Wuthering Heights

There have been many takes on Wuthering Heights, but the 1967 adaptation brings a distinct flavor-less polished, more intimate, and brimming with restrained intensity. Rather than rely on sweeping theatrics, this version leans into a quieter melancholy, letting the emotional erosion of its characters echo through the moors like distant thunder.

Shot with a stark, almost stage-like simplicity, the film feels stripped down but not underwhelming. That rawness becomes its strength. With limited embellishment, the haunting core of Emily Brontë's story comes into sharper focus-one of obsession, longing, and the slow decay of hearts that cannot move on.

The performances are tightly wound, simmering instead of shouting. It's less about the violence of love and more about its stillness-the ache of it, the silence that follows where words should be. The actors deliver not with melodrama, but with presence, allowing subtle gestures and weighted glances to speak volumes.

The film's atmosphere, while modest in scope, manages to capture the emotional landscape of the novel. You can almost feel the damp chill in the air, the emptiness of windswept hills, and the hollowness left behind when love turns inward and begins to rot.

Wuthering Heights (1967) may not be the loudest or most lavish adaptation, but it lingers. It whispers, not roars-and in doing so, becomes a ghost of itself. A haunting, tragic echo.

As one so enamored with Period Piece films, I deeply regret to say that this rendering of the classic Wuthering Heights was almost unwatchable. This is as uninspired a screenplay that was ever ill-conceived in what must have been a lapse of the Screenwriter's sanity There is not a single character that you can truly have empathy for. You want to at least like the patriarch, Mr. Earnshaw, but he too is so gruff, and uncivilized that his genuine affection for the rejected Heathcliff seems almost out of place....Gratuitously violent, pitifully acted, and unskillfully cast and directed, I don't dislike anyone enough to ask them to watch this production!

Pretty faithful to the book except the actors as children were much too old as well as when they're adolescents. McShane is too short at 5 9' and the actor playing Edgar is taller and has a bigger frame. It's hard to picture Heathcliff being stronger and more threatening in the key thrown in the fire scene- which they changed. Cathy doesn't throw the key in the hottest part of the fire she just tosses it across the room. Also cut is the scene where Cathy chases after Heathcliffthe the night he runs off and she ends up very sick. Her first near death experience isn't depicted. Also Heathcliff runs off before Hareton is even born therefore he never catches him when he falls from Hindley's grasp at the top of the stairs. Scoular is one of the best Cathys I've seen. She's pretty enough and delivers her dialogue in a natural way which is hard to do with the way they talk in the book. She delivered her lines fast., how ppl naturally talk, not slow and melodramatic. I liked Anna Calder Marshall as Cathy but they didn't make her powerful or bratty enough. Timothy Dalton was the best Heathcliff in my opinion. I would say this version is worth watching. Too bad it's not in color.

As many of you might know, Kate Bush wrote her song, Wuthering Heights, shortly after she and her family watched this version at home way back when.

And, intrigued, I hunted down the DVD-among all of the available versions-to see why she enjoyed it so much.

On a rainy, dreary Saturday, my wife and I hunkered down and watched all four parts (182 minutes worth). Here are my admittedly unprofessional criticisms:

The setting in the moors, while hauntingly beautiful, wasn't captured well. Everything was blurry and trembly. Yes, I understand these were 1960's production values, but this just seemed cheap and rushed. As did the residence settings and costumes.

The acting was slipshod. While the two main characters were fairly well-acted, most of the other acting was hit or miss...mostly a miss.

I won't comment on Emily Bronte's characters, though none were really likable. Another time, another place. I get that.

We sat through the entire thing but both commented later that it was pretty horrible, overall.

I'd recommend skipping this mess and just watching Kate's video.

I remember this as a wonderfully rugged version of the story, very earthy and passionate. It captured the wildness of the moors and the Yorkshire weather in a way that the Olivier version never managed.

McShane was born to play Heathcliff and I am sure set many other teenage hearts pounding as well as mine. Cathy was alternately lyrically beautiful and utterly terrifying.

This hallmark BBC production has a second claim to fame. The terrifying spectre of Cathy at the window inspired Kate Bush to write that song.

I wish someone would bring it out on video. It may not be as good as I recall it, and indeed often older TV productions seem stilted by today's standards- but nonetheless, I am certain it would be worth a second look.