Wuthering Heights ***** (1939, Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Crisp, Hugh Williams, Flora Robson) – Classic Movie Review 2959

Producer Samuel Goldwyn and director William Wyler’s 1939 vintage movie version of Emily Brontë’s perennially enchanting classic yarn is splendidly romantic, atmospheric and rousing.

It stars the lustrous Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in the famous doomed love affair between Cathy Linton (Oberon) and the gypsy Heathcliff (Olivier) in Victorian Yorkshire.

The screenplay by legendary writers Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur and John Huston ideally captures the spirit of the novel, though it only attempts to adapt the story of the first generation of characters.

There’s a very solid script but what really counts here is Wyler’s sympathetic and painstakingly careful direction, Gregg Toland’s Oscar-winning cinematography (though it’s a shame it’s in black and white), the frame-filling support acting and, above all, the triumphant romantic pairing of the two great stars, who were perhaps never more beautiful or heartrending than they are here.

It’s also a pity about the studio sets and the Americanisation of the work, though, and, acting-wise, Olivier does clearly outclass a slightly over-stretched Oberon.

Also in the cast are David Niven, Hugh Williams, Flora Robson, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Crisp, Leo G Carroll, Cecil Kellaway, Miles Mander, Cecil Humphreys, Sarita Wootton, Rex Downing and Douglas Scott.

It was remade in 1954, 1967 (TV Series), 1970, 1978 (TV Mini-Series), 1985, 1992, 1998 (TV Movie), 2009 (TV Mini-Series) and 2011.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2959

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