Wuthering Heights / The Enchanted Cottage

WUTHERING HEIGHTS, 1939, MGM Repertory, 103 min. Dir. William Wyler. One of the first, and still the best, of several screen versions of Emily Bronte's novel of doomed romance. Laurence Olivier plays Heathcliff, Merle Oberon plays his soulmate Cathy, and CITIZEN KANE cinematographer Gregg Toland shoots their ill-fated relationship with some of the most luminous black-and-white photography ever committed to celluloid.

THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE, 1945, Warner Bros. 91 min. Director John Cromwell's touching and romantic adaptation of Arthur Pinero's play stars Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire as a pair of misfits who find love and beauty in a cottage cut off from the rest of the world. Cromwell's combination of emotional reality and unabashed fantasy leads to a poignant, magical climax.