True Love Never Dies

         When a person goes to see a movie that is based a book that he has read, he usually has high expectations. When the movie is not exactly like the book, he is usually let down and talks about how much was left out. As one could see after reading Emily Brontë’s 1847 Wuthering Heights, much of the story was left out of the 1938 screenplay, written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and 1939 movie, directed by William Wyler. The focus of the two was the love story between Catherine and Heathcliff.

         In both the movie and the screenplay, there were no pregnancies, no second generation children, only one death, and the characters did not seem as terrible and evil as they did in the book. David Niven’s Edgar does not seem so bothered with Catherine’s (played by Merle Oberon) obsessive behavior about Laurence Olivier’s Heathcliff; Hindley, played by Hugh Williams, never marries, and therefore does not show his ultimate fury; and Geraldine Fitzgerald’s Isabella shows more interest in Heathcliff, while he shows hardly any in her. The love story between Cathy and Heathcliff dictated the screenplay and the movie.

         Of course, the actors and actresses did a good job with what they were given to work with; the costumes were great, and really represented the time period, which was set in the later part of the eighteenth century. The quality of the film was fantastic. Overall, there should be no complaints from the viewer. If the entire book were to be put into a movie, one would have an incredibly long movie! One can take into account books turned into movies of these days, for example, the Harry Potter series. I have read and seen all of the book and movies, and each time I notice things that are left out from the book. Certain things being omitted do make the movie any less of a good movie, because every detail can not be included. This same thinking should be used when considering Wuthering Heights.

         The writers of the screenplay and the director of the movie decided to focus on a certain aspect of the movie–the ongoing love affair between Catherine and Heathcliff. It is a beautiful story, with the two loving each other from childhood. Nothing could separate their unconditional love for each other, not even death. This is the ultimate theme of the book, and that is why the screenplay left out the other parts of the book. The love story is what most people remember about Wuthering Heights; it is what continues to stick out in the reader’s mind. Because of the focus of the movie, it is also what the viewer will continue to remember when thinking of Wuthering Heights. True love never dies.

Meagan Brown

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