You wouldn't think 'Banned Books Week' offers much in the way of silent film accompaniment opportunities.
But ah, there you'd be wrong.
Before tackling that topic, here's a brief report from this year's Silent Movie Day, which was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026.
To celebrate the occasion, I was honored to provide live accompaniment for a new version of 'Sunrise' (1927) screened that evening at the legendary Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass.
A nearly full house responded strongly to this film, which stands as a high point of silent cinema and serves as a great introduction the form.
And that's a good thing, because prior to the screening, the Brattle's Ned Hinkle polled attendees and found a significant portion had never seen 'Sunrise' before.
I had some good material to work with, and was pleased with how the score came together, with a mix of tender passages and big dramatic moments. Comments afterwards included several comparisons to Bernard Herrmann, which I took as a compliment. Hey, I steal from the best!
The one part that didn't go well was my introduction, which opened with a comment on the irony of screening 'Sunrise' at dusk, which prompted absolutely no reaction. Tough audience!
But response to the film was immediate and generous throughout the screening. And funny! I've never heard such laughter at some of the light-hearted city sequences. (Maybe my earlier joke about dusk set the bar so low that anything would seem hilarious in comparison.)
I was especially impressed with the reaction to the scene at the restaurant table where Murnau evokes a dreamy visual fantasy world shared by the man and woman, but which is interrupted by the appearance of a waiter. At the Brattle screening, this little sequence produced gales of laughter!
Many thanks to Ned and everyone at the Brattle for their continuing commitment to Silent Movie Day and to the experience of silent cinema and live music.
Okay, back to Banned Books Week. Turns out librarians everywhere are on the lookout for creative programming ideas for what can be a challenging topic.
Silent film to the rescue!
Why not screen silent film adaptations of literary works that have been subject to bans and restrictions? It's a way to draw a crowd, and also call attention to the timeless nature of censorship.
Thus do I find myself accompanying three separate screenings of 'The Scarlet Letter' (1926), the big-budget MGM production starring Lillian Gish as Hester Prynne.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel, which deals openly with adultery, has been subjected to all manner of restrictions since it was first published.
At MGM, studio boss Louis B. Mayer regarded the story as too controversial to be made into a motion picture until Lillian Gish used her star power to push the project through.
So, in honor of 2026 Banned Books Week (which runs from Oct. 4 to Oct 10), I'm accompanying the film at the following libraries. Each of the screenings is free and open to the public.
• Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, 6 p.m.: "The Scarlet Letter" (1926) starring Lillian Gish; Nashua Public Library, 2 Court St., Nashua, N.H.; (603) 589-4600; https://nashualibrary.org/. Free and open to the public.
• Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, 6 p.m.: "The Scarlet Letter" (1926) starring Lillian Gish; Moultonborough Public Library, 4 Holland St., Moultonborough, N.H.; (603) 476-8895. Free and open to the public; attendees are asked to register in advance at moultonboroughlibrary.org.
• Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, 6 p.m.: "The Scarlet Letter" (1926) starring Lillian Gish; Plymouth Public Library, 132 South St., Plymouth, Mass.; (508) 830-4250. Free and open to the public.
I'll observe that one remarkable aspect of the MGM silent film version of 'The Scarlet Letter' is its comical treatment of Puritan life, at least as the film opens. We get treated to scenes of ridiculous courting rituals that are clearly aimed to produce laughter.
This was part of the "look how far we've come" factor that shows up so much in early cinema. Again and again, you see films made in the all-knowing Roaring '20s poking gentle fun at past times. It's prevalent in films as diverse as Buster Keaton's 'Our Hospitality' (1923) and 'The Iron Horse' (1924).
This is an element of silent cinema that doesn't immediately translate to today's audiences, and something that I would like to explore when there's more time to pull some thoughts together.
But for now, I hope you'll join me to mark Banned Books Week 2026 with a screening of 'The Scarlet Letter' (1926) in your choice of three libraries. Details about the Nashua screening are in the press release below. See you at the library!
* * *
MONDAY, SEPT. 21, 2026 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com
Nashua Public Library to screen 1926 silent film version of 'The Scarlet Letter' on Thursday, Oct. 1
Early
adaptation of Nathanial Hawthorne classic tale of old New England
features Lillian Gish in lead role; shown with live music to mark Banned Books Week
NASHUA, N.H.— It was a picture that MGM studio boss
Louis B. Mayer didn't want to make, fearing the scandalous story of
adultery in old New England would offend the movie-going public.
But
silent screen star Lillian Gish, then at the height of her fame,
insisted that 'The Scarlet Letter' by Nathaniel Hawthorne would be her
next film.
Gish prevailed, and the result was MGM's splashy big
budget adaptation of a classic literary tale anchored by Gish's landmark
performance as Hester Prynne.
See it for yourself when 'The
Scarlet Letter' (1926) will be shown with live music on Thursday, Oct. 1
at 6 p.m. at the Nashua Public Library, 2 Court St., Nashua, N.H.
The
screening will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New
Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music for silent
films.
Admission is free. The screening is being held to honor this year's upcoming Banned Books Week' (Oct. 4-10), an annual event that celebrates the freedom to read and shines a spotlight on the harms of censorship.
Adapted from Hawthorne's 1850 classic novel set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1642 to 1649, 'The Scarlet Letter' featured Lillian Gish in the leading role as Hester Prynne.
Hester is married to Roger Prynne, whom she does not love. During her husband's long absence she walks in the woods with her pastor, the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, and they soon fall in love.
When a child is born to her, she is condemned to wear upon her breast the brand of Adulteress and is shunned when she refuses to divulge the name of the child's father.
The situation leads to a shattering climax in which a community is forced to confront its own hypocrisy and double standards.
'The Scarlet Letter' was directed by Victor Seastrom, a Swedish filmmaker brought to Hollywood by MGM.
Seastrom's talent for memorable visuals is evident throughout 'The Scarlet Letter.'
Film critic Paul Malcolm observed that “early in the film Gish, as Prynne, loses her bonnet chasing a songbird through a summer glade. When the wind catches her waist-long tresses, Gish appears for an instant as if she had stepped into a painting by Botticelli."
The film was the second that Gish made under her contract with MGM and a departure from the ingénue roles she had performed in service to director D.W. Griffith.
Although 'The Scarlet Letter' cost MGM nearly $500,000 to make, it proved a solid box office hit, earning a profit of just under $300,000.
Admission is free; for more information, call the library at (603) 589-4600.
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