Wuthering Heights a Story of Passion by Bronte

Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon Star Crossed Lovers in 1939 Film

Nov 7, 2009 Christine Nyholm

Wuthering Heights, 1939, starred Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon as Heathcliff and Cathy in a story of love and cruelty based on a novel by Emily Bronte.

Wuthering Heights is a dramatic romance based on the novel by Emily Bronte, filmed in 1939. Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon star as Heathcliff and Cathy, two people in a passionate love that brings anguish and destroys their own lives and the lives of people who care about them.

The tone of the movie is set in the opening scenes, as a man named Lockwood (Miles Mander) walks through a windy storm to a mysterious mansion called Wuthering Heights on the misty moors. He finds himself looking for refuge in a depressing, gray, dusty place owned by the unhappy Heathcliff. Lockwood hears a woman's voice calling and panicked, he calls Heathcliff and tells him that a woman named Cathy was outside in the storm and calling him. That news sent Healthcliff hurtling out into the storm making Lockwood curious.

Longtime housekeeper, Ellen (Flora Robson), told Lockwood the story of Heathcliff and Cathy and of their blighted love. This allowed the story to be told in flashbacks, along with narration.

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights, based on the classic novel by Emily Bronte, is considered a great love story, but it is also the story of greed, revenge, obsession, emotional abuse and mental anguish.

Initially, Heathcliff was a sympathetic figure, because he was treated badly by Hindley (Hugh Williams) and later by Cathy, who rejected him to marry Edgar Linton (David Niven), the neighboring gentleman. Heathcliff turned into a cruel and vengeful man.

Brokenhearted, Heathcliff fled to London, and later to America, where he mysteriously made a fortune. When he returned, he was bent on revenge and had already started his plan by loaning gambling money to Hindley with the intent of taking over Wuthering Heights. He was successful in his plan, but it brought him no happiness.

Everyone who came into the path of these star crossed lovers was eventually destroyed. The movie had a dark and intense passion. Catherine died in Heathcliff's arms and he begged her spirit to stay with him. The movie ended on a supernatural note, after Heathcliff died and the two lovers, as shadowy figures, walked away on the moors together.

The emotional abuse Heathcliff experienced as a child and as a spurned lover ignited the flame of hatred that lasted a lifetime. Because of his hurt, Heathcliff retaliated against everyone, and became a bitter and lonely man. Catherine was a beautiful but headstrong woman with an arrogant streak. The two lead characters in the story considered themselves to be one person and their passion destroyed both of their families.

Cast of Wuthering Heights

• Merle Oberon as Cathy
• Laurence as Heathcliff
• David Niven as Edgar
• Flora Robson as Ellen
• Donald Crisp as Dr. Kenneth
• Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella
• Hugh Williams as Hindley
• Leoo G. Carroll as Jospeh
• Miles Mander as Lockwood
• Cecil Kellaway as Earnshaw
• Cecil Humphreys as Judge Linton
• Sarita Wooton as young Cathy
• Rex Downing as young Heathcliff
• Douglas Scott as young Hindley
• Director: William Wyler
• Writers: Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht

Based on a novel by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights, filmed in 1939, was filmed in black and white.

Merle Oberon also starred in Berlin Express: A Post WWII Movie

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