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United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), French ( Mono ), German ( Mono ), Italian ( Mono ), Spanish ( Mono ), Danish ( Subtitles ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), Finnish ( Subtitles ), French ( Subtitles ), Greek ( Subtitles ), Norwegian ( Subtitles ), Swedish ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: William Wyler's Wuthering Heights is one of the earliest screen adaptations of the classic Emily Brontė novel. A traveler named Lockwood (Miles Mander) is caught in the snow and stays at the estate of Wuthering Heights, where the housekeeper, Ellen Dean (Flora Robson), sits down to tell him the story in flashback. In the early 19th century, the original owner of Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw (Leo G. Carroll), brings home an orphan from Liverpool named Heathcliff (Rex Downing). Though son Hindley Earnshaw despises the boy, daughter Catherine develops a close kinship with Heathcliff that blossoms into love. When Mr. Earnshaw dies, Cathy and Heathcliff grow up together on the Moors and seem destined for happiness, even though Hindley forces Heathcliff to work as a stable boy. When Cathy (Merle Oberon) meets wealthy neighbor Edgar Linton (David Niven), Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) gets jealous and leaves. Cathy marries Edgar, and Heathcliff returns with his own wealth and sophistication. He buys Wuthering Heights from the alcoholic Hindley (Hugh Williams) and marries Edgar's sister, Isabella Linton (Geraldine Fitzgerald), out of spite. Still obsessively in love with each other, Cathy gets deathly ill while Heathcliff grows into a bitter old man. Ellen continues telling Lockwood the story as Dr. Kenneth (Donald Crisp) enters and reveals the fateful ending. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Oscar Academy Awards, ...Wuthering Heights
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The 1939 version of Wuthering Heights may be a Sam Goldwyn picture but here at least he has the taste not to bury it under his usual excessive (over)production values and let the mostly British cast get on with it under William Wyler's inspired direction, with screenwriters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur saving their reverence for the characters and spirit of Emily Bronte's novel rather than the set dressing and place-setting details which obsess modern costume pictures.
The film grips from its atmospheric opening to its tragic and genuinely moving conclusion and while it may end at chapter 17 it never soft-peddles the characters - neither good nor bad, they all choose their own personal Hells and have to live with the consequences. Even if you're no admirer of Laurence Olivier, you will be astonished at how his mixture of ruthlessness and emotional vulnerability makes the part his own forever. Merle Oberon's mercurial Cathy, torn between Olivier's force of nature and David Niven's pillar of society, may not match his power but it's still probably her best work while Geraldine Fitzgerald is a revelation as the woman Heathcliff marries for revenge, her unrequited love compellingly transformed to bitter desperation.
Gregg Toland's photography is black and white at its best and Alfred Newman's score is perfection. A genuine all-time great - and then some.
The Region 2 PAL DVD has no extras but does have a fine transfer.
The film grips from its atmospheric opening to its tragic and genuinely moving conclusion and while it may end at chapter 17 it never soft-peddles the characters - neither good nor bad, they all choose their own personal Hells and have to live with the consequences. Even if you're no admirer of Laurence Olivier, you will be astonished at how his mixture of ruthlessness and emotional vulnerability makes the part his own forever. Merle Oberon's mercurial Cathy, torn between Olivier's force of nature and David Niven's pillar of society, may not match his power but it's still probably her best work while Geraldine Fitzgerald is a revelation as the woman Heathcliff marries for revenge, her unrequited love compellingly transformed to bitter desperation.
Gregg Toland's photography is black and white at its best and Alfred Newman's score is perfection. A genuine all-time great - and then some.
The Region 2 PAL DVD has no extras but does have a fine transfer.
48 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I first watched this film when I was 8 years old and have been a fan ever since. I read half of the book when I was 16 but recently at the age of 38 I read it all. I was very impressed and surprised by how natural the characters were despite living in a very different world from today. I can now understand the decisions that were made when adapting the book to the 1939 film. The film manages to capture the feel of the novel and Olivier's performance (apart from a rather hammy start, when he plays the older Heathcliff) brings the passion of Heathcliff to life. If you are a modern film goer perhaps you will be put off by some of the production values but stick with it. It will beguile you in the end.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Its never easy to turn a novel into a film. Especially one thats as well loved as Wuthering Heights. Of the several screen adaptations, this is probably the best. Gregg Toland's photography makes it look like a film noir. And Olivier is an ideal Heathcliff. The first half of the film is quite good in its way, more like Dickens than Bronte, but just as you expect the film to delve into darkness and nastiness, it gets all sentimental and skips over most of the second half of the novel in about 5 minutes. Also there is little sense that this is Yorkshire, it really does need the real landscape and weather. An enjoyable film in its right but nowhere near as good as the book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Wuthering Heights
This is a classic love story. Really enjoy watching it time after time.
The original version , although in black and white, is the best one for me.
The original version , although in black and white, is the best one for me.
Published 28 days ago by Ms. L. A. Darcy
Wuthering Heights
By far the best version of this story. Love it in the atmospheric way it is put over and being in black & white adds to the effect.
Published 3 months ago by Hetty
Brilliant.
The first time i saw this film was a Saturday matinee on the television some years ago, I was transfixed....The window scene? Read more
Published 4 months ago by Traceylou
How should we judge the quality of a film?
This film has some great acting: Laurence Olivier is the brooding lover of Merle Oberon, who returns his love but nonetheless chooses to marry the passionless but respectable David... Read more
Published 4 months ago by James
Originals cannot be matched
Although I haven't seen this film for some time, I don't think anyone has managed to better it, rather like the Charles Dickenss tales that were filmed in the forties
The only... Read more
The only... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Michael J. Rossiter
Larry at his best.
First saw this film and Rebecca in my early teens, they have stayed with me ever since.
But I think its the raw emotions of this film, that make it one of my all time... Read more
But I think its the raw emotions of this film, that make it one of my all time... Read more
Published 5 months ago by DAN
classic
Ordered this for my Mum-in-Law for Christmas as it is one of her favourites and she can no longer play her video copy as she loves it that much
Published 5 months ago by K. L. Naylor
Cathy, Cathy, come in, Cathy come back to me.
Wuthering Heights is directed by William Wyler and adapted to screenplay by Charles MacArthur & Ben Hecht from the novel of the same name written by Emily Bronte. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Spike Owen
dvd review
To be honest it's for a gift and I have yet to take it out of it's packaging though I'm sure it will be fine.Arrived quickly.
Published 6 months ago by ian
Reminicing
Interesting to see Laurence Olivier out of Shakespeare mode. I am old enough to remeber seeing this film in the cinema when it first appeared.Wuthering Heights (1939) [DVD]
Published 7 months ago by Baron Orczy
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