Wuthering Heights
Directed by William Wyler
Written by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht based on the novel by Emily Brontë
1939/USA
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
First viewing/Warner Home Video DVD
#131 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Heathcliff: I cannot live without my life! I cannot die without my soul![/box]
This is a beautiful looking film and Laurence Olivier becomes Heathcliff.
The classic Emily Brontë novel is the story of unfettered passion destroying everything in its wake. Mr. Earnshaw brings an street urchin he calls Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) into his Yorkshire family home, Wuthering Heights. The wild child forms a close bond with daughter Cathy (Merle Oberon), who also has a wild and rebellious streak. He forever earns the enmity of son Hadley. When Earnshaw dies, Hadley makes Heathcliff a stable boy and treats him brutally. Heathcliff stays on because of his love for Cathy, who, however, has a yearning for finer things. This yearning draws her to the Linton mansion, where Edgar Linton (David Niven) rapidly falls in love with her. The remainder of the story focuses on Heathcliff’s revenge on Hadley and the Linton family. With Flora Robson as housekeeper Ellen, the teller of the tale; an almost unrecognizable Leo G. Carroll as Joseph, the farm man-of-all-trades; Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabel Linton; and Donald Crisp as a doctor.
I regret that I did not see the film before I had read the novel a couple of times. If I had, I might have liked the book better. It is not a favorite of mine and it strikes me as a story in which virtually all the characters verge on insanity. I find Heathcliff especially cruel and repugnant.
If I had seen the movie, I might have been prepared to accept the novel as a tragic tale of eternal love. Certainly, Laurence Olivier’s Heathcliff is dreamy, with the perfect undertone of cold violence. I”m still not to keen on Merle Oberon as an actress but she does look beautiful, which is the main thing required of Cathy. The movie glances over the worst excesses of Heathcliff’s savagery so that he becomes a more sympathetic sufferer of class injustice.
The story and acting aside, this is an exquisitely shot picture. The opening, with the driving rain and forbidding moors, is scary and perfect. The whole thing almost glows. It definitely qualifies as a must see in my book.
Gregg Toland won the Academy Award for his incandescent black and white cinematography. Wuthering Heights was nominated for seven other Oscars: Best Picture; Best Actor; Best Supporting Actress (Fitzgerald); Best Director; Best Screenplay; Best Art Direction; and Best Original Score (Alfred Newman).
Clip – Cathy and Heathcliff at the ball
I’m delighted to know that someone else finds Emily Bronte’s novel less than wonderful. The film, on the other hand, is lovely.
It’s good to have company!
The selling point of this film is definitely the cinematography. It is spectacular. However like you I found the characters rather unlikeable. That makes it difficult to like the film.
I don’t generally mind not liking the characters if warranted by the plot. I think my biggest problem is that the story is sold as a big romance and I don’t find it romantic in the least. At least the film is far, far more romantic than the book.
Olivier’s Heathcliff is a less savage person than he was in the book. I just don’t understand how any man can be as beautiful as Olivier……so handsome. I have heard that he hated Merle Oberon because he wanted Vivian Leigh for the part of Cathy for obvious reasons and that he was unkind to her during the filming.
The ending makes me cry every time no matter how many times I see it. I am such a romantic!!!! It is just like Casablanca, which I have seen more times than I can count and I still cry when Bergman pulls the gun on Bogie in his apartment and then falls apart and says “You can’t imagine how much I loved you, how much I still love you”. Sob, sob.
Seems a shame that Olivier would take it out on his leading lady instead of the folks doing the casting. I just read that Oberon had had an affair previously with David Niven. That may have been awkward at well.
Jill, Good for you! Somebody has to do the sobbing. They tell the same story on Larry for REBECCA … that he wanted Vivian in the part of the 2nd Mrs. de Winter and was mean to Joan Fontaine. Should we believe this?
I heard that too Joanne. Maybe he just wasn’t very nice to any leading lady other than Leigh or it is just one of those stories that float around Hollywood.
The trivia on the film says he didn’t get along too well with Wyler – too many takes.