Foibles Episode 16 Part I: Wuthering Heights ”Heaven Did Not Seem to be My Home”

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Bibiliography:

In Search of Anne Bronte by Nick Holland, (2016). - As the title indicates, this book focuses on Anne but it gives a rounded view of the family and their circumstances.

Wuthering Bites by Sarah Gray (2010) - In which Heathcliff is a vampire. Didn't bother to read it, but had to include it here to show the range of fan fiction.

 

Film and televion adaptations of WH. Please forgive omissions. There are so many! Ratings out of 5 stars.

1920 - Wuthering Heights, starring Colette Brettel and Warwick Ward - silent screen adaptation - I have not seen it.

1939 - Wuthering Heights, starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier - 3 stars: Worth-seeing, though the content is sanitized for the Hollywood censors and the actors' looks are beautified for the tastes of the day.

1948 - Wuthering Heights (British TV adaption) - starring Katherine Blake and Kieron Moore - have not seen it.

1962 - Wuthering Heights, starring Keith Mitchell and Claire Bloom - have not seen it.

1967 - Wuthering Heights (British TV series), starring Angela Scoular and Ian McShane - 1 1/2 stars: McShane has the Heathcliff glower down to the tee. But little else about this slow-paced drama is engaging.

1970 - Wuthering Heights, starring Anna Calder-Marshall and Timothy Dalton - 4 stars: I saw this for my 13th birthday. It was my first taste of WH. My friends and I were so in love with Timothy Dalton. Nice dark perspective that maintains a lush emotional and physical violence along with the feral sexiness.

1978 - Wuthering Heights (TV series one season), starring John Duttine and Amanda Root  - have not seen it

1992 - Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes - 2 stars: Fiennes is more mean and brittle than dark and brooding, while Binoche is too refined for Kathy.

1998 - Wuthering Heights, starring Robert Cavanah and Orla Brady - have not seen it.

2003 Wuthering Heights, starring Erika Christensen and Mike Vogel - modern day loose adaptation, I haven't seen it.

2009 - Wuthering Heights (limited TV series), starring Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy - 4 1/2 stars: These 2 actors are the among the best to assay these roles. They both have the acting heft and temperment to manage the layers these characters embody. Though note to ITV, for God's and all our sakes please get some better wigs. Only someone as massively talented as Tom Hardy could overcome that mop on his head.

2011 - Wuthering Heights, starring Kaya Scodelario and James Howson - 1 1/2 stars: Director Andrea Arnold's films, while interesting, are low in energy and understated. This style does not serve a wild Gothic ghost story. The film is a faded husk. (On the other hand, many critics lauded it.)