Like most Wuthering Heights adaptations, this 1950 television version chucks the complicated psychology of the original novel and reduces it to a soap opera. As a devotee of the original book, I admit I cringe a bit to see Heathcliff and Catherine's unearthly bond reduced to mere adulterous passion, the class conflict boiled down to nothing, the supernatural elements almost entirely discarded. Still, as far as soap operas go, this is entertaining, if a bit overdone. Charlton Heston is in full Byronic mode, chewing the scenery, and within the limitations of early TV movie budgets, the film manages to conjure the appropriate gothic atmosphere.
Review of Wuthering Heights
