Wuthering Heights (1959 film): Difference between revisions

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| studio = ABC
| studio = ABC
| distributor = ABC
| distributor = ABC
| released = 28 October 1959 (live, Sydney)<br>9 December Melbourne (recorded)<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=MDQ-9Oe3GGUC&dat=19591203&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Untitled|date=3 December 1959|page=13}}</ref>
| released = 28 October 1959 (live, Sydney)<ref>{{Cite news|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=26 October 1959|title=TV Guide|page=22}}</ref><br>9 December Melbourne (recorded)<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=MDQ-9Oe3GGUC&dat=19591203&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Untitled|date=3 December 1959|page=13}}</ref>
| runtime = 100 mins
| runtime = 100 mins
| country = Australia
| country = Australia
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==Production==
==Production==
The story was mostly filmed live, but some segments were pre-recorded around Sydney.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189932361 |title=T.V. Highlights |newspaper=[[The Biz (newspaper)|The Biz]] |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 October 1959 |accessdate=21 May 2016 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Lew Luton was a DJ and presenter of teen shows at the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19710902&id=CgRkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KuUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2395,333933&hl=en|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|title=Lew Luton Back|date=2 September 1972|page=5}}</ref>
The story was mostly filmed live, but some segments were pre-recorded around Sydney.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189932361 |title=T.V. Highlights |newspaper=[[The Biz (newspaper)|The Biz]] |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 October 1959 |accessdate=21 May 2016 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Lew Luton was a DJ and presenter of teen shows at the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19710902&id=CgRkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KuUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2395,333933&hl=en|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|title=Lew Luton Back|date=2 September 1972|page=5}}</ref> Brunette Annette Andre dyed her hair blonde so as to contrast with dark-haired Delia Williams.<ref>{{cite news|first=Valda|last=Marshall|title=TV Merry Go Round|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=25 October 1959|page=111}}</ref>


==Reception==
==Reception==
''Wuthering Heights'' was one of three plays that Alan Burke directed that year. He said they all received "tiny ratings" and that ''Wuthering Heights'' "was too large for our television conditions, and things went wrong."<ref>[http://www.abctvgorehill.com.au/assets/contributions/alan_burke_early_tv.htm Interview with Alan Burke]</ref>
''Wuthering Heights'' was one of three plays that Alan Burke directed that year. He said they all received "tiny ratings" and that ''Wuthering Heights'' "was too large for our television conditions, and things went wrong."<ref>[http://www.abctvgorehill.com.au/assets/contributions/alan_burke_early_tv.htm Interview with Alan Burke]</ref>

The reviewer for ''[[The Age]]'' said the play was disappointing and that "the atmosphere of bleakness and howling winds was not created with realism. Noises off were much too prevalent. The casting was not up to standard. . . . Luton showed a lack of understanding on the part of both actor and producer."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19591217&id=q6UUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Sq8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6026,2960003&hl=en |title=Disappointing TV Drama|newspaper=The Age|date= 17 December 1959}}</ref>


The TV critic for ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'' thought the play was "straightforward enough in its story-telling and sufficiently wide-ranging in its techniques" but "hardly ever caught the necessary brooding Gothic spirit of the time, the place and the situation." He criticized Lew Luton as being too often "merely surly, when he should have been daemonic, and in general failed to reconcile his desire to work like a twentieth century actor." Other actors were praised, and Alan Burke's direction was called "carefully smooth; but there were moments when the spirit of the production was closer to [[Stella Gibbons]] than to [[Emily Brontë]]."<ref>{{cite news|title=Wuthering Heights on ABN|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=29 October 1959|page=11}}</ref>
The TV critic for ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'' thought the play was "straightforward enough in its story-telling and sufficiently wide-ranging in its techniques" but "hardly ever caught the necessary brooding Gothic spirit of the time, the place and the situation." He criticized Lew Luton as being too often "merely surly, when he should have been daemonic, and in general failed to reconcile his desire to work like a twentieth century actor." Other actors were praised, and Alan Burke's direction was called "carefully smooth; but there were moments when the spirit of the production was closer to [[Stella Gibbons]] than to [[Emily Brontë]]."<ref>{{cite news|title=Wuthering Heights on ABN|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=29 October 1959|page=11}}</ref>


The reviewer for ''[[The Age]]'' said the play was disappointing and that "the atmosphere of bleakness and howling winds was not created with realism. Noises off were much too prevalent. The casting was not up to standard. . . . Luton showed a lack of understanding on the part of both actor and producer."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19591217&id=q6UUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Sq8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6026,2960003&hl=en |title=Disappointing TV Drama|newspaper=The Age|last=Janus|date= 17 December 1959}}</ref>
==See also==
==See also==
*[[List of live television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1950s)]]
*[[List of live television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1950s)]]

Revision as of 07:37, 14 June 2020

Wuthering Heights
Directed byAlan Burke
Written byNigel Kneale
Based onnovel by Emily Brontë
StarringLew Luton
Delia Williams
Production
company
ABC
Distributed byABC
Release dates
28 October 1959 (live, Sydney)[1]
9 December Melbourne (recorded)[2]
Running time
100 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Wuthering Heights is a 1959 Australian television play adapted from Emily Brontë's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. It was directed by Alan Burke and based on a script by Nigel Kneale which had been filmed by the BBC in 1953 in a TV play starring Richard Todd. It was made at a time when Australian drama production was rare.[3][4]

Cast

  • Lew Luton as Heathcliffe
  • Delia Williams as Cathy
  • Annette Andre as Isabella
  • David Bluford
  • Richard Davies
  • Geoffrey King
  • Hugh Stewart
  • Nancye Stewart
  • Lou Vernon

Production

The story was mostly filmed live, but some segments were pre-recorded around Sydney.[5] Lew Luton was a DJ and presenter of teen shows at the time.[6] Brunette Annette Andre dyed her hair blonde so as to contrast with dark-haired Delia Williams.[7]

Reception

Wuthering Heights was one of three plays that Alan Burke directed that year. He said they all received "tiny ratings" and that Wuthering Heights "was too large for our television conditions, and things went wrong."[8]

The TV critic for The Sydney Morning Herald thought the play was "straightforward enough in its story-telling and sufficiently wide-ranging in its techniques" but "hardly ever caught the necessary brooding Gothic spirit of the time, the place and the situation." He criticized Lew Luton as being too often "merely surly, when he should have been daemonic, and in general failed to reconcile his desire to work like a twentieth century actor." Other actors were praised, and Alan Burke's direction was called "carefully smooth; but there were moments when the spirit of the production was closer to Stella Gibbons than to Emily Brontë."[9]

The reviewer for The Age said the play was disappointing and that "the atmosphere of bleakness and howling winds was not created with realism. Noises off were much too prevalent. The casting was not up to standard. . . . Luton showed a lack of understanding on the part of both actor and producer."[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 26 October 1959. p. 22.
  2. ^ "Untitled". The Age. 3 December 1959. p. 13.
  3. ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  4. ^ "Wuthering Heights live on TV". ABC Weekly. 28 October 1959. p. 10.
  5. ^ "T.V. Highlights". The Biz. New South Wales, Australia. 28 October 1959. p. 11. Retrieved 21 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Lew Luton Back". Sydney Morning Herald. 2 September 1972. p. 5.
  7. ^ Marshall, Valda (25 October 1959). "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 111.
  8. ^ Interview with Alan Burke
  9. ^ "Wuthering Heights on ABN". Sydney Morning Herald. 29 October 1959. p. 11.
  10. ^ Janus (17 December 1959). "Disappointing TV Drama". The Age.