There is a lot wrong with this version of the classic tale. First and foremost the compressing of the story into two hours, the original and best version with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon only told a fraction of the book and it was of equal length, makes everything feel rushed and motivations fuzzy. Almost as damaging is the miscasting of Robert Cavanah in the lead. Heathcliff is a complex, difficult, mostly unlikable character which requires an actor of great personal magnetism to bridge that gap for the audience, Cavanah is not that guy. He just seems cruel, insane and totally unsympathetic. Orla Brady is a bland Cathy making Heathcliffs mad devotion all the more puzzling. Another sore spot, no one ages! Once the main characters reach maturity their looks never change even though decades pass. The one bright spot is Matthew MacFayden whose performance is controlled and centered unfortunately his part is small and comes late in the proceedings so he can do little to rescue this woeful effort. Watch the 1939 version instead.

The storyline sticks pretty much to the book but the lead actors are all way too old and consequently appear ridiculous in some of the scenes. Heathcliff and Cathy are supposed to be young - as young as 12 years old when they go out at night to the Lintons and peek into their house. It looks laughable to see these middle aged actors out at play in the night. The Linton "children" are equally too old - a silly squabble between two grown adults plays all wrong. Orla Brady must have been close to 40 years old at the time she played Cathy. Daft! The actor playing Heathcliff looks equally out of place running around the moors at his age. Didn't anyone read the book before they cast the production? The miscasting of way too old actors in the leads destroyed this production for me.

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.

I don't know if this really contains spoilers, but I marked it just in case.I expected a lot from this movie. I knew it was made-for-TV and had low production values but that didn't bother me. I thought it was too fast-paced and it had some terrible casting. Why were Heathcliff and Cathy, who looked to be at least in their thirties, running around the moors like little kids? They're not supposed to be grown up when they do that! They meet the Lintons when they're 12 years old! I've yet to see a version which actually portrays them as kids for that scene, but this one was the worst because they look so darn old! Cathy is supposed to be, what, 20 or so when she dies? Orla Brady was 37! Heathcliff was even older, which was fine for the later scenes but couldn't they have even tried to age him down with makeup?? Also, Nelly was supposed to be Hindley's age, yet she was in her fifties for the whole movie!!! I'm not a purist by any means but things like this make it hard to take a film seriously. It was alright, but again, way too fast-moving. An average movie.