Heathcliff's a badass.How come they couldn't have just told me that in high school? I don't remember anyone selling WUTHERING HEIGHTS to me in high school as a glorious revenge story in which a dude gets back at everyone who wronged him.
I guess maybe that's because that's not the point of the book. Still, that's what I latched onto for the first part of the movie. Then Heathcliff went a little too far. Oops. The problem with glorious revenge stories is that revenge is never as awesome as you think it's going to be.
Laurence Olivier stars as Heathcliff, a street kid adopted by an estate presided over by a kindly master (Cecil Kellaway). He and Kellaway's daughter, played by Merle Oberon, grow close to each other but the Kelleway's nasty son (Hugh Williams) can't get past the class differences. When Kelleway dies and Williams becomes master of the estate, he sidelines and abuses Olivier, treating him as a servant. Olivier tentatively carries on a romance with Oberon, only to be betrayed by her when she gravitates towards a wealthy neighbor (David Niven) who might be a good marriage option.
Olivier's Heathcliff is at first encouraged by Oberon to go out and seek his fortune so he can come back and sweep her off her feet properly, but as her romance blossoms with Niven, Olivier ends up going off to seek his fortune specifically to come back and seek revenge against all those who have wronged him.
A pawn in his plan is Niven's sister (Geraldine Fitzgerald) and this is where Olivier kind of crosses the line. It's all fine and dandy to punish Williams for treating him like shit and try to upset Niven and make Oberon jealous, but to marry Fitzgerald just out of spite and then, to add insult to injury, not treat her very well afterwards -- that's not too cool.
Anyway, this is another Samuel Goldwyn production, interestingly directed by William Wyler in beautiful black and white. The movie is good at setting tone with the dreary, swampy locations and drafty old houses.
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