wuthering heights

American International Pictures tackling an adaption of Wuthering Heights is about as likely as McDonalds adding filet mignon to the dollar menu. And yet in 1970, horror-exploitation specialists James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff put their names behind a no-bullshit adaptation of Emily Bronte's Gothic Romance classic starring relative unknowns Anna Calder-Marshall and Timothy Dalton as tortured lovers Cathy and Heathcliff. And while it's given a contemporary look by former Avengers director Robert Fuest, there's very little shock tactics on display here. This is a straight-faced, serious attempt at respectability by the same company who produced movies like Bloody Mama and Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs. Who'd have guessed?

Actually, the success of Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet two years earlier was probably the inspiration behind AIP's short-lived come-to-Jesus moment. But the film stands up quite well no matter what the financial reasons were behind it all. Fuest, who would quickly follow up with a pair of Vincent Price classics, works out a brilliantly dreary visual style with cinematographer John Coquillon (Straw Dogs), with craggy peaks and gloomy landscapes reflecting the cold hearts of the story's characters. And there's no effort to sugarcoat Bronte's depressing narrative; screenwriter Patrick Tilley cuts to bone, revealing the ugly nature of a class system that puts birthright above any amount of hard work or good fortune.

Brought home to Wuthering Heights as the bastard son of its churlish owner, Heathcliff (Dalton) is ostracized by everyone except his half-sister, Cathy (Calder-Marshall) who shares his rebellious sense of adventure. The two spend most of their childhood frolicking about the moors near the ruinous estate until their father's death leaves everything to older brother Hindley (Julian Glover), a spiteful spendthrift who takes his chance to punish Heathcliff for stealing his father's love and affection.

Driven from home, Heathcliff disappears for three long years, leaving Cathy to marry into a more extravagant lifestyle with the neighboring Edgar Linton. But Heathcliff's return as a wealthy and sophisticated gentleman sends everyone's life into disarray, prompting Cathy to fall back into his arms and jeopardize her marriage. Heathcliff, however, remains as wild and uncontrollable as ever, taking pleasure in ruining the lives of everyone around him in a long-gestating campaign of revenge as if to spite losing the only woman he ever loved.

Wuthering Heights isn't a pleasant story. Bronte has crafted characters that are exceedingly unlikable, inhabiting a landscape that is equally harsh and depressing. Of course, that all seems to be the point. And the film makes it clear that any beauty that does grow in this environment is all the more precious because of it. Fuest's film moves quickly, dropping a slew of second-generation characters in favor of the main drama, which is executed quite well by Calder-Marshall and Dalton, whose pre-007 good looks disguise an awfully convincing mean streak. It can't replace the novel - or even the 2009 version with Tom Hardy in the Heathcliff role - but there's certain '70s-style "you-are-there" authenticity here that's almost impossible to recreate; a one-hit literary wonder from a company that was more comfortable spending time at drive-in than the library.

Twilight Time's 3000-copy limited edition Blu-ray looks startlingly good, pulling out amazing levels of detail from the cold, grey photography. Extras include an isolated music track (featuring composer Michel Legrand whose theme is the film's secret weapon), audio commentary with film historian Justin Humphreys, the original theatrical trailer and liner notes by Julie Kirgo.