Goodkin, and this leads to her final decision.

The Transgressor

A story of Puritan village life. The son of a minister wins a girl away from her devoted fisherman. Orphaned, she is adopted by the minister, and when her child is born refuses to reveal the father's name. She is cast out by the minister and scorned by the people. When her child is dying the fisherman comes back to her with unfaltering love, and the minister's son meets a tragic death at the hands of the Indians.

The Scarlet Letter

Poor Hester Prynne finds herself most unwelcome in England.

The Scarlet Letter

Hester Prynne has left Holland in advance of her husband, Roger, to join the colonists in Salem, Maxx. Roger follows her to the new world but upon landing in New England is captured by Indians and Hester waits for him in vain.

The Scarlet Letter

"The Scarlet Letter" is a story of early Puritan days in New England. Hester, a beautiful young Englishwoman, is sent to America by her husband, with a promise that he will follow on the next ship. But he falls to keep his promise and Hester does not hear from him in years. In the meantime she is befriended by a young Puritan minister. Friendship ripens into love and Hester, thinking her husband dead, loves the handsome young clergyman with her whole heart. But when the baby is born the minister, fearing the wrath of the Pilgrim Fathers, denies it and Hester is condemned to wear the Scarlet Letter and to stand in the pillory. And it is only after several years of Hester's shame and ignominy that the little child finally reaches the father's heart. Then comes the great scene. The minister, on a fête day, ascends the pillory, places himself where Hester had been placed, and publicly proclaims his sin.