Wuthering Heights

Not the first adaptation of the novel, but certainly the most famous of the classic ones. The story should be familiar to most (certainly the people seeking out films like this), and Wyler's adaptation is pretty straightforward and to the point. It's all a bit too melodramatic for my taste, but it wasn't quite as bad as I'd feared.

A stranger gets lost in the swamps during a pretty hefty storm and ends up at Wuthering Heights. It's the house of Heathcliff, a man torn apart by unrequited love. Heathcliff arrived at the house when he was an orphaned child. He immediately fell in love with Cathy, the daughter of the household.

It's a pretty dramatic tale with some less-than-desirable characters, and Wyler doesn't mind driving the drama straight into sentimentality. The setting and cinematography are quite moody though, more so than other films of its time. The film is also relatively short, certainly when comparing it to the other romantic powerhouse of that time (Gone with the Wind).