IMDb plot summary: A servant in the house of Wuthering Heights tells a traveller the unfortunate tale of lovers Cathy and Heathcliff.
Directed by William Wyler. Starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, and Flora Robson.
Ah! Maybe this is the movie that is to blame for painting Wuthering Heights as a romantic story. Because it truly, truly isn't. I read the book for the first time in full last year and found myself horrified by how toxic and abusive the characters were to each other. This film comes down heavily on the other side. It sides with Heathcliff here, who never does anything too bad apart from marrying someone he doesn't love, and even then she herself vindicates him by claiming he's not evil, he's just "full of pain." Multiple times Heathcliff chides Cathy for being "childish" and "vain" in refusing to marry him, as if everything would have gone just fine if she had gone to him like he deserved. It's a very unsettling attitude for our romantic hero to have, and since this film, unlike the book, DOES paint him as the romantic hero, it's an unsettling watch.
The bookended scenes are probably the best -- they both attain a creepy gothic tone that gets lost in the middle of the movie but are fun to watch. I want to say something else good about it -- the cinematography or something -- but even that doesn't do much. It all looks kind of stagey and drab and most of the shots of the moors are pretty uncompelling. It's not necessarily a bad movie, but when its entire premise is something you can't get on board with from the start, it's not going to fare that well.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Wuthering Heights < Liz & Dick
Wuthering Heights < Rebel Without a Cause
Wuthering Heights > Never Been Kissed
Wuthering Heights < Dracula
Wuthering Heights > Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus
Wuthering Heights > Raid on Rommel
Wuthering Heights > Gomorrah
Wuthering Heights > 27 Dresses
Wuthering Heights < The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Wuthering Heights > The Star of Christmas
Wuthering Heights > Deliverance
Final spot: #2401 out of 2946.
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