Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontës only novel. It was first published in 1847.The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors. (Wuthering means turbulent weather).Emily Bronte's, beloved classic was filmed in 1939. One of greatest years for motion pictures.
One night during a blizzard, Heathcliff has a visitor who turns out to be his new neighbor, Lockwood. Lockwood asks for someone to show him to the Grange, but instead Heathcliff allows him to stay the night. While trying to sleep, Lockwood hears a voice scream the name "Cathy" and feels an cold hand touch him. When Lockwood tells Heathcliff, he rushes outside, into the blizzard, calling Catherine's name. Not understanding Heathcliff's strange behavior, Lockwood asks Ellen Dean, the housekeeper, to tell him about Catherine. Ellen tells him the story, which began forty years ago....
One day, Cathy's kind father brings home an orphaned gypsy child, who is now to live with them. Cathy becomes quick friends with Heathcliff. Unfortunately, her brother Hindley will resent him his whole life. Heathcliff joins Cathy on a trip to Peniston Crag, where they pretend to be the king and queen in their make believe world.
After the the death of their father Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley takes control as the head of the household of Wuthering Heights and forces Heathcliff to labor under his cruel treatment. Heathcliff's only friends are, Ellen and Cathy. After spending a afternoon in their make believe world, Heathcliff and Cathy hear a dance taking place at the nearby Linton mansion. they decide to take a closer look when the Lintons' guard dogs, attack and injure Cathy.
While Cathy, who has been recuperating at the Linton estate, has fallen in love with the young Edgar, who can give her everything. Cathy and Edgar return to Wuthering Heights, they are surprised to see Heathcliff, who tells Cathy that he can not leave because he loves her. When Edgar insults Heathcliff, Cathy demands that Edgar leave the house.
One rainy night, Cathy tells Ellen that Edgar has proposed to her, and when Heathcliff overhears her say that marrying Heathcliff would demean her. He runs off before he hears her tell Ellen that she loves him, and feels that she and Heathcliff are one. Realizing that Heathcliff may have over heard her, Cathy runs after him in the rain. Cathy collapses and is found the next day by Edgar, who takes her to his estate. Soon after Cathy recovers from pneumonia she marries Edgar.
Many years pass, and Heathcliff, who disappeared on the night she became ill, returns to England a rich and distinguished gentleman, and secretly buys Wuthering Heights, by paying Hindley's debts. Heathcliff has come to claim Cathy's love, but she stops his advances. Heathcliff takes revenge on Cathy by marrying her sister in law, Isabela.
Will this unresolved passion eventually destroy them ?
Cast: Merle Oberson, Laurence Olivier, David Niven.
