Truncated yet surprisingly accurate to the novel, William Wyler's early adaptation of Emily Bronte's classic novel,
Wuthering Heights, captures barely a snapshot of the larger novel, but does so surprisingly well. While it might not always be the best of ideas to simply film the events of a novel without too much interpretation, Wyler did an outstanding job filmically, and while very little is done in the cause of adaptation as something more than a straight retelling,
Wuthering Heights persists as a classic film. The movie is captivating from the beginning, and all shortenings and anachronisms behind, does a good job of capturing the feel of the novel.
More than anything, the lighting and contrast of this film work to establish and portray the mood of the scenes. Wuthering Heights is a dark place, Thrushcross Grange and clean and bright, and the characters operating inside of each place mirror their disposition as well as their position in life. In one particular scene, the viewer knows Heathcliff is hiding in the shadows, but he is completely consumed by them; completely invisible. Reflecting the tone of the scene, this takes place as he listens to Cathy describing her love and eventual marriage of Edgar Linton. From Heathcliff's perspective, he must have felt as if his life is being swallowed by darkness, just as his body was in this particular scene. While this might have been one of the most dramatic instances of lighting portraying the tone of the scene, it happens throughout, such as the ending, when the bright snow reflects the happy, albeit dark, ending.
Beyond color and contrast, the directors makes interesting use of focus to articulate the thoughts of the characters. Oftentimes, as character will be in or out of focus, depending on what the onlooking character might be thinking about. This happens near the middle of the film, when Heathcliff is talking to Cathy and Edgar enters the room. Taking the position of Heathcliff, the camera remains focused upon Cathy, with Edgar remaining blurry for the duration of the scene. This clearly represents Heathcliff's unwillingness to admit that Edgar exists at all, and especially that he does not care about Edgar or his intentions. Instances of this occur throughout, as shots are taken with deep or shallow focus, to accentuate the important or detailed goings-on of the scene.
Perhaps most impressive about this film is its ability to shoot places. The moors, one of the lasting impressions on any reader of the novel, are here represented as the vast wilderness they seem to be in the novel. While they go on for miles and miles, they also appear open and wild, as if the physical representation of Heathcliff and Cathy's love. Cathy loses her love for Heathcliff when she becomes who society wants her to be; removing her from the moors. It is on these moors that the characters are at their freest, the most themselves, when they fall in love. The film does a brilliant job of capturing the vastness and openness of the moors by placing them in deep focus, in the background of many outdoor shots.
In interior settings, the camera is often used to capture a scene through a static angle. It seems that most interior shots are taken from one place, with the action unfolding in front of the camera, as it stands there and watches. This is particularly effective because it mirrors the narrative structure of the novel. Ellen, as the main narrator of the story and a character in it, can only view the happenings from one place. As a result, her perspective is generally fixed, much like that of the camera in this film.
By implementing sharp contrasts, subjective focus, and particular attention to technique when filming places, William Wyler's
Wuthering Heights captures a bit of the spirit trapped inside of this nineteenth century classic. When reading the novel, the sense of something dark and foreboding never quite leaves until the conclusion. Ending this film at Cathy's deathbed directly prior to the ghost scene significantly helps capture this feeling. The character's treatment of Heathcliff is jarring to the reader, and his reaction equally disturbing. All of this wraps up into one of the darkest love stories ever captured. In doing so, it takes only the darkest of endings, that of death, to undo the dark curse set upon the viewer. Both of these affects are present in the novel, and even if handled differently, this version of
Wuthering Heights is closer than would be expected to the novel. While much is left out, viewing the movie feels very much like reading the book; an accomplishment more complete adaptations of novels often miss.
-Zachary R. Belcher
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