WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939) B/W 104m dir: William Wyler

w/Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson, Donald Crisp, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Hugh Williams, Leo G. Carroll, Miles Mander, Cecil Kellaway, Cecil Humphreys, Sarita Wooton, Rex Downing, Douglas Scott

From The Movie Guide: "Haunting, beautiful film version of Emily Bronte's tragic novel, with Olivier at his romance period peak, but marred slightly by Oberon's relative lack of passion.

"WUTHERING HEIGHTS is a beautifully told story, displaying impeccable talent both in front of and behind the camera. Wyler had been interested in Bronte's story as a vehicle for Charles Boyer and Sylvia Sidney, who had starred in his 1937 film DEAD END. [Ben] Hecht and [Charles] MacArthur were assigned to write the film, and they headed for the island home of drama critic Alexander Woolcott. Here they labored to create a script faithful to the novel, though Woolcott was convinced the two writers would destroy Bronte's passionate and poetic story. Wyler eventually got [producer Samuel] Goldwyn to back the script, though Boyer was no longer being considered for the lead. The next choice was Olivier, a relative unknown to American audiences at the time. Hecht, who was an uncredited writer on QUEEN CHRISTINA, remembered Olivier from that film. The Briton had originally been hired to play opposite Garbo in that film, but was removed from the production in favor of John Gilbert. Olivier was furious, and had harbored ill feelings toward Hollywood ever since. He was interested in the part of Heathcliff however, and agreed to portray the doomed lover only if his wife, Vivien Leigh, could be his Cathy. But Oberon had already been signed for the role, and Goldwyn would not consider firing her. Leigh was offered the role of Olivier's unloved wife instead, but she turned this down, saying she felt more akin to the tragic lead character. Besides, Leigh had already been featured as the lead in several British films and was simply unwilling to step down for Hollywood. Eventually Olivier agreed to take the role, and Leigh ended up playing Scarlett O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND that year. Olivier and Oberon had previously appeared together in THE DIVORCE OF LADY X, a 1938 British film; many believe they made an unforgettable romantic duo.

"Though the film understandably condenses Bronte's lengthy novel, Goldwyn spared no expense in creating the right atmosphere for the picture. A tract of 450 acres of land in California's Conejo Hills was transformed into authentic-looking English moors. One thousand heather plants were transplanted, and Goldwyn completed his re-creation by building a period manor on the site. However, he switched the novel's period from the original Regency to the Georgian era. His reasoning was simple: the Georgian period was marked by fancier dresses for women, and he was eager to show off Oberon in beautiful costumes. Gregg Toland [later Orson Welles' collaborator on CITIZEN KANE] won an Academy Award for his brilliant photography, a moody black-and-white perfectly suited to the material."

The following contains information you may not want to know before viewing the film for the first time:

From the Film History Through the Years website (www.ryanmccormickfilmhistory.blogspot.com), this 2013 review of the film:

"It is a movie about love, loss, regret, and loathing. All that comes in the package in Wuthering Heights based on the novel of the same name. Produced by the small, but high quality based Samuel Goldwyn Productions, Wuthering Heights is an emotionally intense love story filled with passion and hate. Starring a talented cast of foreign actors all making large impacts on the American cinema, the film would become one of the very highest praised productions of the year.

"Wuthering Heights is a drama of a man and woman born into different circumstance brought together, their long and complicated love affair, and how social standards keep them apart until the bitter end. The picture is told in one large flashback to a weary traveler named Lockwood (Miles Mander) as he stumbles upon Wuthering Heights and its eerie owner Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier). After experiencing a supernatural event in the night the tale is told of the love affair of Heathcliff and the supposed specter Lockwood saw, Heathcliff’s lover Cathy (Merle Oberon).

"Heathcliff and Cathy meet as children, Heathcliff being brought in by Cathy’s father as a roaming homeless child. Through the years their friendship grows to a passion, but Heathcliff is constantly reminded he is only a stable boy. Cathy dreams of wealth and high society with Heathcliff in the future, but gets caught up with a wealthy neighbor Edgar Linton (David Niven) that leads to her marriage with the dignified gentleman, leaving Heathcliff with the drive to remind Cathy that she is really in love with him. To make her jealous Heathcliff marries Edgar’s naive sister, which works, but only fans the flames of hate as well as passion between the two. Broken by his loathing actions Cathy falls ill. Heathcliff rushes to be by her side as she passes away declaring that she always loved him the most in her life. Broken Heathcliff lived in the now somber Wuthering Heights until the night Lockwood hears Cathy’s voice. He goes to his lost love and dies in a winter storm for them to be reunited as soulmates.

"In the length of this feature film the audience lives a lifetime of passion between these two characters. Wrapped in the emotion of these two whom you know love each other, but are somehow kept apart makes for a heart-wrenching picture. With brilliant cinematography that seems to add dimensionality to the story, pulling you further into the world of Heathcliff and Cathy, it is easy to see why Wuthering Heights would be one of the highest praised pictures in 1939, a year thought to perhaps be the greatest in Hollywood’s history.

"The direction of William Wyler is very close to, if not actually, perfect. He really explores the space in the world around Wuthering Heights. Shots and angles are made to harken back to moments seen earlier in the film and Wyler cleverly masks them in a way that makes one realize emotional connections to the past, furthering the expressive meaning of moments in the picture. An example is when Heathcliff visits the now-married Cathy. While they share a scene where both remain cordial, there hangs an unspoken emotional cloud over the entirety of the scene. It is only until a little later when Heathcliff leaves does Wyler push back the camera to reveal an angle that reminds the audience of an earlier scene where Heathcliff and Cathy where madly in love and dreamt of a future together, but now only Cathy is there alone, far from happy. It is great staging such as this that makes good movies great.

"Wyler was a notorious perfectionist when it came to his productions and Wuthering Heights was no different. This led to quarrels with his cast. Merle Oberon was an established star in America already while Laurence Olivier was working in America for the first time. Both did not care for the dozens and dozens of takes Wyler would put them through until he got what he wanted. Each had their bouts with the director while at the same time the stars did not care for each other. Olivier still considered himself a stage actor, seeing film as being well below him as art. Olivier would have shouting matches with Wyler and Oberon. With Wyler he detested the process of take after take, feeling Wyler was one never to be pleased. With Oberon, Olivier grew to despise just working on stage with her. They would fight about everything from acting style to spit that flew out of their mouths when they spoke during love scenes. Wyler would remind Olivier that Oberon was the star and he was a nobody in America.

"Through all the childishness came Olivier's first major hit in America and his first Oscar nomination for acting. Years later Olivier would write how Wyler was the man that helped make him a better actor and who taught him how to appreciate motion pictures. Wuthering Heights was a major step for Olivier as he became a huge international star in Hollywood in the coming decades.

"The film adaptation would omit several key points in the novel, including the omission of over half of the book's chapters and many characters. The novel contained a multi-generational tale as Heathcliff and Cathy each had a child with their respective others. These children would continue the story, but the movie would cut them out focusing on the singular drama.

"It was producer Samuel Goldwyn that fought director William Wyler so very hard to produce the ending we see in the finished film with the ghosts of Heathcliff and Cathy walking with each other into eternity. Being that this moment was against the story of the novel and there were heavy protests from Wyler about this ending, the scene was shot well after production. In fact Oberon and Olivier were not even able to film the shot, the lovers’ roles being filled with body doubles. Goldwyn would later praise the film as his favorite picture he ever produced.

"Characters played by David Niven and Geraldine Fitzgerald would be paired as Cathy’s husband and Heathcliff’s wife. Fitzgerald’s performance might have been significantly changed and shortened from the novel’s original character, but her performance would make up for it. Playing the naive sister to David Niven’s character, Heathcliff uses her character, named Isabella, to make Cathy jealous. At first Isabella is a love-sick young lady, but she would turn into the broken wife of Heathcliff, a mess of a woman that knows she is not the love or focus of his life. Fitzgerald’s performance would earn her a nomination for best supporting actress.

"Wuthering Heights would be one of the highest praised films of the year that saw more than its share of highly thought of pictures. With its deeply emotional story and terrific cast and director, the film would gain praise by many and for an extended period of time. In the highly contested Academy Awards, Wuthering Heights was up for eight awards including categories of best art direction, best score, best screenplay, best supporting actress, best actor, best director, and best picture. Its lone Oscar that it took home was for best black and white cinematography. Cinematographer Gregg Toland's craft would continue to be demonstrated as one of the industry’s finest as he would work on Orson Welles’ masterpiece Citizen Kane. After much debate in many ballots The New York Film Critics would name Wuthering Heights as best film of 1939, primarily because voters could not choose between Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Gone With the Wind, settling on this picture instead.

"The picture would continue to receive praise from critics in years to come. The American Film Institute listed Wuthering Heights the 73rd greatest American film in its 1998 poll, and 15th romantic film on its 2002 poll. In 2007 the picture was named to the National Film Registry as culturally significant to be preserved in the Library of Congress.

"Wuthering Heights still makes an emotional love story for contemporary audiences that enjoy older pictures. Once again this is another case of a very fine film buried underneath the grander and more recognizable features that transcend the decades from 1939. It marks a turning point in the career of Laurence Olivier as he would become one of the most decorated men in cinema history. The feature is a wonderful piece of dramatic filmmaking of the period and deserves to stand among its counterparts in a year of remarkable filmmaking."

Besides Toland's Oscar for Best B & W Cinematography, WUTHERING HEIGHTS was also nominated for seven other Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Olivier), Supporting Actress (Fitzgerald), Adapted Screenplay (Hecht, MacArthur), Score (Alfred Newman), and Art Direction (James Basevi).