Retrospective 2016

Wuthering Heights

William Wyler
USA 1939
103 min
V'16

Out of Brontë’s strange tale of a tortured romance Mr. Goldwyn and his troupe have fashioned a strong and somber film, poetically written, sinister and wild as the novel was meant to be, far more compact dramatically than Miss Brontë had made it. It isn’t exactly a faithful transcription, which would have served neither Miss Brontë nor the screen – whatever the Brontë societies may think about it. But it is a faithful adaptation, which goes straight to the heart of the book, explores its shadows and draws dramatic fire from the savage flints of scene and character hidden there. (Frank S. Nugent, New York Times, 1939)

Credits
  • Merle Oberon - Cathy
  • Laurence Olivier - Heathcliff
  • David Niven - Edgar Linton
  • Flora Robson - Ellen Dean
  • Geraldine Fitzgerald - Isabelle
  • Donald Crisp - Dr. Kenneth
  • Charles MacArthur
  • John Huston (unnamed) based on the novel by Emily Brontë
  • Ben Hecht
  • Gregg Toland
  • Paul Neal
  • Daniel Mandell
  • Alfred Newman
  • Omar Kiam
Samuel Goldwyn
35 mm
bw
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