Customer Reviews

Wuthering Heights (1970)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Wait until you see Timothy Dalton!!! He is just amazing with his portrayal of Heathcliff. I've watched the Olivier/Oberon version off and on all my life but always felt it was lacking in that Olivier seemed too old for the part (although he was great to look at) and Oberon was so pinched and snobbish it was hard to believe he could love her. In this version that is not the case even though the leading lady who plays Cathy (Anna Calder-Marshall) is not very attractive in my opinion. Dalton carries this film with his intense performance and even makes the young lady seem more attractive as the film progresses. This has never been one of my favorite "classics" but this Dalton version has definitely found it's place on my top 10 list. I would highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys period pictures. If you get nothing out of it other than the Dalton performance and the Michel Legrand score (absolutely beautiful music) you will agree this film is more than worth it's price.

Okay, the story is well known and this naturally will run comparisons to Lord Larry and Merle Oberon's 1939 version. But this is a gentle, atmospheric retelling that is well acted.

Excellently cast, Caulder-Marshall is super as the willful Cathy that loves Heathcliff, but must face choices in her life to save them both, which ultimately drives them apart, changes them, but cannot alter the deep love that drives them - even if it drives them to destroy each other. Dalton is properly Welsh, dark and brooding, very adapt at showing his younger vunerability, and later the darker, sensual side. The gorgeous Ian Ogilvy is a perfect contrast to Dalton's dark, the fair haired beautiful husband that cannot touch her soul.

An interesting note: in this movie Ogilvy's sister is played by the same woman that played his wife in the excellent Witchfinder General with Vincent Price.

Well worth the viewing again and again.

For Timothy Dalton's performance alone, I should have given this movie 5 stars. Dalton's devilish dark good looks, and the way he brought out Heathcliff's passion, rage, and fury, rendered him the best Heathcliff I have ever seen portrayed on screen. You could see the evil in him and the VIOLENCE frightens you. The movie's music and scenery gives one a taste of life in the English moors. And, I was impressed with watching details from the book. But, the movie lacked real passion and drama, and overall emotion and feeling that the 1992 version exuded. Too, since this movie did not keep to the original plot, like the 1939 and the 1992 versions,--And ended with Heathcliff being shot (What? Heathcliff was never SHOT in the book!) I have to say that I did not thoroughly enjoy this movie.

Having seen this movie some years ago on video, I'm very excited that it is available on DVD. While Sir Laurence Olivier and Ralph Fiennes have both done respectable turns as Heathcliff, Timothy Dalton is just glorious!! He embodies the character's passion, ambivalence and consuming torment and longing for Cathy splendidly. Anna Calder-Marshall, while perhaps not one would think would make an ideal Cathy, is wonderful as the Yorkshire lass. Oh, how these two sizzle! Whenever Dalton speaks, or broods, the room temperature just seemed to skyrocket! The ill-fated lovers find themselves separated and bound by circumstance and other people, leading to tragic results.

Sure, the consummation of their relationship did not occur in the book, but with young hot actors like Timothy and Anna, how could the filmmakers not succumb to temptation? The locations (complete with windswept wild moors) and music are intoxicatingly gorgeous as well. I don't know how Emily Bronte would feel about this adaptation, but I'd like to think that this production would have done her proud.

Like some other viewers, I was disappointed that the second generation were not featured and that the ending seemed tacked on. Those are the only things that stop me from giving this movie 5 stars. Also, I seem to remember a few other scenes from the VHS (there is a still from one of them on the DVD jacket) that are not included on the disc. But this version captured the passion and intensity between Heathcliff and Cathy.

The DVD transfer has been wonderfully restored, a big improvement over the VHS print. A few specks and scratches show from time to time, and other than that, aside from the hairstyles (which indicate the decade in which it was made), you wouldn't think the movie is 40 years old.

Make sure you've got a fan going, as well as ice cold drinks, because the heat will go way up!

I saw this movie when it first came out and I was very young and impressionable. As someone else said in their review, the young should see it because it really will touch them in a unique, once in a lifetime way. I read a review complaining that it's not like the book. I hadn't read the book yet when I first saw it. Since then I've read the book many times and it is one of my favorites. I don't care that this movie takes license and makes it's own story. I think it still tells a great love story. And the music is beautiful and haunting, as it should be. I'm thrilled it's now on DVD because my old VHS copy is getting worn out! :)

I searched for this movie for years before it was finally released on video. I have two copies in VHS and now finally a DVD that hopefully will survive time! I think this version fills in the blanks that Emily Bronte couldn't write about in her time, but it also has some elements directly from the book that are missing from other Wuthering Heights versions. Watch this movie! You will fall in love like never before.

This version has haunted me for decades since seeing it presented on tv in the early 70s. I searched high and low to finally find it on VHS several years ago-- (when it was available for a very short time)-- then had to scour collectable LP stores for years to find the soundtrack by Michel LeGrand (never released on CD, unfortunately) and paid someone to transfer it to CD before CD burners were available. Well, I'd thought my eyes had decieved me when I saw this DVD. Yes, there are more recent versions of Wuthering Heights that more closely cover Bronte's book, but arguably none have you feeling the bone chilling winds over the moors nor capture the darkness of the tragedy in a more memorable way.

I was so excited when I found this movie on Amazon.com. I ordered it with another old favorite I found here. When I finally got around to watching it it brought back memories of seeing it on the big screen in the early 70's. Timothy Dalton is fantastic as Heathcliff....brooding, sensual, and not too hard to look at. The movie is beautifully done, and the music is haunting. One of the only remakes of a movie that I can say was worth seeing. What I enjoyed most was my daughters seeing it, they loved it too.

This is one of several romantic classics adaptions which were made in the wake of the huge popularity of Zefferelli's ROMEO AND JULIET in the 60's and 70's. Though purists will find this to be a Classics Illustrated version of Bronte's dark and complex story, it is nevertheless a finely crafted film with a beautiful and haunting score by Michel Legrand which the lush DVD soundtrack shows to full effect. Timothy Dalton is a perfect Heathcliff on a par with Olivier's Hollywood version. He digs deep into this tortured man's soul. Anna Caulder-Marshall is less convincing as Cathy, although few if any actresses have ever assayed the part better(Miss Marshall was burdened with an artificial leg, but this is not evident in her performance). I remember this film with affection as an artifact of it's time and the DVD has brought it back in full glory. If you enjoy well made historical romances as I do, you will want to add this film to your library.

Timothy Dalton is excellent as Heathcliff! The story mainly concentrates on the love between Heathcliff and Catherine, which is fine by me. I thought the novel dragged on and on. And also, a great thing about this version is that it is AS rough and dark as the novel too. No hollywood touch-ups. Instead, it keeps the story real. WH is good enough for any psychologist to ponder over! What a case study. And a REAL tearjerker too. I highly suggest buying it! If you're impressed with Dalton here, then you must pick up the BBC's version of Jane Eyre! He's stellar.