April 13, 1939: The Film "Wuthering Heights" Premieres

Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon

April 13, 1939: A film version of Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights premieres, directed by William Wyler.

Wuthering Heights was met with rather mixed reviews when it was first published in London on November 24, 1847, with the author's name given as "Ellis Bell." Some were scathing, horrified by its "brutal cruelty" and its portrayal of a "semi-savage love." Others acknowledged the book's "power and cleverness," its "delineation forcible and truthful." Many said it was simply "strange."

Despite the popularity of gothic fiction at the time, it is perhaps unsurprising that the book shocked readers in the 19th Century, a time of strict moral scrutiny. "People did not know what to do with this book, because it has no clear moral angle," said Clare O'Callaghan, senior professor of Victorian literature at Loughborough University in England, and the author of Emily Brontë Reappraised.

Thomas Newby was the book's publisher. On the same day, he also published Agnes Grey, by "Acton Bell." The previous month, on October 19, 1847, he published Jane Eyre, by "Currer Bell."

In 1850, Charlotte Brontë revealed that the Bell brothers were, in fact, sisters: She had written Jane Eyre, Anne Brontë had written Agnes Grey, and Emily Brontë had written Wuthering Heights. Charlotte argued that critics had failed to do Emily's work justice: "The immature but very real powers revealed in Wuthering Heights were scarcely recognised; its import and nature were misunderstood."

Charlotte was born on April 21, 1816; Emily on July 30, 1818; and Anne on January 17, 1820; all in Thornton, now a part of the city of Bradford, in Yorkshire, about 15 miles west of Leeds and 220 miles northwest of London.

Tuberculosis struck the family. Brother Branwell, whose career as a poet stalled due to his drinking, died on September 24, 1848, at the age of 31. Emily died on December 19, at 30. Anne died on May 28, 1849, at 29. Charlotte was the only one to marry, to the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls, and even she only made it to 38, dying along with her unborn child on March 31, 1855.

*

The 1939 film version is the best-known adaptation of Wuthering Heights. The titular estate is owned by Heathcliff, played by Laurence Olivier, considered the finest British stage actor of the 20th Century. As a boy in Liverpool, Heathcliff had been taken in by the Earnshaw family, whose daughter, Cathy, grows up to become his great love, played by Merle Oberon. Eventually, she rejects him, and marries another man, Edgar Linton, played by David Niven.

Heathcliff leaves, and returns years later a rich man. He buys Wuthering Heights, and takes his revenge on Cathy by dating and then marrying Edgar's sister, Isabella, played by Geraldine Fitzgerald. Shortly after the wedding, Cathy falls ill, and calls for Heathcliff. She tells him he's the only man she's ever truly loved. They forgive each other, and as she dies, she accepts his request to haunt him until he dies. One night, he hears her on the moors outside the estate, goes out into the snow to see her, and freezes to death.

Contrary to legend, Olivier, then married to actress Vivien Leigh, and Oberon, then married to film director Alexander Korda, did not have an affair. In fact, they didn't even get along. Oberon died in 1979, Wyler in 1981, Niven in 1983, Olivier in 1989, and Fitzgerald in 2005.

Robert Fuest's 1970 film version, starring Timothy Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall, and Andrea Arnold's 2011 film, starring James Howson and Kaya Scodelario, both end with Cathy's death. But that only happens halfway through the novel, which contains about 18 more years' worth of story.

So those film versions overlook how dark the novel gets, as Heathcliff makes Isabella miserable. A 1967 miniseries version for the BBC starred Ian McShane and Angela Scoular, and inspired British singer Kate Bush to write "Wuthering Heights," her 1st hit song, in 1978. That same year, another BBC miniseries starred Ken Hutchinson and Kay Adshead, and is regarded as the version most faithful to the text.

A 1992 feature film starred Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, and notably included the story of the children that the main characters had (not with each other). The 2009 ITV version starred Tom Hardy and his girlfriend, now wife, Charlotte Riley. It, too, told the whole story.

*

April 13, 1939 was a Wednesday. Irish poet and academic Seamus Heaney was born.

Baseball season started 4 days later. Football was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-0. The Bruins won the Cup in Game 5 on April 16.