Wuthering Heights (1920 film)

Wuthering Heights is a 1920 British silent drama film directed by A. V. Bramble and starring Milton Rosmer, Colette Brettel and Warwick Ward. It is the first film adaptation of the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and was primarily filmed in and around her home village of Haworth.^[1] It is not known whether the film currently survives,^[2] and it is considered to be a lost film.

Wuthering Heights
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	A. V. Bramble
Written by	Eliot Stannard
Based on	Wuthering Heights 1847 novel by Emily Brontë
Starring	Milton Rosmer Colette Brettel Warwick Ward Ann Trevor
Production company	Ideal Film Company
Distributed by	Ideal Film Company
Release date	1920 (1920)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

In 2014, a film script used by director A.V. Bramble consisting of 22 pages of production notes alongside stills from the set of the cast and crew were found ^[3] and displayed to the public at the Bronte Parsonage Museum.^[4]

Plot summary

Unlike most later adaptation of the Bronte novel, this version includes the novel's storyline following the second generation.^[5] Contemporary reviews however noted that in spite of following the book closely, certain liberties are taken with the novel, and that the characters Isabella and her son Linton are omitted from the movie altogether.^[6]

Reception

Newspaper clipping about the film, May 17, 1920

A review from The Guardian writes, "It is a credit to the British film industry that the screen version of the book shown yesterday in Manchester should be so good,” and give praise to Milton Rosmer's performance, "It is violent, blustering, turbulently melodramatic: just the kind of acting that Emily Brontë would have wanted for her Heathcliff."^[7]

Cast

• Milton Rosmer - Heathcliff
• Ann Trevor - Cathy
• Colette Brettel - Catherine
• Warwick Ward - Hindley Earnshaw
• John Lawrence Anderson - Edgar Linton
• Cecil Morton York - Mr Earnshaw
• Cyril Raymond - Hareton Earnshaw
• Dora De Winton - Mrs Linton
• Aileen Bagot - Frances Earnshaw
• Mrs. Templeton - Nelly Dean
• George Traill - Joseph
• Alfred Bennett - Reverend Shields
• Edward Thirlby - Attorney
• G. Mallalieu - Doctor
• Derrick Ronald - Heathcliff (age 5)
• Albert Brantford - Heathcliff (age 12)
• Florence Kenyon (as Twinkles Hunter) - Cathy (age 6)
• Audrey Smith - Catherine (age 7)
• Roy Lennol - Hindley Earnshaw (age 14)
• Lewis Barry-Furniss - Edgar Linton (age 15)
• Lewis Barber - Hareton Earnshaw (age 15)

See also

• List of lost films