Wuthering Heights

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.

As a collector of versions of Wuthering Heights, I was very excited to obtain this 1967 miniseries on DVD and watch it for the first time. On the whole, this is an impressively faithful rendering of the novel – although a few minor liberties might have created a stronger production. Here are my impressions of the positive and negative aspects:

Good: The black and white photography and ever-present howling wind both contribute much to the general bleakness in a way that I found appealing (the wind made it a little hard to hear the dialog at times, though!). They helped to create an atmosphere that seemed musty, suffocating and hostile (the interior scenes), and wild and unpredictable (the moors). Ian McShane is an ideal Heathcliff, dusky and moody and quick to anger. All of the actors were quite well-chosen for their parts, with Isabella, Hareton, Edgar and Linton particularly fine. Cathy is tough to get right but Angela Scoulari is convincingly childish, petty, fervent and hysterical by turns.

Bad: The acting is a little over-the-top in a manner usually found in the theater, not in a film, where subtlety can be appreciated. Even the hairpieces and mustaches seemed like stage contrivances that would be fine at a distance, but not good enough for close camera scrutiny. And Angela Scoulari is appealingly pretty but her voice was quite high-pitched and forced, as though she was trying hard to sound younger. I found myself turning the volume down at times to soften the squealing tone of it. As for the storyline, they gave us almost none of the tender moments on the moor between young Heathcliff and Cathy; one moment she and Hindley are tormenting him relentlessly, then Hindley goes to school and suddenly she and Heathcliff are inseparable. They could have easily spent a little more time establishing their unnaturally close bond, and sacrificed a little of the slower, dragging pace of the 4th part.

Well worth seeing for viewers who love the novel

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.