Westinghouse Studio One: Wuthering Heights

Westinghouse Studio One: Wuthering Heights

Originally Broadcast: Monday, October 30, 1950 at 10 PM ET on CBS

Plot: Based off the classic Emily Brontë novel, the story of an orphaned boy and the rich girl who loved him and how the love would eventually change both their lives.

Analysis: First off, I have to apologize for the plot summary, but saying more would spoil the story, which I really don’t want to do. It’s too good to just give away in a summary.

You may notice a title change due to the arrival of Studio One’s new sponsor, Westinghouse Electric. The term “Now, this word from Westinghouse…” and spokeswoman Betty Furness would be a staple for Studio One and all Westinghouse sponsored shows from this point all the way out into 1960. Lucky for us, the commercial tags are all mostly intact going forward, so you’ll get a good idea both of how electric technology was evolving in the post-World War II era and, I suppose in a sense, a woman’s role in the home was being defined, especially in the 1950s.

As for the show itself, well, it’s Wuthering Heights by Brontë; you know it’s going to be a dramatic romance. But, I’ll tell you what makes this a true gem and that’s Charleton Heston as Heathcliff. This, quite literally, is a star-making role. First off, Heston looks huge compared to everyone (understandable, given Heston was 6’3), but he uses his height was part of the performance. He just looks like a mountain compared to everyone else, especially toward the back half of the hour. He combines the presence he already has with a really commanding performance, playing Heathcliff as almost a force of nature that every other character in the show just breaks themselves against. It’s absolutely amazing to watch as it seems at times every other actor in the performance is just feeding off of Heston, which contributes to the image of Heathcliff as the center of the story that everyone else is just whirling around.

Oh, that bit about the star-making? Turns out producer Hal Wallis caught Wuthering Heights and was so impressed by Heston, he offered him a contract. Heston thought why not, if just to see what one movie was like, and the rest, as they say, was movie history.

Bottom Line: In case you haven’t picked up on it, I love this episode of Studio One, mostly for Heston. He is that good in this, people, so for the first time, I’m really going to urge readers to try and run down a copy. I don’t think you’ll regret it and hopefully, you’ll be as impressed as I was.

Wuthering Heights is included in the Studio One Anthology (http://www.amazon.com/Studio-One-Anthology-Jack-Lemmon/dp/B001E1HCQY/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1283969669&sr=1-1) and, I’ll say it once more, is really worth checking out if you have the money on hand.

Next time, more Groucho.