I read the book last year, although I found it very complex and odd at times (and the Brontes are not my favourite authors, Dickens is my favourite) I found it, like Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte to be a brilliantly written piece of English literature. I bought this film on DVD because I want as many Laurence Olivier films as I can get as he is my favourite actor and I also bought it because I knew the story.
I wasn't too enthusiastic about it, it is Hollywood and they have the greatest reputation of ruining British works and I had heard that a lot of the book had been cut out. I was surprisingly delighted when i watched it late on a Saturday evening. It is brilliant. True, a lot of the text from the book has been thrown away but they have left in what is most important to the story and we get to see more depth of the story that is just mentioned in the book, not seen (such as the scenes on the moors). The acting is great from everyone all round, Laurence Olivier delivers on of his most famous and best performances ever as the misanthropic Heathcliff. He captures every nuance of this dark, brooding, bitter, tormented man who has lost the will to live because of his un-requited love. It established Olivier as a star in Hollywood and gave him a break from Shakespeare (sorry Larry, I do find your non-Shakespeare performances more enjoyable than your Shakespeare ones, but you are still the greatest Shakespearean), he is the perfect embodiment of Heathcliff, he steals the whole show. I read in his biography that whilst filming this, he constantly clashed with both William Wyler and Sam Goldwyn, just mainly because they were power mad freaks and didn't have time to listen to his ideas. He also went mad because he was missing Vivien Leigh and treated Merle Oderon pretty badly, even though they were civil to each other by the end. Merle Oberon was brilliant as the vain, greedy and immensely selfish Catherine Earnshaw. She was exotic and beautiful and you loved her at some moments and hated her at others. A very young David Niven played Edgar Linton, he made you feel sorry for him but irritating you when he got between Heathcliff and Cathy. The rest of the cast all deliver great performances too, Geraldine Fitzgerald as the love starved Isabella, Leo G Caroll as Joseph, Donald Crisp as Dr Kenneth, Hugh Williams (possibly giving his finest ever performance) as the nasty and spoilt Hindley and of course, Flora Robson as the long-suffering housekeeper Ellen. The settings have been very well re-created for the bleak Yorkshire Moors.
Whilst I did love this film, I won't spend too much time waxing liracles about it. There are some other things I would like to say. It wouldn't have hurt the producers to make it a teeny bit more faithful to the book (I know I said that they have left in the best bits but...) as only the first half is put in and then they rush several chapters ahead to the ending chapter. This didn't please the Bronte purists when it came out and it doesn't surprise me much. Emily Bronte's novel wasn't just about the doomed love between Heathcliff and Cathy, in fact it isn't even supposed to be romantic, it is about what un-requited love does to some people. The second half of the book after Cathy has died shows Heathcliff's misanthropic attitude get bigger and bigger and how he behaves with the Lintons and Cathy's daughter and Hindley's son and also Edgar dying. The second half is the more complex side of the story andmakes you use your imagination more. They didn't have to show all of it, just some would have been OK. Another point is that while we have a largely British cast here, the child actors playing Heathcliff, Cathy and Hindley are fine actors, but why did they have to be American? They have American accents and are supposed to be yorkshire bred! And it is especially odd when the older actors playing the same parts have their own English accents. I know it would have hurt Hollywood pride but there were plenty of British childstars around at the time. The other thing is that some of the costumes are completely wrong for the era, particularly at the Linton's party. I know it saved money to just use the spares in the studios wardrobes but if they want to get it right, please do it properly! The more faithful, accurate, but perhaps not as enjoyable version is the 1992 one with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche and I don't think you can possibly watch only this one, that one has to be watched as well. That version has more of the original text, whilst this one has been simplified and shortened.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Other Olivier Hollywood films that I recommend seeing are, Rebecca, 49th Parallel, Pride and Prejudice. There are several other Hollywood films he made, but are the only ones have seen.
I give this film 8 out of ten.
I wasn't too enthusiastic about it, it is Hollywood and they have the greatest reputation of ruining British works and I had heard that a lot of the book had been cut out. I was surprisingly delighted when i watched it late on a Saturday evening. It is brilliant. True, a lot of the text from the book has been thrown away but they have left in what is most important to the story and we get to see more depth of the story that is just mentioned in the book, not seen (such as the scenes on the moors). The acting is great from everyone all round, Laurence Olivier delivers on of his most famous and best performances ever as the misanthropic Heathcliff. He captures every nuance of this dark, brooding, bitter, tormented man who has lost the will to live because of his un-requited love. It established Olivier as a star in Hollywood and gave him a break from Shakespeare (sorry Larry, I do find your non-Shakespeare performances more enjoyable than your Shakespeare ones, but you are still the greatest Shakespearean), he is the perfect embodiment of Heathcliff, he steals the whole show. I read in his biography that whilst filming this, he constantly clashed with both William Wyler and Sam Goldwyn, just mainly because they were power mad freaks and didn't have time to listen to his ideas. He also went mad because he was missing Vivien Leigh and treated Merle Oderon pretty badly, even though they were civil to each other by the end. Merle Oberon was brilliant as the vain, greedy and immensely selfish Catherine Earnshaw. She was exotic and beautiful and you loved her at some moments and hated her at others. A very young David Niven played Edgar Linton, he made you feel sorry for him but irritating you when he got between Heathcliff and Cathy. The rest of the cast all deliver great performances too, Geraldine Fitzgerald as the love starved Isabella, Leo G Caroll as Joseph, Donald Crisp as Dr Kenneth, Hugh Williams (possibly giving his finest ever performance) as the nasty and spoilt Hindley and of course, Flora Robson as the long-suffering housekeeper Ellen. The settings have been very well re-created for the bleak Yorkshire Moors.
Whilst I did love this film, I won't spend too much time waxing liracles about it. There are some other things I would like to say. It wouldn't have hurt the producers to make it a teeny bit more faithful to the book (I know I said that they have left in the best bits but...) as only the first half is put in and then they rush several chapters ahead to the ending chapter. This didn't please the Bronte purists when it came out and it doesn't surprise me much. Emily Bronte's novel wasn't just about the doomed love between Heathcliff and Cathy, in fact it isn't even supposed to be romantic, it is about what un-requited love does to some people. The second half of the book after Cathy has died shows Heathcliff's misanthropic attitude get bigger and bigger and how he behaves with the Lintons and Cathy's daughter and Hindley's son and also Edgar dying. The second half is the more complex side of the story andmakes you use your imagination more. They didn't have to show all of it, just some would have been OK. Another point is that while we have a largely British cast here, the child actors playing Heathcliff, Cathy and Hindley are fine actors, but why did they have to be American? They have American accents and are supposed to be yorkshire bred! And it is especially odd when the older actors playing the same parts have their own English accents. I know it would have hurt Hollywood pride but there were plenty of British childstars around at the time. The other thing is that some of the costumes are completely wrong for the era, particularly at the Linton's party. I know it saved money to just use the spares in the studios wardrobes but if they want to get it right, please do it properly! The more faithful, accurate, but perhaps not as enjoyable version is the 1992 one with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche and I don't think you can possibly watch only this one, that one has to be watched as well. That version has more of the original text, whilst this one has been simplified and shortened.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Other Olivier Hollywood films that I recommend seeing are, Rebecca, 49th Parallel, Pride and Prejudice. There are several other Hollywood films he made, but are the only ones have seen.
I give this film 8 out of ten.