YMMV / Wuthering Heights (1939)

• Adaptation Displacement:
  • Many adaptations follow the film's trend of adapting out Cathy II, Linton and Hareton—focusing only on the first generation and skipping straight from Cathy I's death to Heathcliff's (or, alternatively, keeping Heathcliff alive in the end).
  • The film includes an ending shot with Heathcliff and Cathy's ghosts wandering the moors Together in Death. Many other adaptations include something similar in some way, though the book itself only mentions some supposed sightings of the ghostly couple and ends with Lockwood visiting their graves and concluding these stories aren't true.
  • Sabrina the Teenage Witch has a gag where Sabrina zaps herself into the book and is then seen running around the moors calling out "Heathcliff!" over and over—which she doesn't do in the book, and is a scene in the film. She likewise wears a gown inspired by the film—which changes the time period the book is set in (and therefore the fashions).
  • Adaptations also follow the film's lead in having Heathcliff and Cathy spy on the Lintons when they're fully grown adults. In the book, they're still children when this happens, and Cathy is kept at the house partly to be given lessons on how to be a Proper Lady.
• Audience-Coloring Adaptation: Many of the film adaptations followed this one's trend of only showing the first half of the novel and leaving Catherine Jr, Linton and Hareton out. Likewise, this had an ending scene showing Heathcliff and Cathy's ghosts wandering the moors Together in Death. No such scene exists in the novel, yet many adaptations homage this in some way.
• Can't Un-Hear It: Merle Oberon as Cathy. Even when she had an extensive career in Hollywood, it's still her best known role to this day.
• First Installment Wins: This is by far the most famous and most successful adaptation of the novel. Ironic because it makes many deviations from the text.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Heathcliff is dark-skinned (strongly implied to be Gypsy) and trying to fit into a society of middle-class white people. Cathy in this film was played by the mixed-race actress Merle Oberon (her exact background is unknown but she was originally from India) who passed for white.
  • The Love Triangle between Edgar, Cathy, and Heathcliff can be uncomfortable to watch when you know how Merle Oberon and David Niven were previously together, had a very sad break-up and there were a lot of real-life emotions in their scenes as a result.
  • Likewise, there's the fact that Edgar ultimately becomes a widower when Cathy dies. Seven years later, David Niven would lose his first wife Primmie when a freak accident killed her at age 28.
• Narm:
  • The sheer Mood Whiplash in Cathy switching between hating Heathcliff and feeling sad when coming back from the Lintons' is so sudden it's hilarious.
  • When Cathy is on her deathbed, she widens her eyes in such a way that make it look like an Eye Take.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • The narrative of the book has led to many suspecting Nelly is an Unreliable Narrator, and wondering if she's really as moral as she's supposed to be. Flora Robson makes her come across as a kind and helpful mentor, and she plays the scene where Heathcliff is listening in to Cathy's speech as though Nelly is nervous or afraid to tell—and is clearly regretting it as soon as she realises he's run out.
  • Isabella is often looked down on as a silly and naive girl for running away with Heathcliff. Here, she gets to show herself as a Silk Hiding Steel—who gets an epic moment where she reads Cathy the riot act for her petty jealousy. She's also Spared by the Adaptation, and gets a happy ending where she's free from Heathcliff's influence.
• Signature Scene: Cathy running out into the storm in her white gown and curly hair, calling out "Heathcliff!" over and over. It doesn't exist in the book, but it's ingrained into everyone's minds.