Product Details

• Actors: Jean-Marc Barr, Emma Fielding, Simon Callow, Jack Shepherd, John Sessions
• Directors: Stuart St. Paul
• Writers: Stuart St. Paul, Colin Clements, Mark Jenkins, Thomas Hardy
• Producers: Daniel Figuero, Philip Keenan, Simon Price
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Bonneville / Bwe
• VHS Release Date: February 16, 1999
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 1577423054
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,969 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Scarlet Tunic, an adaptation of a Thomas Hardy short story, is set in the rolling hills of the 19th-century English countryside. While this is a beautiful-looking movie, what it offers in scenery and costuming it lacks in cinematic power. Perhaps this simple story of forbidden love would have been better off left as a short story.

Frances Groves, daughter of a solicitor, is betrothed to her father's awkward, older, and unattractive business associate. Matthaus Singer--sensitive, conflicted, poetry-reading German hussar--is camped with his squadron on the Groves' land. The inevitable romance between the two puts them both at tremendous risk as they are caught between their love for each other and their incompatible places in society.

Jean-Marc Barr (Breaking the Waves) and Emma Fielding put in respectable performances, but they're not enough to carry the slow-moving plot. For those in search of a love-gone-awry period piece, Wuthering Heights (the Olivier version) or Immortal Beloved are better choices. --Mara Friedman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Completely absurd, April 10, 2006

By 

PTR "papapossum" (Bon Aqua, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scarlet Tunic [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I've not read this Hardy story, but I understand from doing a web search that this presentation departs from the original story both in details and in plotline. The climax is simply crazy. My wife and I just shook our heads and said "Give me a break." Hardy must be rotating robustly in his grave.

Look, we love period pieces, and have watched just about every one available on DVD or VHS. But sometimes, if they're badly done, they're just a waste of time. This movies ranks right up there with the most recent version of Mansfield Park as an adaptation crime. The story itself calls for remake.