Wuthering Heights

A suprisingly powerful version
I've probably seen every film and TV version of "Wuthering Heights" (in addition to having read the book several times). When I ordered this DVD I wondered if it would really add anything to my collection. The answer is yes. The actors manage to pull off the most difficult task for this story: Making the characters sympathetic. Considering that faithful family servant Ellen is the only voice of normalcy and stability in a nest of emotionally driven and self-centered people, most of them obsessed with revenge, self-destruction, and/or death, that's a feat. (The four episodes are titled "The First Revenge," "The Second Revenge," etc.) Angela Scoular as Cathy Earnshaw comes across as wayward but often enchanting--in many films Cathy is just a, ahem, female dog. A young Ian McShane plays Heathcliff. He has the same deep (but somewhat less gravelly) voice as in "Deadwood," the same semi-scarcastic, semi-Shakespearean delivery--and having not yet acquired jowels, he's broodingly handsome...

Quite Aweful Plot; Acting Was Excellent
First off, I am not rating this film as a romance, nor am I critiquing how well Ian McShane or Angela Scoular can act in misfitting roles. Instead, I am critiquing this adaptation of Wuthering Heights in comparison to Emily Bronte's novel, which I have read numerous times.

Now, let me say that this adaptation of Wuthering Heights, 1967, is NOT worthy of being called a BBC classic, as the cover tries to convince the potential buyer.

Why?

Answer: Because the plot of this production is horribly badly because it alters important dialogue. It is the equivalent of a Hamlet production, by the BBC under the label "classic," where Hamlet says "Should I kill myself or no?" instead of "To be or not to be, that is the question?"

Yet, the plot is not the only problem. Also, Ian McShane is too old to play Heathcliff, at least the teenage scenes (which have been altered into youth adult scenes thanks to horrible script-writing).

Born in 1942,...

Wuthering Heights BBC
This is an early recording of Wuthering Heights by the BBC and is in black and white. Despite this it seems to have more atmosphere than later productions, acting is good, and seems to be quite an accurate rendition of the book. Very pleased with this but beware - this is a USA zone DVD (if in UK, check playable zones).

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