Wuthering Heights *** (1970, Anna Calder-Marshall, Timothy Dalton, Harry Andrews) – Classic Movie Review 5558

American horror company American International Pictures (AIP) gets in on the British heritage cinema cash cow and goes all posh with director Robert Fuest’s ‘modern’ 1971 version of the Emily Brontë classic novel that already has an entirely satisfactory vintage version in the 1939 movie Wuthering Heights with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon.

But Timothy Dalton and Anne Calder-Marshall are well cast, give very creditable performances and inhabit the souls of the doomed lovers Heathcliff and Cathy very acceptably.

It is attractively filmed on well chosen locations instead of in the studio as in 1939, has lovely colour cinematography by John Coquillon instead of the 1939 version’s black and white,  and it seems to rattle along engrossingly, though at 105 minutes it is more or less the same length as before. The literate, fast-moving screenplay is by Patrick Tilley, making a good job of compressing the novel.

Also in the true Brit cast are Harry Andrews as Mr Earnshaw, Pamela Brown as Mrs Linton, Judy Cornwell as Nellie Dean, James Cossins as Mr Linton, Rosalie Crutchley as Mrs Earnshaw, Hilary Heath [Hilary Dwyer], Julian Glover, Morag Hood, Ian Ogilvy as Edgar Linton, Hugh Griffith, Peter Sallis as Mr Shielders, Aubrey Woods, Wendy Alnutt, John Comer and Dudley Foster.

This incredibly popular work was remade in 1978 (TV Mini-Series), 1985, 1992 (with Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes), 1998 (TV Movie), 2009 (TV Mini-Series) and 2011. It was also previously made in 1954 and 1967 (TV Series).

RIP Peter Sallis, who died on 2 June 2017, aged 96.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5558

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