Storm Height (1939)

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Movie
German title Storm height
Original title Wuthering Heights
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1939
length 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director William Wyler
script Ben Hecht ,
Charles MacArthur
production Samuel Goldwyn
music Alfred Newman
camera Gregg Toland
cut Daniel Mandell
occupation
synchronization

Sturmhöhe (Original title: Wuthering Heights , also known as Stormy Heights ) is an American drama film directed by William Wyler from 1939, which is based on the novel Sturmhöhe (1847) by Emily Brontë , but mainly focuses on the first part of the novel . The film won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Picture of 1939 and received eight Academy Award nominations.

action

In rural Yorkshire at the beginning of the 19th century, Grange's new tenant, Lockwood, takes refuge in the Wuthering Heights mansion during a violent storm . The residents of the house, especially the landlord Heathcliff, behave coldly and dismissively towards strangers. During the night Lockwood wakes up in his guest room and has to discover that the shutters from the storm hit the broken window. As he tries to reach for the drawer, Lockwood feels an ice-cold hand touch him. At the same time he hears a woman's voice who calls herself Cathy and asks Heathcliff to let her in, because she has lost her way on the moor. When Lockwood tells of his spooky experience, Heathcliff storms out into the moor and calls out Cathy's name in desperation.

The elderly housekeeper, Ellen, reports to the visibly confused Lockwood that he has met the long-dead Cathy Earnshaw. Lockwood explains that he doesn't believe in ghosts - Ellen says that if he learned the history of Cathy and Heathcliff, he probably would.

Ellen begins her story with how Heathcliff was picked up on the streets of Liverpool by Mr. Earnshaw as a neglected child some 40 years ago . From then on, Heathcliff lives in Wuthering Heights and is treated by Mr. Earnshaw like his own son, which, however, causes envy among the biological son Hindley. Heathcliff loves his stepsister Cathy and she loves him. After the death of old Earnshaw, the heir Hindley takes advantage of the situation and degrades the hated Heathcliff, whom he calls a “beggar” and “gypsy”, to a groom. Cathy still stands by Heathcliff and continues to love him, but at the same time she is courted by the cultivated and wealthy neighbor Edgar Linton.

Cathy decides not to marry the servant Heathcliff, as this would mean social decline for her. She confides her thoughts to the housekeeper, Ellen, in a conversation that Heathcliff overhears. Heathcliff then leaves Wuthering Heights. Cathy runs after him into the moors to confess her love for him, but it's too late.

Cathy eventually marries Edgar Linton and they are happily married. A few years later, Heathcliff returns from South America a rich man . Hindley has become an alcoholic and is completely in debt, whereupon Heathcliff settles the debt and buys Wuthering Heights to get revenge on Hindley. Then he marries Edgar Linton's naive sister Isabella Linton, who has fallen in love with him - but his only goal is to get revenge on Cathy for her alleged infidelity.

Heathcliff and Isabella's marriage is soon shaped by Heathcliff's hatred and bitterness. Meanwhile, Cathy, whom Heathcliff still desires, falls seriously ill. She eventually dies tired of living and fighting in the arms of Heathcliff.

Ellen finishes her story for Mr. Lockwood when the country doctor, Dr. Kenneth rushes in and reports that he found Heathcliff dead on the moor. He had previously seen Heathcliff from a distance with a woman on the moor, but when he ran after him, he only found Heathcliff's footprints - not the woman's. Ellen says Heathcliff and Cathy are only just beginning to live. In the last scene, both of them walk together - as ghosts - through their beloved moor.

background

Emily Brontë's novel Sturmhöhe , published in 1847, became a literary classic. This 1939 film adaptation is only the second film adaptation, the first was made as a silent film in Great Britain in 1920 with Milton Rosmer as Heathcliff. Compared to Brontë's novel, there are many freedoms: The second half of the book, for example, was largely left out because the length of the feature film was a maximum of two hours at the time and the plot would otherwise have been overloaded for this short period of time. Later film adaptations also often followed this model and left out the second part of the book.

The last scene in the film, in which Heathcliff and Catherine walk hand in hand towards the sky, does not appear in the book either. Producer Samuel Goldwyn added the final scene to the protest by director William Wyler after the shooting was over. Goldwyn attributed the lion's share of the film to himself compared to Wyler: "I made Wuthering Heights, Wyler only directed it." And called it his favorite film among the films he produced.

In order to revive the Yorkshire moors in California, Goldwyn sent a film crew to England to take pictures for the production designers under the direction of James Basevi . The outside scenes were filmed in Wildwood Regional Park north of Los Angeles. Around 200 hectares were planted for the outdoor scenes, including 1000 heather imported from England.

For Laurence Olivier , Sturmhöhe meant her breakthrough as a film star in the United States. In the competition for the role of Heathcliff he beat Ronald Colman , Douglas Fairbanks junior and Robert Newton , among others , who were also traded. Nevertheless, Olivier was rather dissatisfied with the shooting because he actually wanted to see his then lover and future wife Vivien Leigh cast as Catherine. Those in charge felt that Leigh, who suddenly became world famous later in 1939 as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind , was too unknown for a leading role in such an elaborate film. Leigh was only offered the role of Isabella, which she declined.

Between Merle Oberon and Olivier, the mood on the film set was therefore rather bad, in some cases there should even have been insults. Oberon was a much better known star than Olivier or Leigh at the time - accordingly, she is also mentioned as the first person in the opening credits of Sturmhöhe .

There were also more tensions between William Wyler and Laurence Olivier, as the main actor - who had previously played mostly on stage - in Wyler's opinion sometimes exaggerated and appeared theatrical. In addition, Wyler was known for often several dozen settings to make use of the same scene, which bugged Olivier. He also dropped the remark that “this feeble little medium cannot take a big acting” , for which he was laughed at by the entire film crew. In his autobiography On Acting , decades later, Olivier expressed himself conciliatory and confessed that Wyler had helped him to recognize the differences between film and theater acting .

Wyler also had problems with his leading actress Merle Oberon: In one scene, Cathy has to run through the wind and rain through the moors to hold back Heathcliff. The perfectionist Wyler chased Oberon through this scene so many times that she developed a fever and even had to be hospitalized for a short time.

In memory remained Wuthering Heights partly because of the innovative work of cinematographer Gregg Toland , two years later for Citizen Kane by Orson Welles was responsible. Wyler and Toland both preferred "lyrical, flowing camera movements, long shots and depth of field photography". Storm Height is considered one of the first Hollywood films to use depth of field, and Toland was awarded an Oscar. Also known is the film music composed by Alfred Newman with Cathy's theme as the main theme of the film.

synchronization

In the German version, Erik Schumann speaks Heathcliff ( Laurence Olivier ), while Horst Caspar can be heard as Edgar Linton ( David Niven ).

Awards

The film was nominated for eight categories at the Academy Awards in 1940 , but could only win in one category:

Also won Wuthering Heights in 1939 also the New York Film Critics Circle Award as Best Picture .

In later years, the film was honored by the American Film Institute , among others , which placed it at number 73 in its 1998 list The 100 Best American Films of All Time . In the American Film Institute's 2002 election of the 100 best American love films of all time, Sturmhöhe even landed 15th. The film was also included in the National Film Registry .

Reviews

Sturmhöhe has received a largely positive rating to this day , and all of the 19 reviews on the US film critic portal Rotten Tomatoes are positive. Together with Gone with the Wind , the film is considered a highlight of romantic Hollywood cinema of the 1930s.

“(...) a strong and dark film, made as poetic as the novel was not always, sinister and wild as it was intended, dramatically much more compact than Miss Brontë had made it. It is not really a careful translation , which would not have served Miss Brontë or the screen - no matter what the Brontë societies might think of it. But it's a meticulous adaptation , awesome and good, that goes straight to the heart of the book (...) It's without question one of the most distinguished films of the year, and one of the best Mr. Goldwyn ever made, and you should be decide to look at him. "

- Frank S. Nugent , The New York Times , April 14, 1939

“Samuel Goldwyn's film version contains all of the grim drama from the book. The dramatic episodes were vividly remembered. (...) It is quite heavy fare. (...) Olivier shows a fine portrayal as a capricious, vengeful lover. Miss Oberon is consistently excellent and shows the changing moods well. Niven treats his role satisfactorily, while Miss Fitzgerald is impressive as Niven's sister, who falls under the wheels of Olivier and finds nothing but misfortune in her marriage to him. (...) Gregg Toland's camera work is first class, and the film sets fit the period of history. "

- Variety , 1939

“Wildly romantic, excellently played and brilliantly photographed melodrama based on the novel by Emily Brontë, at the same time a study on the 'adventure of love', in which the two main characters act as representatives of irreconcilable principles. An extraordinary, dark Hollywood classic, which in the true sense of the word gives 'eye pleasure'. "

- film service 11/92

“A film about entanglement and excess of feelings; (...) a shortcoming the wrongly cast Olivier. (Rating: three stars - very good.) "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in the lexicon "Films on TV" (1990)

DVD release

  • Stormy heights . MGM Home Entertainment, 2004.
  • Stormy heights . Samuel Goldwyn Films, 2017.

Soundtrack

  • Alfred Newman : Wuthering Heights. Original motion picture soundtrack . Membrane / Mousiki Akti, Hamburg and Athens 2004, sound carrier no. 221856-207 - digitally restored original recording of the film music (mono), recorded under the direction of the composer
  • Alfred Newman : Wuthering Heights. Suite . On: Wuthering Heights. A Tribute to Alfred Newman . Koch International, Port Washington 1997, sound carrier no. 3-7376-2 H1 - digital stereo re-recording of excerpts from the film music by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Richard Kaufman

literature

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Release certificate for storm height . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 1359 / V). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ^ Wuthering Heights (1939) at Allmovie
  3. ^ Wuthering Heights at Turner Classic Movies
  4. ↑ Wuthering Heights at CultureVulture.net
  5. ^ Wuthering Heights at Turner Classic Movies
  6. ↑ Wuthering Heights at Filmsite.org
  7. ^ Wuthering Heights at Turner Classic Movies
  8. ^ Wuthering Heights at Turner Classic Movies
  9. ↑ Sturmhöhe at the German synchronous file
  10. ↑ AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies
  11. ↑ Wuthering Heights at Rotten Tomatoes
  12. ^ Wuthering Heights (1939) at Allmovie
  13. ↑ Critique of Sturmhöhe in the New York Times
  14. ↑ Critique of Sturmhöhe in Variety
  15. ↑ Storm height. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  16. ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz: Lexicon "Films on Television" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 787.