WUTHERING HEIGHTS

The best film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 masterpiece. Heatcliff (Laurence Olivier) is an orphan who falls in love with Cathie (Merle Oberon), who also loves him. The two teenagers vow to make a life together, until Cathie begins to long for a life that Heatcliff cannot provide. To fulfill her wish, she marries the wealthy Edgar Linton (David Niven), whom she strives to love even though her heart still belongs to the boy to whom she had promised herself. Heatcliff then leaves the country to seek his fortune in America. Once rich, he returns and asks Edgar’s sister Isabella (Geraldine Fitzgerarld) for her hand in marriage, destroying the fragile balance in Cathie’s life. The film is marked by Laurence Olivier’s impressive performance as Heatcliff and Gregg Toland’s masterful, Oscar-winning photography.