Wuthering Heights (1970)
Wuthering Heights (1970), directed by Robert Fuest.
The tale is familiar: stormy passions in a bleak landscape. Hauntings and -- in this version -- forbidden love: Cathy and Heathcliff have the same father.
I wouldn't have reviewed it except for something Gene Siskel said: "the film has the unfortunate physical appearance of a vampire tale".
I thought the same thing. The costumes, settings and budget do give it a Hammer or AIP look. Which is not unfortunate: the horror film crossovers make for more interesting viewing:
Produced by American International Pictures, prolific source of horror titles. They wanted to move into public domain literary titles, but it was not to be.
Directed by Robert Fuest, who also did And Soon the Darkness (1970), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) and The Devil's Rain (1975).
Ian Ogilvy and Hilary Dwyer were both in Witchfinder General (1968) and she was also in The Oblong Box (1969) and Cry of the Banshee (1970).
Prolific actress Rosalie Crutchley was the housekeeper in The Haunting (1963).
Cinematographer John Coquillon photographed Witchfinder General (1968) and The Oblong Box (1969) before moving on to Sam Peckinpah: Straw Dogs (1971) and Cross of Iron (1977).
Timothy Dalton has the wicked, feral good looks his role requires.
Also with Harry Andrews, Pamela Brown, Julian Glover and Hugh Griffith.
Score by Michel Legrand.
It was available on Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
In a commentary track Justin Humphreys says 45 minutes was cut from the film before distribution and he has not been able to discover if a complete cut exists anywhere.
He tries to give a summary of the missing sections, and also recognizes the costume horror film look.
