Rating: 
Summary: too melodramatic
Review: i've never read the novel by bronte, but based on this film it's hard to see why it'd be considered a classic. the acting and story are far too melodramatic to be good; i found myself laughing where i think i was supposed to be crying. nevertheless, i'm intrigued enough to check out the book to see what, if anything, was left out.
Rating:
Summary: Minces The Meat Of The Story
Review: This highly praised 1939 film interpretation of Emily Bronte's haunting novel treads so lightly over its untamed wilderness terrain that I couldn't in good faith give it any more stars than I've hereunto imparted. For not only is Bronte's darkly poetic story chopped here to bits, its entire meaning gets glazed over with shameless soap operatic melodrama. Classic though it may be, it saddens me to say this version has barely even a breath of redeeming quality.However, in all fairness, I'll elaborate a bit on the redeeming qualities that it does actually possess: With the windswept, rocky Yorkshire moors of England scenically filmed somewhere in California, the atmosphere of this WUTHERING HEIGHTS, even in a black and white picture, is exceedingly pretty. Yet don't think that it's anything near akin to the wild, barren landscape depicted in Bronte's novel. Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff and Merle Oberon as Cathy are as well quite gorgeous to look upon, and the cinematography throughout is blissfully easy on the eyes. Merle Oberon may be very lovely, but her portrayal of Cathy is shallow and fluffy - utterly without fire. Cathy is not supposed to be a tragic heroine who is compelled by cruel twists of fortune to an unhappy fate - no, she is a headstrong and selfish young woman whose own compulsive, self-absorbed actions propel her to her doom. In addition to these shortcomings, Ms. Oberon is further burdened by the fact that she can't act worth a dot. Sir Laurence Olivier may well be a silver screen legend, but his portrayal of Heathcliff is way far off the mark. His rendering of Heathcliff is too civilized and refined throughout - entirely lacking the animal force & virility demanded of that role. Heathcliff is not a romantic hero. He's in fact an angry, vengeful, passionate and hard-edged man - as well as an uncanny changeling - and the transformation from the dirt-poor wild animal, to the sleek wealthy devil bent on vengeance gets totally lost in Olivier's narcissistic performance. I mean, really - this man doesn't even once deign to get his hands dirty! I suppose I can see how those who've not read and appreciated Emily Bronte's dark, passionate story may consider this film a great, heartbreaking romance. But I've watched enough film adaptations of classic works of literature by now to easily recognize when something's made without compassion or regard for the book on which it is based. This movie was made in 1939, the early years of filmmaking - which perhaps is partially an excuse, partially a lesson. But if it is a lesson, then that lesson went unlearnt, which thus invalidates any excuse it may have had. Indeed, this is the WUTHERING HEIGHTS adaptation that is to this day held by many in far higher esteem than those which have come since. Yet the real essence of Emily Bronte's gothic story may better be found in some of those later versions: such as a 90's film starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, and a 70's version starring Timothy Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall. For the meaning and substance of WUTHERING HEIGHTS is not to be found anywhere at all within this glorified soap opera.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't Wait For The DVD Re-Issue
Review: Yes, this reviewer has read the book and thinks that without a doubt this film version of Bronte's novel is at its romantic best. This story ends where part two of the book begins, the death of Cathy. The underlying themes of love, hate, and redemption are indeed threaded throughout this film. This movie perfectly captures the intense moodiness of the characters and the English moors, in addition to the class distinctions that made life hell for those who were 'dark skinned' gypsies. Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberson are just beautiful to watch as the ill-fated lovers. This film is not the book, few Hollywood films are, however this small fact of genre difference do not distract from one of Hollywoods better film adaptations. A re-issue of Wuthering Heights (1939) is rumored to be on the way sometime this year (03)...
Rating: 
Summary: Wretched!
Review: I will start by saying that this is the first and as yet only film version I have seen of Wuthering Heights, so I had high expectations. Well, they've been thoroughly crushed, because this is one of those productions which utterly disregards the intentions of the original work, and I have to ask: Have any of the other reviewers even *read* the book?! To begin with, Wuthering Heights is supposed to be a story of revenge. From the point at which Heathcliff begins to lose Cathy--the time of her apparent interest in Edgar Linton--everything he does is to revenge the loss of his love. Thus he goes off to make his fortune, to gain Wuthering Heights, to gain Thrushcross Grange, and to control the fates of the Earnshaw and Linton families, so that he will have revenged himself on his world. Apparently, none of this was really interesting to the director, who tossed out everything but Heathcliff's fortune-making and gaining of Wuthering Heights--and this is done so undramatically and with so little relish by Heathcliff that had I not read the book I wouldn't even have noticed its importance while watching the film. The younger Cathy and the younger Earnshaw are ignorantly excised from the plot; I say ignorantly because I believe Brontë intended their triumph to be a triumph over the doom Cathy & Heathcliff went to. But complexity, schumplexity! And what of Hindley's slow decline? Make it quick, now, and don't even bother with reasons why! And while Merle Oberon is believable as Cathy, if nothing else, it's my opinion that Lawrence Olivier is unwatchable as Heathcliff. He isn't brooding. He isn't tortured. He isn't even mildly ill-tempered. Frankly, I found his performance flat, boring, and unromantic. Had I been Cathy, I'd have sent him packing long before he did it to himself. As a film version of Wuthering Heights, this movie disappointed me completely. On its own, it might have been interesting, exploring as it does Cathy's sense that Edgar and Heathcliff each draw out a different soul in her, but even this angle gets left behind at some point: upon Heathcliff's return to England as a gentleman, there's very little conflict or tension between the two men, and Cathy pretty much just dies, end of story. Was Heathcliff haunted by her? Who knows? We're not going to muddle the film with such long, drawn-out things, are we? All in all, one of the worst adaptations I have ever been subject to: Run away, and now.
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie, but...
Review: Don't have any razor blades in the house and keep your Prozac handy. What a depressing movie THAT was. The Great Depression wasn't this depressing.
Rating:
Summary: I didn't enjoy it
Review: It was a tragedy, romantic, well acted, and well made. But I didn't get anything out of it. My idea of an intertaining movie of this type is Casablanca. I didn't care about these people. Maybe it's generational; I'm 34. too much overacting and violins(and I like violins).
Rating:
Summary: The Best Version
Review: A large part of the novel by Emily Bronte is left out of the movie and the plot is simplified. It is still considered a classic film mostly because of the high quality of the acting. There are superb performances by Lawrence Olivier and Merle Oberon. A strong supporting cast includes David Niven, Flora Robson, Donald Crisp, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Leo G. Carrol, Cecil Kellaway, Miles Mander and Hugh Williams. The cinematography by Gregg Toland was in the same category of excellence as the acting. Although the story was also made into a movie in 1920, 1953 and again in 1970, it was the 1939 version alone which excelled.
Rating:
Summary: Tortured Love
Review: Some people consider Heathcliff and Cathy to be cruel, self-centered people. If you have ever truly, obsessively loved someone who has been kept from you due to life's circumstances, this movie will tear your heart out as you relate to your own experiences. I love the ending. It is my all-time favorite film.
Rating:
Summary: What possible bad can be said...
Review: ...about a film offereing David Niven, Leo.G.Carrol and Laurence Olivier altogether :D hee hee a dream come true methinks!
And just for the hell of it they throw Flora Robson in for the fun of it.
Never mind the 'pretty good for hollywood' script Larry excels from head to foot (although the feet were questionable at one point), I feel he's a much better movie actor in his late 30s early 40s hollywood films in his own productions from LOP he's far to stagey for screen, and one senses he's not the best film director.
Flora Robson is... just.. well...kool. As is Leo.G.Carrol, they are both above criticism.
David Niven is a natural, he radiates warmth whether he be playing character of the Phileas Fogg variety or the obviously to be pitied Edgar Linton. I delight at the chance to see this talented symapathetic act. However other members of the cast were quite lacking in there capability to carry off a convincing enough Cathy. Or should i say lacking in their capability to Act FULL STOP.
What a catastrophically bad choice to cast Merle Oberon with Olivier for a second time. Not even Olivier's perforamance could drag her dismal performance as cathy out of the gutter of hollywood shame.
I would like to have seen what Vivien Leigh, who was originally intended for the part of Cathy, could have done with the part.
However if you ignore her for the whole film everyone else bring this picture up to a definate 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Barren hearts...
Review: An icy touch from within the frost bitten wastelands, a crystalline beauty... The scorching tears, a heart so wrenched with blinding pain, the cries of anguish from one who has lost the only thing he ever honestly loved, open ones soul and pour forth from it that lifes blood that twines two lives together...
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