Wuthering Heights (1970 film)

Wuthering Heights
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Fuest
Produced by	Samuel Z. Arkoff James H. Nicholson
Written by	Emily Brontë (novel) Patrick Tilley (screenplay)
Starring	Anna Calder-Marshall Timothy Dalton
Music by	Michel Legrand
Cinematography	John Coquillon
Edited by	Ann Chegwidden
Distributed by	American International Pictures
Release date	9 June 1970 (UK) 18 February 1971 (USA)
Running time	104 mins.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$800,000
Box office	$4.5 million (est.)

Wuthering Heights is a 1970 film directed by Robert Fuest. It is based on the classic Emily Brontë novel of the same name. Like the 1939 version, this film depicts only the first sixteen chapters concluding with Catherine Earnshaw Linton's death and omits the trials of her daughter, Hindley's son, and Heathcliff's son.

This film version differs from the book in several ways, and most of the differences involve Hindley Earnshaw. First it takes a more sympathetic look at Hindley. Usually portrayed as being a cruel oppressor of Heathcliff, in this version he is persecuted by his father and lives in Heathcliff's shadow. Also in this version, Nelly Dean, the narrator, is shown as being in love with Hindley and unable to express her feelings due to their class difference. After his wife's death, Hindley goes through a hedonistic stage but finally pulls himself out of it.

At the end of the film, perhaps the most controversial of all the differences, Hindley succeeds in fatally shooting Heathcliff and remains the owner of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Cathy's ghosts are then reunited.

When first introducing Heathcliff, the film also subtly suggests that Heathcliff might be Mr Earnshaw's illegitimate son and hence Cathy's half-brother.

AIP were not traditionally associated with Gothic romance, but were inspired to make the film by the success of Romeo and Juliet (1966).

The movie was shot on location in Blubberhouses, Weston Hall near Otley, and Brimham Rocks. Producer Lous Heyward said at the time:

I'm the only American here. For the first time in 30 years Hollywood said to me, 'No big names, no huge publicity, just a good film that stands on its merits'. This is very encouraging except now we stand naked in judgement. It has to be really good with two to three million dollars invested. The last version, with Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff and Merle Oberon as Cathy, portrayed him as a regular nice guy and her as sweetness and light. That was not the truth and Hollywood now goes in for the truth. Heathcliff was a bastard and Cathy a real bitch and that's how they'll be in this film.

At the box office, it failed to attract receipts and audience.

AIP had announced a sequel Return to Wuthering Heights but it was not made. Neither were other adaptations of classic novels mooted by the studio, including Camille, The House of Seven Gables, and Tale of Two Cities.