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Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I cannot live without this film!
Review: Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite films of all time. Sir Laurence Olivier gives a passionately unforgetable preformance as Heathcliff. It is, without a doubt, one of the best screen preformances given by an actor. He is supberb, with every look, every line dilerved prefectly. You'll fall in love with Sir Larry here and find yourself watching all of his other films! Merle Oberon is exceptional, she plays Cathy well, but Sir Larry just takes the cake in this one. I know that fans of Bronte's novel dislike the fact that so much of the book was left out in the screenplay, but in my opinion, the film is better than the book by far. The film was made to show you the love/hate between Cathy and Heathcliff, which it does rather excellently in my opinion. Watching Sir Larry's Heathcliff is so powerful, one tends to forget the book altogther, and becomes enthralled by the film. For those of you not fimilar with Sir Larry, watch this film, even if you are skeptical about the screenplay. His preformance will blow you away.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I love this movie!
Review: Wuthering Heights was recently named one of the top 100 best love stories ever made. I would totally agree. I am a sucker for romances gone wrong, and that is exactly what this movie is. Laurence Olivier(sorry for the mis-spelling) does wonderfully as the headstrong Heathcliff, who falls in love with Cathy(Merle Oberon). The story has many twists and turns and ends tragically(like good movies of the 1940s do), with you either crying or wondering why you watch such movies. But Wuthering Heights is a beautifully filmed love story that will have you holding a box of tissues.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Give That Orchestra a Break!
Review: I really wanted to like this movie. I am a hopeless romantic at heart, surrounded by cynical naysayers as most of us are. I do believe that love is the greatest of things - but alas, I cannot recommend this movie. The dialogue is stilted and doesn't ring true, although the performances are, for the most part, excellent, given the cheese that the performers had to wade through. The biggest flaw and sign of dating, however, is the never-ending, overdramatic orchestration in the background - after a while, I longed for the awful scene in the Fountainhead with the incessant jackhammering - at least, it would have matched what this orchestra was doing to my head. My housemate and best friend called this a chick flick for the '30s; well, I never cared for most chick flicks, then or now (if you are in that frame of mind, I recommend the far, far superior Terms of Endearment).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Terrific!
Review: This is a superb interpretation of the Emily Bronte classic about a doomed 19th century romance. Laurence Olivier is perfect as the brooding Heathcliff and is complemented by Merle Oberon's performance as the high spirited Cathy. As a poor young boy, Heathcliff is brought home by a farmer to work as a stable boy. He eventually falls in love with the farmer's daughter, Cathy. As a grown man he goes on a journey to America seeking fortune. He returns home to discover that Cathy is married to an aristocrat. This discovery tears him apart inside, but does little to quell the passion he still has for her. This is a timeless classic with terrific performances by all and breathtaking cinematography. Also stars David Niven, Flora Robson, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Leo G. Carroll.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tortured love can be so bitter....
Review: This is an adaption of the novel "Wuthering Heights" from 1936(I think)and it is very well done. The ONLY complaint ppl seem to have about it is that it cuts off like 1/2 the book at chapter 17. But that doesn't make this movie bad at all. Its still a wonderfull tell of two wicked people who become tortured lovers. I may not have been able to fisish the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The actress who played Catherine was beautifull, looked like a true Victorian beauty. The characters are rich, but you just want to hate them. Yet you can't help but lovign them and feeling sorry for them because of their torture. Which is wonderfully displayed by Merle Oberon(Catherine) and Laurence Olivier(Heathcliffe). And such a sad climax. If you have read the novel as long as you can dismiss the last half of the book you'll love this. And if you just love good movies or old movies you'll love it was well. Its just so terrible to see the way that Heathcliffe treats his wife, no matter how much she loves him he never would love her the same, not even close. The only one he can truely love is his sweet, sweet(Not exactly)Catherine. And its not that she doesn't love him its just that she's to selfish and petty to admit it until her death. They love eachother yet they hate eachother at the same time...

Enough of that, JUST SEE THE MOVIE!!!

God Bless ~Amy

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: GAWTHICK!
Review: Written by the most sensual of the rather frustrated Bronte daughters, EMILY [who also supposedly had an affair with her French tutor, and maybe one of old man Bronte's curates] : 'tis quite a steamy tale - with not too subtle hints of necrophelia here and there. It is indeed a passionate tale of frustated love across caste and possibly color/cultural barriers.

[Considering the cast - it's quite a point too. Was the enigmatic Merle Oberon Tazmanian or East Indian? Errol Flynn knew, but didn't or wouldn't tell].

Well, it you're totally foreign to WUTHERING HEIGHTS it's briefly about the struggles of a young gypsy [read possible changeling] boy 'somewhat' raised/abused on a country farm and his eternal stuggle/revenge to be accepted by the folk. Soap Opera material today - quite rivals "Dallas" but this was quite a hit back then - also considering that the three Bronte sisters had to use male pseudonyms [the brothers Bell I believe] to get their novels published.

This version is an interesting period piece complete with the acceptable 'blood and thunder' Oliver acting and the rather subtle David Niven bring up the rear so to speak. Geraldine Fitzgerald as part of the love quartet fares the best I think - she does not quite consume the decor. There have been other versions - the most recent with Fiennes and Binoche [straight to video I recall]. Timothy Dalton also gave it a turn - when will they ever get this right?

Best to read Emily's novel and use the old imagination - but if desperate - Mr. Wyler's partial version is still the best.

The movie also has the odd distinction of giving Olivier a touch of athlete's foot - seems that the boots he wore in one of the scenes were not too healthy......

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I Cannot Live Without My Life, I Cannot Die Without My Soul!
Review: That's the end of Heathcliff's tirade against his faithless lover Cathy on her deathbed, a speech which begins in anger and blasphemy and ends in beseechment and pleading, which epitomizes the love/hate relationship between the two characters.

I first saw "Wuthering Heights" when I was a very young child, and it has stayed with me ever since. I stayed up late whenever it was on, sought it out in revival houses as I grew older. I loved the beautiful score by Alfred Newmann, but I loved more this tragic love story, which affects four people in total. When I read the book, I was surprised to see how much had been cut out, but in 1938-9, movies could only be so long, and novels slashed down to elementals. That's what happened here, too, but considered in and of itself, "Wuthering Heights" the movie does very well.

Easily the most famous role of Merle Oberon's career, her Cathy is a headstrong, selfish girl who has an impossible love for her servant, Heathcliff, here played with abandon by Laurence Olivier. They are both primitive forces, totally absorbed in each other, but finally class distinctions must force themselves on the pair. While spying on the dance being held at nearby Thrushcross Grange, home of the Linton family, Cathy and Heathcliff are attacked by guard dogs on duty. Heathcliff, the gypsy beggar boy, is sent packing while upper class Cathy is taken in to be nursed from her wounds. Things are never the same after she returns to Wuthering Heights: whereas she used to run about the countryside in the same wild way as Heathcliff, now she tells him that his hands and face are dirty and that he shouldn't touch her silk gown because he'll soil it. His response to this attempt to civilize and dominate him? He slaps her in the face with his dirty hands, foreshadowing his complete refusal to be put in what others consider his place. Misunderstandings arise, and the result is Cathy tries to assimilate into polite society with her marriage to Edgar Linton, played gallantly by David Niven. She appears to love her husband and her idealistic sister-in-law Isabella (Geraldine Fitzgerald), but then her past comes back to haunt her with the larger than life return of Heathcliff, back with money and back with a vengeance. And sure enough, he figures out the cruelest way to hurt Cathy, and pounces on it, with tragic results for all concerned.

All the performers turn in solid work: Merle with her porcelain doll looks seems like she should be in the china cabinet world of the Lintons, but her eyes can burn with an intensity unknown to them. Olivier gives life to the brooding Satanic hero Heathcliff, feral and aloof by turns and fits. David Niven didn't want to play Edgar because the character was so weak, but in a world without Heathcliffs, no one would have noticed that. You're genuinely sorry that his wife loves somebody else despite her best intentions. And Geraldine Fitzgerald brings an impetuousity to Isabella that is touching. There's that scene of hers in the bedroom after the ball, for instance, when she's gazing at herself in the vanity mirror, a girl in love with love. I've seen this movie in the company of two very different people who both made the same comment about her loveliness and innocence at that precise moment. Her last scene when she tries to touch Heathcliff's heart is piteously well done. She should have done more work in films to record her obvious talent. At least we have "Wuthering Heights".

Some night, go out to the moors to find your soulmate, and fill your arms with heather and you'll have an inkling what "Wuthering Heights" is all about.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brooding and Beauty
Review: Love set amidst the Scottish moors has never been so tempestuous and heart crushing. Merle Oberon was at her best paired with Lawrence Olivier.

If you were forced to read the book in high school, don't let that prevent you from enjoying this stunning classic. The movie has graciously reduced the book down to its better parts, namely, the bittersweet love story of Cathy and Heathcliff. As the young lady of the manor, Oberon shines as the slightly spoiled headstrong young woman who can't help but fall for the rogue stray, Heathcliff, a souvenir from her father's travels.

When Cathy realizes that Heathcliff will never be a man with the proper station in life to support her, she accepts the marriage proposal of her wealthy neighbor boy who has cared for her since her fall from a horse on his property. Despondent and determined, Heathcliff seeks his fortune in the city. Cathy's family is soon in need of rescue, and it is Heathcliff, with his newfound fortune and hardened heart who saves the manor and family from eviction and ridicule. His only goal is to prove his worth the Cathy who is now married, but still carries a torch for the boy who was "cut from the same cloth."

With the haunting settings and perfect chemistry between the two leads, you will be touched and tortured by this timeless romance.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best film ever
Review: In a modern world full of wonderfully hi-tech special effects and superstars this film simply blows everything away and is definitely best film I have ever seen. It's dramatic, romantic and Laurence Olivier's performance is individually the most powerful I have ever seen.
Thank you Amazon.com for finding me a seller to obtain this on DVD and thank you Roberto for supplying it in such pristeen condition. I don't even want to unwrap it!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The excellence of a true love story
Review: This is by far my favorite love storey around on film. If you love film romance in every part o the word. You will love Wuthering Heights. It may take you a while to get into the storey, but once you get it you will love it. Laurece Olivier is great, every women can understand his pain. Anyway I do not want to keep going on about how great this film is. Check it out.


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