A life-long ambition to play the brooding master of Wuthering Heights resulted in a musical adaptation that kept pretty close to Emily Bronte's original. It also created a whole musical sequence that captured how Heathcliff spent several years making his wealth in order to win back Cathy. This sequence had some very exciting ethnic damce routines as well as great tunes. Still a very sad ending, but the whole spectacle ran the gamut of highs and lows. The music and lyrics were at times playful and then again mournful. The voices of Sir Cliff Richard and Helen Hobson blended wonderfully (Olivia Newton-John also interpreted Cathy in single releases and for a Royal Variety performance). In fact, the musicians (including guitarist Gordon Giltrap), backing vocalists (including John Perry), ensemble singers and dancers were superb (some of them had also been in Dave Clark's production of TIME, where Cliff was the rock star lead). The other actors were brilliant and believable. I think most people were surprised to see how mean (Heath)Cliff could get as a wife beater, child abuser, bar room brawler, opium smoking pirate and more. On the other hand his troubled relationship with Cathy spun some different kinds of love songs. Helen's portrayal of Cathy was strong as was her beautiful voice. Through Cliff you felt the decades of pain of this orphan's struggle to be reunited with the only love he ever knew, still a fickle teenage girl at the time of her death in childbirth. The overall video is held at a pretty good pace and there's plenty of action if you just hang in there. A bit too handsome a lead, a beautiful leading lady, Tim Rice and John Farrar doing the music...worth a viewing. And the sad ending, well you remember...the next generation gets it right.
3 Reviews
Proof that theatre can be more fulfilling than scripted drama
IridescentTranquility17 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
One of my favourite versions, if not my favourite, of Wuthering Heights. I am also very fond of the 1992 version, but in a different way. Perhaps what draws me to this one is the live-action theatrical element - there are a few musicals that I am especially fond of (which approval I know has been reached when I find I know the words to the songs). To review this, I am watching my video for perhaps the first time in five years yet the song lyrics are as familiar to me as when I last saw it.
I can't say how much time has been "smoothed out" during the filming of this version but it is well done, no waiting for something else to happen. The story flows together very well, so credit must go to the editors for this. No aspect of the story is hammered home, just a few specific scenes are sufficient to show, for instance, Cathy's increasing favour for the Lintons' over Heathcliff. Another good stage device - the soliloquy - is put to such great effect that I didn't actually notice the missing character of Nelly Dean until Cathy's "eternal rocks beneath speech", and even then it seems more appropriate for Cathy to voice her thoughts to herself.
Heathcliff's tortured angst could easily be over-acted (Ralph Fiennes glowering in doorways being a great example) but you genuinely feel that Cliff's Heathcliff is tortured by grief for and envy of his lost Cathy. The addition of his character to the wooing scenes between Cathy and Edgar (where she is turning from one man to another), strangely, doesn't seem too much, instead providing a reason for his consuming jealousy. The characterisation of Cathy as a happy-go-lucky, girlish personality is suitable - I think it's easy to forget on film that, according to the book, she died aged nineteen. Similarly, when Isabella Linton first sees Heathcliff, you can see the teenage-crush sort of enthusiasm in her face, an innocence helped along by casting a blonde actress.
There is a great energy, whether conveying love or hatred, in the relationships between Hindley, Cathy and Heathcliff - no one is apathetic. I do appreciate the effort the actors made with the Yorkshire accent - as a northern English person, I would find it jarring to hear this story told with perfect "Queen's English" accents. An interesting exception is Hindley, but his attempt as more "received pronunciation" speech illustrates how superior he imagines himself. Interestingly, the malevolent, vengeful character so associated with Heathcliff only starts to emerge after his return from travel, suggesting better than some versions I have seen that this comes from Cathy's rejection and subsequent unavailability.
An unusual twist this version takes - which I quite like - is that, by telling the story from Heathcliff's point of view, it enables us to be taken (through vibrant costumes, music and dance) to those far away places he travels to which are only really referred to indirectly in other versions. It gives us a better idea than most adaptations of the exotica he could have witnessed.
As a costume enthusiast, I must also applaud the clothes - one point that sticks out early on is the arrival of the boy Heathcliff. Old Mr. Earnshaw's rugged clothes and appearance seem to welcome the child just as much as his son Hindley's dandyish clothes recoil from him. The ball scene, too, seems to have quick costume changes, reflecting the changing fashions of the late eighteenths century. Obviously visuals are important in the theatre so it seems fitting for Cathy's ball dress to be a vivid green, the most vibrant colour in the scene, and often she is dressed in a similarly vivid shade when surrounded by supporting actresses - it makes her stand out when she could easily be lost in the crowd.
Without giving too much away, what I find hugely effective is the increasing build-up of drama, tragedy and agonies the characters suffer towards the end - all gentility is swept away, conveying a sense of the passion I think Emily Bronte wanted to infuse her story with.
I can't say how much time has been "smoothed out" during the filming of this version but it is well done, no waiting for something else to happen. The story flows together very well, so credit must go to the editors for this. No aspect of the story is hammered home, just a few specific scenes are sufficient to show, for instance, Cathy's increasing favour for the Lintons' over Heathcliff. Another good stage device - the soliloquy - is put to such great effect that I didn't actually notice the missing character of Nelly Dean until Cathy's "eternal rocks beneath speech", and even then it seems more appropriate for Cathy to voice her thoughts to herself.
Heathcliff's tortured angst could easily be over-acted (Ralph Fiennes glowering in doorways being a great example) but you genuinely feel that Cliff's Heathcliff is tortured by grief for and envy of his lost Cathy. The addition of his character to the wooing scenes between Cathy and Edgar (where she is turning from one man to another), strangely, doesn't seem too much, instead providing a reason for his consuming jealousy. The characterisation of Cathy as a happy-go-lucky, girlish personality is suitable - I think it's easy to forget on film that, according to the book, she died aged nineteen. Similarly, when Isabella Linton first sees Heathcliff, you can see the teenage-crush sort of enthusiasm in her face, an innocence helped along by casting a blonde actress.
There is a great energy, whether conveying love or hatred, in the relationships between Hindley, Cathy and Heathcliff - no one is apathetic. I do appreciate the effort the actors made with the Yorkshire accent - as a northern English person, I would find it jarring to hear this story told with perfect "Queen's English" accents. An interesting exception is Hindley, but his attempt as more "received pronunciation" speech illustrates how superior he imagines himself. Interestingly, the malevolent, vengeful character so associated with Heathcliff only starts to emerge after his return from travel, suggesting better than some versions I have seen that this comes from Cathy's rejection and subsequent unavailability.
An unusual twist this version takes - which I quite like - is that, by telling the story from Heathcliff's point of view, it enables us to be taken (through vibrant costumes, music and dance) to those far away places he travels to which are only really referred to indirectly in other versions. It gives us a better idea than most adaptations of the exotica he could have witnessed.
As a costume enthusiast, I must also applaud the clothes - one point that sticks out early on is the arrival of the boy Heathcliff. Old Mr. Earnshaw's rugged clothes and appearance seem to welcome the child just as much as his son Hindley's dandyish clothes recoil from him. The ball scene, too, seems to have quick costume changes, reflecting the changing fashions of the late eighteenths century. Obviously visuals are important in the theatre so it seems fitting for Cathy's ball dress to be a vivid green, the most vibrant colour in the scene, and often she is dressed in a similarly vivid shade when surrounded by supporting actresses - it makes her stand out when she could easily be lost in the crowd.
Without giving too much away, what I find hugely effective is the increasing build-up of drama, tragedy and agonies the characters suffer towards the end - all gentility is swept away, conveying a sense of the passion I think Emily Bronte wanted to infuse her story with.
Mr Squeaky Clean goes bad
videodaze26 January 2003
Cliff shows what a true professional he is is in this feature. I personally am not a fan but my wife is !! so I watched this with her (grudgingly at first) I admit but at the end I was impressed by solid performances from more or less all of the cast. I think Cliff was cast with the hope that he could turn Heathcliff into a "misunderstood man" instead of as the "Devil incarnate" and it works -
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
