"...No matter what I ever do or say, Heathcliff, this is me now; standing on this hill with you. This is me forever. "
Wuthering Heights is a 1939 black and white film, directed by William Wyler and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It is based on the celebrated novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The novel was adapted for the screen by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston. The film won the 1939 New York Film Critics Award for Best Film. It earned nominations for eight Academy Awards,[1] including for Best Picture and Best Actor. The 1939 Academy Award for Best Cinematography, black and white category, was awarded to Gregg Toland for his work.
The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors on which the story centers (as an adjective, wuthering is a Yorkshire word referring to turbulent weather). The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and many around them.
In 2007, Wuthering Heights was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
We've had some spirited talk about GONE WITH THE WIND, and WUTHERING HEIGHTS is a film and novel that I often associate with GWTW for many reasons: both great love stories whose themes have transcended generations, both films come to us during the last of the pre-war days in what has generally been regarged as the greatest year ever in Cinema, 1939, and both films are based on novels that represent the respective author's ONLY work. But the most obvious connection is the real life love affair between Vivian Leigh (Scarlett O' Hara in GWTW) and (Sir) Laurence Olivier in this film (the English stage master who is arguably the greatest actor of the 20th century), who had begun an affair in 1937 and were to be married the subsequent year following GWTW and this film.
By the age of 28, Sir Laurence was already regarded as the foremost classical actor of the British theatre, and about the same time he decided to take this role in essential director William Wyler's film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, he recommended his new girlfriend English stage actress Vivian Leigh to director David Shzick to play the role of Southern deboutant Scarlett O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind"; the rest of course being cinematic history there.
But a little known fact about Vivian Leigh's now legendary role is that, although the young starlet may have delivered one of the most celebrated performances in Cinematic history, the fact of the matter is that Leigh couldn't wait to get off set of Gone With The Wind and complete shooting QUICKLY so she could run home and jump into the sheets with the future Sir Laurence. Some say that's even the reason for some of her rather hastily delivered lines to Clark Gable in GWTW. No kidding. Olivier and Leigh met just a year prior to this shooting while on set together in another film and remained married until shortly before Leigh's death in 1967. (Vivian Leigh, the future "Lady Olivier", is now known to have had battled serious bouts of manic depression and Olivier once referred to them both as "walking corpses." Olivier married after Leigh's death and remained so 20 years later and beyond as his film and stage career continued somewhat lathargically onward into the 1980's.)
WUTHERING HEIGHTS represents an early raw performance on film by Olivier, one in which he credits the great William Wyler for his advances as a film actor. Though not Sir Laurence's best, it warranted an Academy Award nomination for best actor (Vivien Leigh of course took home Best Actress that year). This, in addition to a sub-par performance from Merlin Oberon's role as Cathy, perhaps explains why this film is often seen as dated a bit, despite the great genesis of sorts of Olivier's combined stage and film career through the great director Wyler. But I think the original novel and more contemporary versions of this film are still today immensely popular among audiences and critics alike. I've read the novel and there's no question that this version is the truest to the original work than any of the others.
In addition to the haunting, timeless love story that has made this such a favorite for even contemporary audiences, this is a narrative that's often been emulated - you know, the one where the guy in the business suit sitting behind the desk trades places with the guy mopping the floors in some sort of commentary on the class struggle between worker and boss; master and slave. It tells generationaly the story of an orphan boy Heathcliff (Olivier) who comes to live with a family during England during the times when the Hapsburg empire was at it's height of power in Europe (young Cathy to young Heathcliff: "Your father was the King of the Orient, and your mother the Queen of India." Great line ) Interestingly, the narrative sort of turns over on itself several times as control of Wuthering Heights swaps back and forth between Heathcliff and the son of the Lintons, who has always been cruel to Heathcliff from the time his father took young Heath in.
Always constant in the topsy-turvy narrative is the love story between Cathy and Heathcliff - love that is never meant to be, and how their undying passion to be with each other over the years ultimately destroys both them and most around them. (Another "Gone With The Wind" connection we see is the projection between Scarlett's "Terra" plantation and Heathcliff and Catherine's Wuthering Heights as the source of their salvation, of sorts. So long as Wuthering Heights lives, so too, does their love.)
And that brings us to that famous after-life scene with Heathcliff and Cathy. It deviates from the novel and was inserted by producer Sam Goldwyn who subsequently claimed, "I made Wuthering Heights, Wyler only directed it." Despite the difference from the novel there are some film and novel critics alike who regard the after-life scene with Heath and Catherine as a nice addition and twist to the story. I most certainly agree and consider this one of the best films made in the pre "method acting" era, largely due to Wyler's haunting, but copacetic ending:
And below is an incredible interview done with Sir Laurence or "Larry" on 60 minutes during the 80's. He talks about how this film and Wyler helped him transform from a sheer stage actor, his life with Vivian Leigh and just his life as arguably the greatest actor of the century--one which included an affliction with stage-fright in later years--its VERY cool stuff b/c I always associated him as just the scary voice on those old spooky Halloween commercials from the 80's. (This interview was conducted a few yrs after he played mad Nazi Dentist who terrorized Dustin Hoffman (Is it safe?) in Marathon Man (1976), and then Nazi hunter in Boys From Brazil (1978).) A must see interview for all film fans:
No kidding. Olivier and Leigh met just a year prior to this shooting while on set together in another film and remained married until shortly before Leigh's death in 1967. (Vivian Leigh, the future "Lady Olivier", is now known to have had battled serious bouts of manic depression and Olivier once referred to them both as "walking corpses." 
Olivier married after Leigh's death and remained so 20 years later and beyond as his film and stage career continued somewhat lathargically onward into the 1980's.)
) Interestingly, the narrative sort of turns over on itself several times as control of Wuthering Heights swaps back and forth between Heathcliff and the son of the Lintons, who has always been cruel to Heathcliff from the time his father took young Heath in. 
