Wuthering Heights

Eighty-seven years before Emerald Fennell’s modern take on this classic, Emily Bronte’s epic tale of love and loss was brought to vivid life with this film by the great William Wyler from Hollywood’s golden year of 1939. In the role that brought him international stardom, Laurence Olivier is Heathcliff, the stable boy who begins a passionate romance with manor-born Cathy (the luminous Merle Oberon in her most famous role). The two pledge devotion but it is their societal standings that may keep them apart. Told with earnest performances and stirring Oscar-winning cinematography by Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane), the film covers only half of Bronte’s novel but is considered the definitive adaptation. A must! — Jack Fields