176. WUTHERING HEIGHTS, 1939
- Jay Jacobson
- 3 days ago
- 17 min read
Timeless love. Unforgettable cinema.
The movies that stay with us are those that strike a chord deep within, and “Wuthering Heights” is one of the most unforgettable love stories ever put on film. Its haunting tale stirs profound emotion, tight direction keeps the tension alive, the performances are indelible, the cinematography belongs in an art gallery, and the music invisibly tugs at the heart. What more could one ask for from a movie?
Widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s greatest romances, “Wuthering Heights” earned eight Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and took home one Oscar. The American Film Institute honored it as the 15th Greatest Love Story and the 73rd Greatest Film of All Time, and its legacy has only grown over time, securing a permanent place in the hearts of those who’ve seen it. My parents introduced it to me when I was a kid, and it’s held a special place in my heart ever since.
The film opens as a man named “Lockwood" makes his way through a snowstorm to a remote estate named Wuthering Heights. Forced to stay the night, he’s given a long-unused, cold, and dusty bridal chamber, thick with cobwebs. The wind rattles an open shutter and wakes him, and as he reaches out to secure it, a ghostly voice cries through the storm: “'Heathcliff'... let me in. Let me in. I’m lost on the moors. It’s 'Cathy'". He then feels an icy hand on his, and glimpses a woman in the storm before she vanishes into the snow.
Believing it was a dream, "Lockwood" shares the strange experience with an old woman named Ellen, who sits quietly downstairs. She calmly tells him "It was Cathy... a girl who died". When “Lockwood” scoffs at the idea of ghosts, “Ellen” replies: "Maybe if I tell you her story you'd change your mind about the dead coming back. Maybe you'd know, as I do, that there's a force that brings them back if their hearts were wild enough in life”.
As Ellen recounts events from forty years earlier, the film unfolds in flashback. She tells of “Heathcliff”, an orphaned gypsy boy taken in by “Cathy’s” kind father, and of "Cathy’s" brother, “Hindley”, who despises “Heathcliff” and treats him cruelly. But “Heathcliff” endures it all to remain close to “Cathy", with whom a profound, mutual love has blossomed. The story is one of kindness, cruelty, misunderstanding, revenge, unrequited, and unfathomable love.
The film is based on the famous 1847 Emily Brontë novel "Wuthering Heights”. Screen rights were first obtained sometime around 1936 by producer Walter Wanger, who planned to make a film starring Sylvia Sidney and Charles Boyer. He hired the ace writing team of Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht to adapt the book for the screen, which they did in eight days, remaining as faithful as possible to Brontë’s novel while streamlining it, omitting storylines and even an entire generation of characters.
After a game of musical chairs, Wanger was out and “Wuthering Heights” landed with Samuel Goldwyn (the most successful independent producer of the Hollywood Studio Era). Since forming his own production company in 1923, Goldwyn typically took his time producing one to three films a year, spending whatever money was needed and relying on his remarkable instincts at discovering, assembling, and often signing top-tier talents, resulting in a steady stream of high-quality movies. One of the talents he signed was director William Wyler, and the two collaborated on eight films in ten years ("Wuthering Heights” was their fifth). Initially hesitant about “Wuthering Heights”, Goldwyn showed the script to Wyler, who loved it. So Goldwyn bought the rights and produced it, with Wyler as director. It remains one of their most acclaimed and illustrious collaborations, and earned Samuel Goldwyn Productions one of the company’s eight Best Picture Oscar nominations. It was also reportedly Goldwyn’s personal favorite of the 140 or so films he produced. You can read more about Samuel Goldwyn in my post on his Best Picture Oscar winner, “The Best Years of Our Lives”. Just click on the film title to open the post.
Wyler's gift at atmospheric storytelling, refusal to indulge in sentimentality, and unwavering focus on characters made him ideal to direct "Wuthering Heights". One need only watch the film’s first thirty seconds to understand this. The opening shot establishes a lone figure in a howling snowstorm with the ominous Wuthering Heights in the distance, and after shots of the man battling the wind and snow, he reaches the door. Wyler then shifts us inside the mansion as the man bursts in, nearly carried by the wind and snow, only to be attacked by two large dogs. We don’t know who the man is, but due to Wyler’s direction, we already care, and Wyler’s use of sound, darkness, and lack of detail in showing the storm and dogs creates an unsettling tension. A highly engaging way to start a movie!
Wyler’s direction crackles with energy, as in the striking scene when “Cathy" and “Heathcliff” linger in the shadows at night outside “Linton’s" house, peering through the window at the party inside as music plays and elegant silk dresses twirl. Wyler adds a powerful visual touch, as light from the party spills only onto “Cathy’s” face, leaving “Heathcliff” in darkness. A clever and poignant way of showing “Cathy’s” growing attraction to the allure of society.
There's also exquisitely framed images of “Cathy” and “Heathcliff” bathed in daylight on the moors as the wind sensuously sweeps around caressing them. These scenes not only appeal to the eye, but stir something deep in the heart and soul. Wyler's work makes the film stirring on so many levels, and “Wuthering Heights” deservedly earned him a Best Director Academy Award nomination.
Directing films since 1925, William Wyler already had a strong reputation by the time he signed a non-exclusive contact with Goldwyn in 1936. And so began the start of Wyler's ascent to become one of cinema’s top and most important directors. He earned four of his twelve Best Director Oscar nominations (and one of his three wins) with Goldwyn's films. Known as a perfectionist, an ace technician, a fantastic storyteller, and a harsh taskmaster who demanded take after take after take until he got exactly what he wanted (unaffectionately nicknamed “99-Take Willie”), Wyler directed a bevy of prestigious classics, and to this day holds the record for the most Best Director Academy Award nominations (twelve). This is the seventh of his classics to appear on this blog so far, and you can read more about the life and career of the great William Wyler in my previous posts on “The Heiress”, “Funny Girl”, “Roman Holiday”, "Mrs. Miniver", “Ben-Hur", and "The Best Years of Our Lives”. Be sure to check them out.
Working hand in hand with Wyler on “Wuthering Heights” was cinematographer Gregg Toland, who helped turn this film into a majestic work of art. Toland, also under contract to Goldwyn, was involved in pre-production, and worked with Wyler and the production designers to capture the moodiness Wyler wanted. Toland came up with ways to imitate candlelight, keep characters in partial darkness, use occasional deep-focus (keeping fore, middle, and backgrounds all in focus at the same time), and show ceilings in rooms to give an emotionally trapped feeling.
Toland’s lighting alone establishes moods and atmospheres, such as the carefree happiness of childhood (in brightly lit scenes of “Cathy”, “Hindley”, and “Heathcliff” as kids), the saccharine feeling inside the “Linton” house (by having an excess of light with virtually no shadows), and the broodiness of Wuthering Heights (marked by dark shadowy interiors).
But Toland was more than just a master technician. He also had an exceptional artistic eye, which accounts for the film’s endless supply of breathtakingly composed shots, such as framing action through windows or adjacent rooms, showing “Cathy” and “Heathcliff” gathering heather in the moors against a giant sky, or having “Isabella” discover her growing passion as she looks into candlelit mirrors. Toland’s astounding work won him the film’s only Academy Award (Best Cinematography) — and the only win of his five career nominations. Toland would expound upon and become famous for many of the techniques he used in this film, culminating in what is considered his greatest masterpiece, “Citizen Kane”. There's more about the legendary Gregg Toland in my posts on "Citizen Kane", "The Grapes of Wrath”, and "The Best Years of Our Lives”.
Starring in “Wuthering Heights” is Merle Oberon as "Catherine Earnshaw Linton”, a beautiful, headstrong woman with a streak of the wild in her soul. As a woman torn between an all-consuming passion and the security of a respectable, privileged life, Oberon delivers a superbly layered portrayal with an equal intensity of joy and heartbreak, whether expressing deep devotion to “Heathcliff” or weakness for the comforts of society.
With her refined, bewitching beauty and an almost ethereal presence, Oberon infuses this film with an unearthly romanticism. Her face becomes a canvas of conflicted emotion, as in key moments like “Edgar’s” proposal, or the unforgettable piano concert scene where she scans the crowd, spots “Heathcliff” with “Isabella”, and is hit with a flood of realization. It’s a performance rich with feeling.
Merle Oberon went to great lengths to conceal her mixed-race origins (claiming her birth certificate was lost in a fire), knowing that the truth (at that time) would have ended her career before it began. Using her light skin to pass as Anglo by saying she was born in Tasmania and raised in India, she was actually born in Bombay, India under British rule and nicknamed “Queenie” in honor of Queen Mary. It’s believed she was the product of rape, though it’s unclear whether her mother was Charlotte Selby, an Indian woman assaulted by an Anglo-Irish tea planter, or Charlotte’s daughter, Constance, who was raped by her Welsh stepfather (raised by Charlotte, Oberon may have been passed off as half-sister to her actual mother). When Oberon was about three, after the death of the man who raised her, she experienced poverty and racism due to her mixed heritage, and moved around India with her mother. With an early love of movies and drama, at the age of 17, she and her mother briefly moved to France, where she worked as a movie extra in 1928’s “The Three Passions” before heading to England.
Acting in small roles under the name Queenie O’Brien, her beauty caught the attention of director Alexander Korda, who cast her in 1933’s “The Private Life of Henry VIII” under the name Merle Oberon. The film’s global success led her to Hollywood, where she first appeared in 1935's "Folies Bergère de Paris". Hearing that Goldwyn planned to remake "Dark Angel", a film she loved, Oberon pursued the role, and not long after, Korda sold half her contract to Goldwyn, who cast her in the film. It earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination (unknown at the time, she was the first Asian person nominated in an acting category) and made her a star. She married Korda in 1939.
Though often praised more for her exotic beauty than her acting range, Oberon was a major star during the late 1930s and early 1940s. A 1937 car accident left her face scarred, requiring makeup and careful camerawork to conceal the damage. When she began appearing in color films, she attempted to lighten her somewhat darker skin with harsh chemicals, further damaging it, again, hiding it with makeup. By the mid-1940s, her roles declined in quality, and after 1948’s “Berlin Express”, she acted more sporadically. She also appeared on television, notably starring in the short-lived 1956 series “Assignment Foreign Legion” before semi-retiring (she made just three more films in the 1960s and a final in 1973). “Wuthering Heights” remains her most famous film. Her 59 others include ”These Three”, “Désirée”, “The Lodger”, “Stage Door Canteen”, and “The Cowboy and the Lady”. She was married four times, including to Korda and cinematographer Lucien Ballard. When her nephew, Michael Korda, planned to write a book about her, she threatened to sue and disown him, so he turned it into a 1987 miniseries titled “Queenie”. Merle Oberon died of a stroke in 1979 at age 68.
Starring opposite Oberon is Laurence Olivier as the tortured “Heathcliff,” a man fiercely devoted to “Cathy”. With a commanding presence and understated style, Olivier captures Heathcliff’s inner turmoil, expressing more through glances and silences than words. This quiet power runs throughout his performance, from his emotionally loaded return from America, where he says little, to the simple but charged “Good evening, Ellen” at “Cathy’s” ball. As “Heathcliff” endures pain, jealousy, anger, hate, and love, Olivier’s controlled exterior and smoldering intensity make the character unforgettable. It earned him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination and launched him to international stardom.
Though Olivier had been in films since 1930, he wasn’t yet a star. At this point, his film career included a failed stint in three Hollywood films, getting fired from "Queen Christina” opposite Greta Garbo, and nearly a dozen British films — among them 1937’s “Fire Over England” with Vivien Leigh (with whom he was now deeply involved), and 1938’s “The Divorce of Lady X” with Oberon. While Hecht was writing the screenplay for “Wuthering Heights”, he saw Olivier in a British film and thought he’d be ideal as “Heathcliff”. Reluctant to return to Hollywood, focused on the stage, and unwilling to leave Leigh, Olivier initially resisted. To entice him, Leigh was offered a role in the film. Wyler traveled to London to meet with them, but when Leigh learned she was being offered the supporting role of “Isabella,” she declined. Still, she convinced Olivier to take the part, and when she later visited him in Hollywood, Leigh was cast as the lead in “Gone with the Wind”.
Largely because he felt himself such a serious Shakespearian stage actor, Olivier had a hard time shooting “Wuthering Heights”. He looked down at Oberon as an amateur until Wyler reminded him that she was a much bigger star and knew a lot more about film acting than he did. And after repeated retakes, Olivier famously told Wyler, “I suppose this anemic little medium [cinema] can’t take great acting”. As Olivier recalled in his autobiography “On Acting”, “I knew nothing of film acting or that I had to learn its technique; it took a long time and several unhandsome degrees of the torture of [Wyler’s] sarcasm before I realized it”. Though his methods may have been cruel, Wyler taught Oliver that the camera doesn’t like fakery, doesn’t care what an actor does on the outside, and only likes true feelings. Olivier went on to say, “What Willie Wyler was really trying to teach me was humility. I’ll say it now… as an homage to him: my stage successes have provided me with the greatest moments outside myself; my film successes the best moments, professionally, within myself”.
Olivier would give many more masterful screen performances and earn nine more acting Oscar nominations. “Wuthering Heights” turned him into one of the screen’s most popular romantic leads and began the high point of his brief early Hollywood success before he headed back to England and became known as the greatest stage actor of his time. You can read more about the life and career of Sir Laurence Olivier in my post on “Rebecca”, and a bit more in "Queen Christina" and "Gone with the Wind".
The third star of “Wuthering Heights” is David Niven, who plays “Edgar Linton”, “Cathy’s” refined neighbor and suitor. While “Heathcliff” is obsession and intensity, “Edgar” offers the affection and grace of the cultured, virtuous upper-class world that lures "Cathy" away from the wild passion of the moors. With charm and sincerity, Niven conveys “Edgar’s” struggle to maintain order and love amid the emotional chaos surrounding him. He beautifully plays scenes like his response when “Isabella” criticizes him for speaking rudely to “Heathcliff”, or his devastating expression at the top of the stairs as “Cathy” begs him to stop “Isabella’s” marriage. Niven makes acting look effortless, but such emotional honesty requires skill. He would go on to become a major, Oscar-winning movie star.
Born in London to a military family, David Niven attended Sandhurst Royal Military College and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the British Army before turning to acting. After appearing as an extra in three British films, he moved to Hollywood in 1933 and worked in minor roles, starting as and extra in 1934’s “Cleopatra”, and a bit part in “Mutiny on the Bounty”. These led to a contract with Goldwyn. His breakthrough came with a featured role in Goldwyn/Wyler’s “Dodsworth” in 1936, after which he fluctuated between supporting roles in A-pictures and leads in B-films, before starring in major productions, beginning with 1938's “The Dawn Patrol”. The first film he carried as a full-fledged star was 1939’s “Raffles”. Just after filming it, Niven rejoined the British Army to serve during WWII. He spent most of the war in active service, while appearing in two films to support the British war effort. By the war's end, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit.
Returning to Hollywood a star, Niven's popularity only grew through the 1950s with roles in both American and British films like “A Matter of Life and Death”, ” The Bishop’s Wife", “The Moon Is Blue”, and “Separate Tables”, which won him a Best Actor Academy Award (his only). He was especially known for his dapper charm and flair at light comedy. Starting in 1950, he appeared in over a dozen TV shows, and earned two Emmy Award nominations. He appeared in nearly 100 films over fifty years, including “Bachelor Mother”, “The Guns of Navarone”, “The Prisoner of Zenda”, “Bonjour Tristesse”, “Death on the Nile”, “Around the World in 80 Days”, “The Pink Panther”, 1967’s “Casino Royale” (as "James Bond”), and his final, 1983’s “Curse of the Pink Panther”. He authored four books: two novels; a best-selling 1971 autobiography “The Moon’s a Balloon"; and a 1975 memoir of Hollywood stories, “Bring On the Empty Horses”. He was married twice, tragically losing his first wife in an accident at Tyrone Power’s home. Niven died of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 1983 at the age of 73.
There’s nothing like a stellar supporting cast to elevate a movie, and “Wuthering Heights” has one of the best, with Flora Robson leading the way as “Ellen Dean”, “Cathy’s” servant and the narrator of the film. It may not be a showy role, but the sheer authenticity with which Robson plays it — every glance, intonation, hesitation — draws us in, allowing us to feel what she feels, guiding our emotions through the film. It's what great acting does. Because of “Ellen's” behavior when first meeting the very young “Heathcliff” (looking him over, deciding he needs food, and reaching for him saying “Come into the kitchen child”), we know he’ll be ok. It's an undramatic moment that takes only seconds, but is greatly informative. Other stellar examples include how she makes us feel love and safety by her reaction to “Heathcliff’s” bloody hands, her discomfort when the candles momentarily dim when talking with “Cathy”, or the caution with which she watches “Heathcliff” enter “Cathy’s” ball from the stairs. Robson's expressiveness adds heaps of meaning that can’t be written in words, but is felt. It makes sense that Wyler often cuts to closeups of her face.
Wyler cast Robson while in England meeting with Olivier and Leigh and searching for other English actors. Her success began with 1931 stage productions of "Desire Under the Elms" and "The Anatomist", and though she’d been appearing in films since 1931, Robson's big screen splash came as "Queen Elizabeth I" in 1936's "Fire Over England" (with Olivier and Leigh). “Wuthering Heights” was her first Hollywood film. In a highly distinguished sixty-plus year career, Robson appeared in over 50 films, twenty TV programs, and over 100 plays. In "Wuthering Heights", you'll see why she was a grande dame of stage and screen, considered one of Britain’s leading actresses. You’ll also see a truly gifted actor vividly bring to life what could have easily been a thankless role. You can read more about the life and career of the legendary Flora Robson in my post on “Black Narcissus”.
Another standout performance in “Wuthering Heights” comes from Geraldine Fitzgerald as “Isabella Linton”, “Edgar’s” sister, who’s in love with “Heathcliff”. With hope and youthful excitement, “Isabella” follows her heart and passions, even if not fully reciprocated. Fitzgerald endows this woman with a sense of humor (as when bringing “Cathy’s” medicine or trying to sit with “Heathcliff” at the ball) and an inner strength (as when speaking up to “Edgar” and “Cathy” after a visit from “Heathcliff”, or having it out with “Cathy” in her bedroom). Her toughness is even visible in her most tortured moment, when telling “Heathcliff” to look at her, saying “I’m pretty, I’m a woman, and I love you”. Her delivery is so heartbreakingly real, it’s the stuff Oscars are made for, and not surprisingly, this performance earned Fitzgerald a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination (her only). It also made her a star.
Originally from Ireland, Fitzgerald moved from a successful career in British films to the Broadway stage. She reluctantly went to Hollywood, and was immediately cast in supporting roles in two major films, "Dark Victory", followed by "Wuthering Heights" (filmed second but released first). Fitzgerald remembered the shoot for "Wuthering Heights" as difficult, with Wyler's excessive takes and everyone trying to please him and never feeling they did. In an interview on the "Wuthering Heights" DVD she recalled: "He just went on pushing you. Sometimes I had hysterics and sometimes I didn't. And sometimes they had to send for the nurse cause I was crying...". She added, "It was one of those pictures which you just get through and then it turns out afterwards that it was something very special... We ended up big admirers of Willy”. They also became lifelong friends. You can read more about the life and career of Geraldine Fitzgerald in my post on “Dark Victory”.
Watchers of the films on this blog will see many familiar faces in smaller roles in “Wuthering Heights”, one of whom is Donald Crisp as “Dr. Kenneth”. Briefly in several scenes (perhaps most memorably talking with "Ellen" about the disappearance of “Heathcliff”, and powerfully telling “Isabella”, "I remember this house when it rang with laughter and love"), Crisp is a breath of authority, conviction, and warmth, making for a very believable and kindly doctor. You can read more about the phenomenal Donald Crisp in three previous posts, "Red Dust", "How Green Was My Valley", and "Mutiny on the Bounty".
Another recognizable face in a smaller role is that of Leo G. Carroll as ”Joseph”, a servant at Wuthering Heights. “Joseph” shows “Lockwood" the bridal chamber, recites scripture waiting for "Edgar" to leave, pours "Hindley's" wine and puts him to bed when he's drunk, and Carroll does all of this (and more) with a jaded honesty. It’s well-acted parts like this, no matter how big or small, that color films and give the worlds inside them credibility. Though this role is quite different from the more distinguished characters he played in previous movies on this blog, watchers of the films on here have seen him in "North by Northwest", "The Bad and the Beautiful", "Rebecca", and "Strangers on a Train". Check out more about Leo G. Carroll in my post on those classics.
The last actor I’ll point out is Cecil Kellaway who plays “Earnshaw", “Cathy” and “Hindley’s” father. Though he appears in only two scenes, Kellaway makes great use of little screen time to construct a jovial and caring human being filled with goodness and love. He tells “Cathy” and “Hindley”, “Children, you may as well learn here and now that you must share what you have with others not as fortunate as yourselves”, setting the emotional and moral foundation for much of what follows. Though he'd already appeared in over a dozen films, "Wuthering Heights" marked the beginning of Kellaway's rise to supporting roles, second leads, and even leading roles. He was cousins with another famous character actor/star, Edmund Gwenn, and you can read more about the life and career of Cecil Kellaway in my post on "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner”, and a bit more in "The Postman Always Rings Twice”.
In addition to the film’s Oscar win for Best Cinematography and nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, “Wuthering Heights” also earned Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction (James Basevi) and Best Original Score (Alfred Newman).
“Wuthering Heights” was also made into a 1920 British silent film, a 1953 Luis Buñuel Mexican film (“Abismos de Pasión”), a 1985 French film ("Hurlevent"), a 1988 Japanese film (“Arashi ga oka”), 1970 and 1992 American films, and there is reportedly a 2026 version in the works starring Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie. Countless stage and TV versions have also been made, along with a 1958 opera by Carlisle Ford, and it even inspired a 1978 #1 hit song in the UK, "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush (one of my favorites), sung from "Cathy's" perspective.
Like a haunting voice over the moors, this week's gothic melodrama echoes across generations. A meticulously crafted treat and a movie you won’t forget, enjoy “Wuthering Heights”!
This blog is a (currently triweekly) series exploring classic films from the silent era through the 1970s. Each post recommends a film to watch, aiming to entertain, inform, and deepen your appreciation of cinema — its stars, directors, writers, the studio system, and more. Be sure to visit the HOME page to learn more, subscribe for email updates, and check out THE MOVIES page for a full list of films. Please comment, share with others, and subscribe so you never miss a post. Thanks for reading!
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TO READ AFTER VIEWING (contains spoilers):
Initial preview audiences found “Wuthering Heights” somewhat confusing, so Flora Robson was called back to add extra narration to clarify the confusing spots. It worked.
Initial preview audiences also disliked the original tragic ending of Heathcliff dead on the moor. So Goldwyn came up with the idea of having “Cathy” and “Heathcliff” reunite as ghosts, which Wyler strongly opposed. Doubles were used for the shot, which was superimposed over Penistone Crag. The next preview audience loved the film and its new ending, so it stayed.
Laurence Olivier was a perfect choice to play Heathcliff, the movie is ok, but it feels like a super condensed version of the novel