Wuthering Heights

Movie: Wurthering Heights (1939)

AFI List #73 on the 1998 list and was not on the 2007 list

My List #37

Starring: Laurence Olivier, David Niven

My rating: ˜˜

Oh, my obnoxious movie.

A brief intro:

There are several versions of this movie, but the one on the list was the 1939 version. Which is out of print. And not available on DVD. Or found in either the city library or the county library. But fortunately, I found a VHS copy for $3 (including shipping) on Amazon Marketplace.

So, I had to start watching movies more out of order, because I didn't want to lose any momentum in watching, so I didn't want to wait for this to arrive.

Okay, so movie arrives and I start to watch. Now, I've tried to read this book several times, I just couldn't get into it. It's written by Emily Bronte, who was a contemporary of Jane Austen. I love Jane Austen and I love Jane Eyre, written by another Bronte sister, Charlotte. Do I like Wuthering Heights? No I don't.

Quick plot: A traveler is caught in the snow and stays at the estate of Wuthering Heights, where the housekeeper sits down to tell him the story in flashback. She tells him of Heathcliff (played wonderfully I'll admit by Laurence Olivier) and Catherine and the troubled relationship they would have: she is born into wealth, and he is a poor stable boy with no expectations for acceptance in regular society. So, they marry other people and ruin their lives because they will never love anyone the way they love each other. Great movie, right?

Now, the movie only covers the first 16 chapters of the book, but all that does is make me glad I don't have to suffer through the rest. The issue that bothered me the most was the fact that since they felt that they couldn't be together they made it a point to marry people that would irritate the other and instead of two unhappy people you now are dealing with four (and growing) unhappy people.

Now, to be fair it was a beautifully set movie and the cast was fantastic and it was pulled off wonderfully. I'm quickly becoming a fan of Lawrence Olivier, (he was also in Sparticus), I just didn't like the story.

I went into watching this knowing that Wuthering Heights is considered a romantic love story, set against the wild moors of England, but if that's love, I don't want it. Over the years I have heard debates (sometimes heated) over Mr. Darcy vs Heathcliff. Me personally? I'll take Darcy, you can take Healthcliff, but be warned, if you aren't Cathy, he won't want you.