The American film Wuthering Heights was directed by William Wyler and came out in 1939. Los Abismos de Pasión is a Mexican film which was directed by Luis Buñuel and was released in 1954. The language of the Mexican film is Spanish, but there are English subtitles. While the adaptation by William Wyler uses the names of the characters in Emiliy Brontë’s 1847 novel, Buñuel’s characters have different names. For example, Heathcliff is called Alejandro (played by Jorge Mistral) and Cathy is called Catalina (Irasema Dilián).
In my opinion, the actors in both films are doing are great job. However, I preferred the actors in Los Abismos de Pasión since they expressed the emotions so well, and they make it possible for the audience to empathize. I had the feeling that the actors in Wyler’s film, especially Laurence Oliver as Heathcliff and Merle Oberon as Cathy, behave rather stiffly and they have difficulties conveying the emotions. Moreover, the end of Los Abismos de Pasión is so much more emotional than the end of the American film. I was almost able to feel Alejandro’s pain myself. The Mexican film expresses the love and the pain so well, and so it is easy for the audience to share the feelings of the characters.
However, the film by William Wyler is not a bad film, and I really like the fact that it shows us the childhood of Heathcliff (Rex Downing) and Cathy (Sarita Wooten). This helps us to understand why they are behaving the way they are and why they have so strong feelings for each other. The Mexican film Los Abismos de Pasión does not tell the audience much about the past of Alejandro and Catalina, and it begins with the already grown-up Alejandro coming back after a long absence. Unless they read the novel before, it is hard for the audience to understand the characters’ feelings and problems since they do not know what happened to them when they were young.
Finally, I can say that I prefer the Mexican screen adaptation of Wuthering Heights since it made me feel more involved, and it made it possible for me to share the character’s emotions. It is hard for me to enjoy a film when I am not able to empathize with the characters. The film would be even better, however, if they included a part about the childhood of the two protagonists.