[POSSIBLE SPOILERS] Many times when Hollywood adapts a book for the screen and dramatically alters, truncates, or re-writes it, the result can be pretty bad. I can think of only a few instances when major rewriting of a preexisting work has been successful. Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of OZ, The Good Earth, and Wuthering Heights are examples of classics that are transformed into new works of art that preserve the essence of the original material in many ways, and yet are new and different classics in a new and different medium.
Wuthering Heights opens in a blinding snowstorm. Mr. Lockwood (Miles Mander) is lost on the moors and finds his way to the house of his landlord, Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier). He is forced to stay the night. In the middle of the night, his sleep is disturbed by a rapping sound that he discovers is an outside window shutter. As he reaches out to grasp the shutter, he feels the touch of an icy hand, and he hears a voice call out, "Let me in, it's Cathy.". Lockwood is terrified, and calls out to Heatcliff. After telling Heathcliff what happened, Heathcliff runs out into the blinding snowstorm. An elderly woman, Ellen Dean (Flora Robson), looks on and says, "SHE calls to him... and he follows her out on to the moors..." And so begins the tale of Wuthering Heights, as told in flashback by Ellen, the housekeeper.
The story covers several decades and recounts the thwarted relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy. Olivier is perfect as Heathcliff, Merle Oberon is beautiful as the selfish, immature Cathy who wants it all yet at times isn't quite sure what it is she wants. The supporting cast is perfect -- Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella Linton, David Niven as Edgar Linton, and most especially, Flora Robson as Ellen Dean.
This film contains some of the most beautiful black and white cinematography ever created. Gregg Toland created some images that have remained with me for years such as when the window shutter is banging in the wind. The camera then moves to the interior, pans through the room, then through the cobweb coated bed spindles to focus on the agitated Lockwood. Later, when Cathy declares her love for Heathcliff, there is a loud thunderclap and she states, "I AM Heathcliff". At that time there is a blinding flash of lightning that totally washes the screen in light. There is also some wonderful camera work at a party given by the Lintons. Heathcliff arrives, and Cathy does not expect him. There is a scene that goes on for several minutes during which a large Amazon-like woman in playing a rather unmusical rendition of Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca. The camera shifts from Heathcliff to Cathy to Isabella and to the harpsichord player. Not a single word of dialogue is necessary, and you know exactly what is going on in each of their minds. In the final reel, when Cathy is dying, and asks Heatcliff to take her to the window, she says, "I'll wait for you... 'till you come". As she says that line, and her eyes widen, there is a very eerie reflection of light in one eye that lasts for only a second, and seems to be symbolic of her soul leaving her body.
William Wyler's direction is masterful.
This film version of Wuthering Heights stops about midway through the story. In the novel, the children of Cathy and Heathcliff grow up and meet their eventual fates. The novel is much darker and the characters are much more selfish, resentful, and revengeful. Yet, I have no complaint with this movie at all. It's not wrong in its interpretation of the novel, it's just different.
I don't think that I have read a love story that was less romantic in presentation than this novel. Perhaps that is why it is such a fascinating story. Love is not romantic. Love is NECESSARY.
I have seen this film more times that I can count, and there is one scene that always brings me to tears. It's a closeup of Ellen Dean's face, her eyes brimming with tears when she says, "No, [Heathcliff is] not dead, Dr. Kenneth. He's not alone. He's with her. They've only just begun to live. Good bye, Heathcliff. Good bye, my wild sweet Cathy."
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