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Wuthering Heights (1954 film)

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Abismos de pasión
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLuis Buñuel
Written byLuis Buñuel
Based onWuthering Heights
1847 novel
by Emily Brontë
Produced byÓscar Dancigers
Abelardo L. Rodríguez
StarringIrasema Dilián
Jorge Mistral
CinematographyAgustín Jiménez
Edited byCarlos Savage
Music byRaúl Lavista
Distributed byAzteca Films Inc. (1954, USA)
Plexus (1983, USA)
Release dates
  • June 30, 1954 (1954-06-30) (Mexico)
  • December 27, 1983 (1983-12-27) (US)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryMexico
LanguageSpanish

Wuthering Heights is a 1954 Mexican film directed by Luis Buñuel. Its original Spanish title is Abismos de pasión ("Abysses of Passion").

In 1931, Buñuel and Pierre Unik wrote a screenplay based on the 1847 Emily Brontë novel Wuthering Heights but plans to film it fell through. Buñuel's producer, Oscar Dancigers, brought the idea back in the 1950s and was able to secure funding.[1][2] The 1954 film was produced by Dancigers and Abelardo L. Rodríguez. It stars Irasema Dilián and Jorge Mistral as the Cathy and Heathcliff characters.

Plot summary

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Cast

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Reception

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On the Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of critic's reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10.[3]

In 1983, New York Times film critic Vincent Canby called it "an almost magical example of how an artist of genius can take someone else's classic work and shape it to fit his own temperament without really violating it.".[4]

In 2002, Slant writer Ed Gonzalez called it better then William Wyler's critically acclaimed 1939 adaption,[5] saying "Unlike William Wyler’s inferior 1939 film adaptation, Luis Buñuel’s Abismos de Pasión is more than a literate extrapolation of Emily Bronte’s gothic masterpiece Wuthering Heights,".[6]

In 1988, Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum gave a mixed review, stating that it "discards the original novel’s framing strategy of telling the story from the viewpoint of two outsiders", which he calls a "regrettable elision", though he also says that "Buñuel’s low-budget melodrama has a certain gothic ferocity that’s missing in the other versions".[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Luis Buñuel: Aesthetics of the Irrational: Wuthering Heights". archive.ica.art. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  2. ^ Hagopian, Kevin Jack. "Film Notes - ABISMOS DE PASIÓN". www.albany.edu. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Abismos de Pasión | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  4. ^ Canby, Vincent (27 December 1983). "FILM: BUNUEL'S BRONTE". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Wuthering Heights | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. 13 April 1939. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  6. ^ Gonzalez, Ed (23 August 2002). "Review: Wuthering Heights". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Wuthering Heights | Jonathan Rosenbaum". jonathanrosenbaum.net. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
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