WUTHERING HEIGHTS, 1939
Movie Review

Catherine Earnshaw, a headstrong young woman whose home is the isolated manor, Wuthering Heights, situated on the Yorkshire moors, is torn by her passionate love for Heathcliff, a gypsy orphan brought home by her father when they were both children, and her desire for a respectable life of upper class comfort which her neighbour, Edgar Linton offers her. Catherine decides to marry Edgar and Heathcliff disappears from Yorkshire only to return years later, now an independently wealthy man who has made himself the new master of Wuthering Heights. Despite their outwardly settled lives, Catherine and Heathcliff’s consuming love for one another continues to have violent emotional repercussions, not only for them, but for all around them.

OSCAR WINNER for Best Cinematography

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REVIEW:

Samuel Goldwyn’s production of “Wuthering Heights”, directed by William Wyler, was not initially popular upon its release in Hollywood’s golden year of 1939. Perhaps the source material was too dark. Emily Brontë’s brooding gothic romanticism was softened for its screen adaptation into a gentler, lush

The creative team that Samuel Goldwyn put together, primarily director William Wyler, cinematographer, Gregg Toland, art director, James Basevi and the screenwriting team of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, is largely responsible for the success of this adaptation. Wyler and his co-workers penetrated to the heart of Emily Brontë’s story and more importantly, for film, they were highly successful in visualizing it. It’s difficult to think of another movie that so fully depicts our romantic notions of the what the English moors are like - their lonely, windswept remoteness, violent storms, and riotous explosions of heather. In fact, with his work in “Wuthering Heights” Gregg Toland’s evocative black and white cinematography pretty much set the standard for the depiction of this wilderness in films for a generation or so. It’s interesting to note, then, that the movie was not shot on location in England, but in the California country side, in the San Fernando valley.

Wyler and his team succeeded in their adaptation despite Goldwyn’s sometimes frustrating demands. The producer, for instance, insisted on a happy ending which was not compatible with Emily Brontë’s vision for these characters at all. Wyler

The cast is almost uniformly excellent as well. The one weak link, watching the film now, seems to be Merle Oberon. Goldwyn had her under contract and insisted she be used. However, the emotional depth of the material seems to elude her. Catherine’s great conflict - her passionate love for the outcast Heathcliff versus her overwhelming desire for respectability and a life of ease - never seems to be fully internalized and therefore realized by Oberon. When she talks to Heathcliff about her love of parties and clothes, she sounds more like a petulant school girl rather than the torn young woman she is supposed to embody. The young actress who plays Cathy as a child, Sarita Wooton, actually seems to capture more of the fierceness of the character.

“Wuthering Heights” is an example of Hollywood filmmaking that has mixed elements of brilliance and some lapses in judgement and yet the overall experience of watching the film is still one of satisfaction and appreciation for the thought and skill put into the work. The 1992 version of “Wuthering Heights” starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche which does attempt the whole novel, makes for an interesting comparison. Although it is technically more faithful, it never really catches fire the way the 1939 version does. Wyler’s version ultimately is a successful adaptation of Emily Brontë’s book, even if, in some ways, it is quite different from its source. There is still a beating heart to this film that makes it work.

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Wuthering Heights