Fresh and Exciting

Admirable film.

A lot of fun.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Timothy Dalton is the only saving grace of this version, the score and photography merit a mention, but the rest is abysmal. Calder-Marshall lacks passion and conviction, and appears at times to be half-witted. The deviation from the book sometimes necessary but here it's just silly. If only Michael Anderson had done his version with Richard Harris!The 1939 version is still the best version ever of the book.

I've seen many adaptations of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and I can safely say there is no ideal, perfect version. Some people adore the 1992 version, which is closer to the book than any of the other surviving WH features, but I personally found it bland save for Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff. My two favorite versions would have to be the 1939 film and this beautifully shot 1970 adaptation.While its closer to the book in tone and the darkness of the characters when compared to the '39 film, it's pretty much just about as accurate. The second generation is cut out, Hareton dies in infancy, and Heathcliff and Cathy actually consummate their love in an orchard (it is a beautiful scene though). While it was barely even implied in the book, this movie almost explicitly states that Heathcliff is Mr. Earnshaw's illegitimate son and therefore Catherine's half-sibling. The film even ends with Hindley getting revenge on Heathcliff by shooting him! Despite all the changes, this is still a lovely and even haunting movie in its own right. The beautiful score by Michel Legrand is my favorite film score of all time; it just evokes deep longing and passion. The fact that the picture was actually shot on location in Yorkshire makes this one of the best looking of all the WH adaptations. Timothy Dalton is perfect as Heathcliff, and while Anna Calder-Marshall makes for a rather odd Catherine, she still has magnificent chemistry with Dalton. Judy Cornwall as Nelly is the best on screen portrayal of that character, who's often written as an old or middle-aged woman when in the book she's only a few years older than the teenaged Catherine.

I first saw this film in 1970 and it had such an effect on me I saw it three times and cried all the way home each time.In fact it still has the power to make me cry now. I remember in the cinema the gasps from the women in the audience when Heathcliffe returned to Wuthering Heights. Wow! The whole movie was so atmospheric right from the beginning with that fantastic scenery and haunting music. Timothy's portrayal of Heathcliffe is by far the most passionate and sensitive I've seen and I would have liked to have seen him in other similar roles. Naturally I have bought the DVD and also the music on vinyl-both are played regularly!One of my daughters is now a huge fan of the movie.

This particular rendition of Wuthering Heights is truthfully not as faithful to the novel as it could have been. Yet, I believe that this film expresses the bleary tone of the novel with the most stylistic level of credit. I think that any time a novel is translated into film it loses a certain amount of credibility due to the fact that the mediums of film and literature are interpreted by an audience in very different ways. But having read the novel, I prefer this version to any other that I've seen on film. Heathcliff and Cathy are cast astounding well in the film. Dalton is brooding and flawed without compromising his dark good looks while Calder-Marshall is waifishly emblematic of the heroine of the novel. I only wish that the film had delved more into the novel instead of offering merely of survey of it.