Movie · 1939 · Drama, Romance · 1h 44m · NR · English
Curator score: 7.0/10 (57.1K ratings)
I am torn with Desire… tortured by hate!
Overview
Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.0/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.63/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 83
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
William Wyler
Production
Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Cast
Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson, Donald Crisp, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Hugh Williams, Leo G. Carroll, Miles Mander, Cecil Kellaway, Cecil Humphreys, Sarita Wooton, Rex Downing, Douglas Scott, Frank Benson, Romaine Callender, Richard Clucas, Vernon Downing, Alice Ehlers, Harold Entwistle
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Max, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A lush, emotionally severe adaptation of Brontë’s novel, driven by stormy romance, class resentment, and Gothic fatalism. It softens some of the book’s ferocity, but the visual style, performances, and overheated melodrama make it a classic worth seeing.
Best for
fans of Gothic romance and tragic love stories
viewers who like classic Hollywood literary adaptations
people interested in class tension and emotional obsession on screen
audiences who enjoy black-and-white period drama with strong atmosphere
Skip if
you want a faithful, full-blooded adaptation of the novel
you dislike melodrama or emotionally cruel characters
you prefer modern pacing and psychological subtlety over heightened classic style
you need a romance that feels warm or aspirational
Overview
William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights is less a cozy period romance than a feverish study in longing, resentment, and social injury. The film leans into the novel’s elemental passions while smoothing some of its harsher edges, but it still captures the sense of love as something destructive, doomed, and impossible to contain.
Worth noting
What stands out most is the atmosphere: the bleak moors, the severe interiors, and the way the film turns bodies, gestures, and glances into signs of class conflict and emotional possession. The performances are polished in a classic Hollywood way, yet the movie never loses its sense of emotional extremity.
Bottom line
This is a strong choice for viewers who like their romances poisoned by obsession and their literary adaptations shaped by visual elegance. It may not satisfy purists looking for the novel’s full brutality, but as a studio-era Gothic melodrama, it remains compelling and memorable.
Top Letterboxd reviews
meg (3.5★) · 1850 likes
Look, I'm not one who finds 'Wuthering Heights" romantic,in fact, to me it's decidedly unromantic, but I'm woman enough to admit that "He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same". GOES OFF. That's such a banger of a line.
phoebe 💫 (4★) · 1357 likes
Anyone in this movie: wuthering hei-
My one brain cell: 🎶 HEATHCLIFF, it's me, I'm Cathy, I've come ho-ome, I'm so o O cold
Let me in through your window-owowow 🎶
♡carleigh♡ (5★) · 1069 likes
💔💔💔 I KILLED YOU 💔💔💔 HAUNT ME THEN 💔💔💔 HAUNT YOUR MURDERER 💔💔💔 I KNOW THAT GHOSTS HAVE WANDERED ON THE EARTH 💔💔💔 BE WITH ME ALWAYS 💔💔💔 TAKE ANY FORM 💔💔💔 DRIVE ME MAD 💔💔💔 ONLY DO NOT LEAVE ME IN THIS DARK ALONE WHERE I CANNOT FIND YOU 💔💔💔 I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT MY LIFE 💔💔💔 I CANNOT DIE WITHOUT MY SOUL 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔
eely (3★) · 912 likes
love how half the book is about their children and this movie just said “I pretend I do not see it”
also love how everyone on this set supposedly despised each other except for the director and the cinematographer who got along swimmingly while laurence olivier and merle oberon spat on each other in the background.
Timcop (4★) · 810 likes
The only thing keeping these perfect, loving soulmates apart is their insistence on treating each other like shit.
Another atmospheric Gothic romance from the classic Hollywood era, with haunted estates, emotional unease, and a heroine trapped inside a powerful memory.