Content warning: this review mentions physical violence.
Welcome to Part 2 of looking at various adaptations of Wuthering Heights and seeing if they can capture the spirit of the book by Emily Brontë. Today, I’ll be analyzing the 1950 teleplay made by Studio One starring Charleton Heston as Heathcliff.
Now, you’re probably wondering what a teleplay is. A teleplay is a play made for television. Studio One – an anthology drama television series – did these pseudo proshots from 1948 to 1958. They put on original work like 12 Angry Men and adapted stories like 1984 and Wuthering Heights, and they were sponsored by the manufacturing company Westinghouse (note: it was interesting to see how that company was promoting products like colored televisions in 1950). Their episodes would run for roughly an hour (commercials included), which means that this adaptation of Wuthering Heights is even more constrained than the earlier version.
It’s not the adaptation’s fault. When this version aired on October 30, 1950 during Studio One’s third season, they were operating with a limited budget. Not only is the second half omitted (again), but the story is also reduced to the bare bones. The plot is moved forward mainly through dialogue between various characters. In addition, the sets are not as vast as the ones in the 1939 adaptation. This is especially true with the Moors, for it was clearly a backdrop. The sets depicted estates fared better. Wuthering Heights looked impoverished, and Thrushcross Grange appeared well off. The teleplay conveys them well despite the constraints. Additionally, while I complemented the romantic score in the 1939 version, the soundtrack to this one is more restricted. It mainly consists of the 16th-century tune “Greensleeves” whenever Heathcliff and Catherine have their romantic moments and ominous music when the former returns and does something cruel. In fact, “Greensleeves” comes on so much that some people might want to play a drinking game. Don’t worry, you’ll live.
A lot of what I said about the 1939 adaptation applies here. By cutting out the second half, it changes the tone from a gothic horror to a tragic romance. At the same time, it does a few things differently. For one thing, it puts a bit more focus on Hindley. Why? I’m not entirely sure since he’s a boo-hiss character in the story. In this version, Richard Waring plays him as a sad and pathetic drunk. It was effective enough. It made me feel sorry for a split second until I remembered how awful he was to Heathcliff. I also enjoyed how the teleplay shows how he gets his comeuppance by having him lose the Wuthering Heights estate and the rest of his money to Heathcliff in a game of dice.
There were two other things I noticed too. One that I noted was how Joseph – one of the servants – mentions how Heathcliff digs up Catherine’s grave at the end. Another was that the flashback is brought on not by Nelly telling Mr. Lockwood the story, but by Heathcliff remembering after he hears Catherine’s voice. Additionally, despite their limited budget, they put on some interesting visual effects. The most effective was when Catherine is brushing her hair in her bedroom at Thrushcross Grange and sees Heathcliff in the mirror. It’s a cool visual reminder of the famous line from the book. Finally, the teleplay is willing to show the physical violence committed by Heathcliff. He puts his hand on Catherine’s throat while at Thrushcross Grange and slaps Isabella after they are married. I’m not sure if all of these changes work, yet I admire this adaptation is a bit more daring than its earlier work.
The last thing to discuss is the acting. Many of the actors ham it up, which puts the adaptation into soap opera territory. It’s like director Paul Nickell told them to project to everyone no matter where they were. Waring is over the top as Hindley. May Sinclair plays Catherine, and she chews up the scenery, especially during her death scene. The other people who don’t play to the raptures are Lloyd Bochner, who plays Edgar as one should, and Una O’Connor, an actress best known for her histrionics in 1933’s The Invisible Man and The Bride of Frankenstein, portrays Nelly. While this acting works in a theatrical play, it doesn’t fully work for television, and it might bother some viewers.
Of course, I can’t finish this review without mentioning Charleton Heston. Heston is best known for his roles in The Ten Commandments, The Planet of the Apes, and his Oscar-winning performance in Ben-Hur. This version of Wuthering Heights was at the very early part of his career. Did it foreshadow his greatness? Well, not really. Heston is miscast in the role, and I’m not just saying that because he’s a fair-haired white man playing a racially ambiguous character. He broods from the moment he pops on screen until his last scene. While this was effective in the second half, he could have lightened up in the first part. Even Olivier didn’t mope all the time in the 1939 version. Heston leans too much into Heathcliff’s negative traits. He did this too in one of his earliest movie roles as Brad the circus owner in 1952’s The Greatest Show on Earth. With that being said, I still praise him for how far he’s willing to go to demonstrate Heathcliff’s cruelty.
The Wuthering Heights 1950 teleplay is a truncated version of the story with mixed results. It shares similar problems to the 1939 adaptation, but it doesn’t have the striking imagery like its predecessor. I understand its budget limitations and can tolerate its over-the-top acting, but some might not. However, what it does differently works for the most part. Even though it doesn’t fully capture the spirit of the book, it’s still a fine version that I would recommend to people watching every adaptation of Wuthering Heights and diehard Charleton Heston fans.
Now, let’s see how this one fits into the ranking.
- Wuthering Heights 1939 Movie
- Wuthering Heights 1950 Teleplay
We’ll see how this ranking evolves after I see all the others.
Stay tuned next month/year when I review the 1958 teleplay with Richard Burton!
Stay tuned for next week when I reveal my Top 3 Best and Worst Books* of 2025! See you then. In the meantime, Merry Christmas!
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