MissSimonetta This 1998 TV version of Wuthering Heights is superb, if a touch flawed in a few fundamental areas. Novel purists will be sure to adore this one.Robert Cavanah might be the most evil portrayal of Heathcliff I've seen yet. Oh he does have his sympathetic moments, but overall this version really plays up how despicable he is, even going so far as to having him sexually assault Isabella on their wedding night. Other highlights in the cast are Sarah Smart as the second Catherine and Matthew Macfadyen as Hareton, whose animosity evolves into the love that finally breaks Heathcliff's desire for vengeance. In fact, one of this miniseries' greatest strengths is the second generation, so rarely incorporated into WH adaptations.My main gripe is that some areas are too, well, nice for this story. Catherine is written as a thoughtless but overall naive girl. In the book, she was downright cruel and certainly not as naive as she is painted here. Plus the thirty-something Orla Brady is much too old to be playing the character. The music is romantic, but, like the Alfred Newman score for the 1939 movie, too sweet to fit such a dark story.Nevertheless, this is a beautiful adaptation and WH fans like myself will be sure to appreciate it.

marybon As someone who has created a website on Wuthering Heights so had to read and re-read it many times, paragraph by paragraph, I was very impressed by this version (ITV has not a great reputation for historical drama in the UK).The house itself looked like a farmhouse rather than a mansion, the minor details such as hair colour were generally accurate, the acting was excellent. Somehow Orla Brady didn't feel right to me as Catherine (although she's a fine actress) but Sarah Smart was perfect as the younger Cathy.Being two hours rather than a movie's 90 minutes allowed more of the novel to be used and I was constantly thinking "Yes, I remember that from the book". Until Andrew Davies produces the definitive 'Wuthering Heights' as he did for 'Pride and Prejudice', this is probably the best around.

kgm3 A wonderful, faithful adaptation, the 1998 version of Wuthering Heights captures all the romance, brutality and passion of the novel. Orla Brady is stunning as Cathy and truly captures the character, particularly towards the end of the story. Robert Cavanah is also wonderful as Heathcliff, the story's complex (and challenging to play, I'm sure) antihero. The rest of the performances are emotionally charged as well, and no one seems to fall short. One of the great things about this story is how real and complex its characters are. No one is totally angelic or demonic, -good people are driven to do terrible things, and the worst of people love more passionately than all the others. It is a dark, beautiful story, filled with romance and suffering. For fans of the novel, this is the most faithful adaptation I have found, and for those of you who have not read the book, it is a beautiful, moving film.

LittleSwallow I find that this 1998 Masterpiece theater TV version follows the novel of the same name pretty faithfully. One who has never read the novel may find the action moving too quickly, so that the flow of the movie may seem slightly abrupt or choppy. However, the movie is only 2 hours long, which is probably why they had to cut out parts of the book and take some liberties with ages and certain details. That does not detract too much from the enjoyment of this movie, which despite its choppiness, has excellent acting, beautiful cinematography (the landscapes are breathtaking), and a wonderfully wrought out, bitter plot which focuses on three generations of two families who are intimately interlocked with each other. Heathcliff definitely comes off as the cruel, embittered man he is in the book, and it's great to see a TV movie capture the personalities of all the characters so well. Highly recommended movie.