Wuthering Heights (1939)
9/10
Wuthering Heights, a name you've probably heard before. Sound literary. And it is: a famous novel written in 1847 by Emily Brontė. This 1939 film was nominated eight Academy Awards including best picture, going up against Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Stagecoach, ultimately losing to Gone with the Wind; but winning Best Cinematography.
It actually does have some traditional horror elements, but none more than the true horror that romantic love sometimes can be. There's few films that sharply capture the diametric battle between pure love and a pure heart, versus worldly pleasures and security, and a more 'calculating' heart, as this film does.
Stars Lawrence Olivier (Heathcliff), Merle Oberon (Cathy) and David Niven (Edgar Linton). Orphan child, Heathcliff, is adopted by kindly gentry Mr. Earnshaw. In time Heathcliff and his stepsister, Cathy, fall in love. But when the Mr. Earnshaw dies, the two fall slave to the cruel elder brother who takes possession of the estate, and Heathcliff is reduced to a stable boy. Despite their pure love, Cathy asks Heathcliff to run off alone, get a fortune and return to save them both from their predicament. Cathy rejects the offer that they run off together, citing the likely discomfort. Overtime Cathy is wooed by a rich gentrified neighbor... and then the horror begins.
