Wots wrong with Merle???
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Wuthering Heights
angel_de_tourvel — 21 years ago(September 09, 2004 11:47 AM)
Ever since this film was made in 1939 people have mourned a vivien leighless cathy and hated Merle Oberon for HER appearance. I don't believe Olivier hated her and I don't think he SHOULD have cause to hate her, NO ONE should. She delivered a great performance, she was every bit as good as Olivier as Heathcliff, even better I think. Her dieing scene was verging on sheer mastery. But no one seems to think so. WHHYYYYYY????
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carl170 — 21 years ago(December 28, 2004 02:31 PM)
Your quite right. She was excellant. I like the part where Heathcliff had been invited by Edgar sister to a party that they were holding. As the pianist was playing away merrily. Heathcliff, was staring so very hard at Cathy. You could see Cathy, was doing everything in her power to not turn her head, and look across at Heathcliff. But she couldn't hold out.
She turned and gazed at Heathcliff, then at Edgar sister, then back at Heathcliff. You could see the love on her face for Heathcliff
No words were uttered between any of them - but action litterally speak louder then words. That scene is a master piece.
Also Merle Oberon, was a true beauty. She must have beaten men back with a huge stick- such was her beauty. It just has to be said. -
coolbluegreen — 19 years ago(June 29, 2006 07:31 PM)
She didn't. The studio head of MGM insisted. He wanted a style he liked that he felt was flattering. The costumes for MGM's Pride and Prejudice (totally unfaithful version, don't watch it) were updated, too, by the same studio head was it Samuel Goldwyn? and for the same reason. Stupid move, but whatever.
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ClassicMovieholic — 12 years ago(November 24, 2013 03:50 PM)
MGM's Pride and Prejudice (totally unfaithful version, don't watch it)
Totally different from what one expects from a Jane Austen, but brilliant in its own wayabsolutely
do
watch it!
The "Gone With The Wind" look was in at the time (had been infiltrating the fashion world even before that movie's release) which may have had something to do with this film's appearing to be set around the time the novel was published, rather than the late eighteenth century when the Cathy and Heathcliff part of the narrative unfolds. Merle Oberon actually looked ravishing in late eighteenth century costumes, as evidenced by
The Scarlet Pimpernel
(1934), in which she looked much more similar to how I envisioned Catherine than in
Wuthering Heights
. All the same, I think Merle looked lovely and did a wonderful job in this. I have read serious criticisms, however, which regard it as one of her most iconic though not one of her best performances.
Olivier lobbied for Leigh to play Cathy, and she was offered the part of Isabella Linton. She turned it down and went on to play Scarlett O'Hara. Obviously a good career move, and perhaps for the best. Vivien and Merle's competing screen presences would have been distracting, and Geraldine Fitzgerald was fantastic in the supporting role. Geraldine was a very accomplished actress, and Isabella is a much more interesting character than she is given credit for (My favorite in the novel, actually).
Vivien would have been wonderful, and she looked the part, but Merle Oberon was one of the best actresses of her generation. Plus, her dark beauty (she was probably of British/Eurasian/Ceylonese/Maori origin) didn't exactly disqualify her in the looks department from playing Emily Bronte's orientalist fantasy of a gothic heroine. -
coolbluegreen — 12 years ago(November 24, 2013 05:42 PM)
Well, if you want to, watch The MGM version of Pride and Prejudice, but I don't think it's good.
Why do you think Vivian Leigh LOOKED the part of Cathy? Cathy's dark eyes are mentioned many times. Vivien Leigh had blue eyes. She was a great actor, but she did not look like Cathy Merle Oberon did.
As for acting talent BOTH were talented. I think Vivien Leigh was more talented, but both were fantastic. It gets a little silly, at that level, to start comparing you can, of course, but it's subjective. Both are beautiful. Both are talented. -
ClassicMovieholic — 12 years ago(November 24, 2013 06:07 PM)
Cathy's dark eyes are mentioned many times. Vivien Leigh had blue eyes
And "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful," but would you say that Leigh was wrong for the role? I believe the technicolor was also doctored to make here eyes appear greener, but black and white is a magical medium. It can make a bronze dress appear shimmering red (
Jezebel
), and high contrast black and white cinematography can make pale eyes look dark.
I didn't mean to imply that Vivien Leigh looked the part any more than Merle Oberon, nor did I open up the comparison. You're right, it is silly to compare two of the greatest actresses (and beauties) in the greatest era of film acting. But people have and
will
compare, as the theme of this thread illustrates.
I was thinking of a passage in which Mr. Lockwood is observing Catherine's Portrait and comments on a haughty, prideful flare about the nostrils. I have thought that Vivien has this particular flare of the nostrils, which was exhibited perhaps most famously in
Gone With The Wind
, and makes her believable in the part of the not-beautiful Scarlett because this expression captures the spirit of the character so well.
Actually, I do
not
wish Vivien had been cast instead of Merle, but it is an interesting exercise nonetheless to consider the what-ifs. -
ClassicMovieholic — 12 years ago(November 24, 2013 07:00 PM)
Sacrilege that it is, I do actually sometimes wonder how other actresses who were considered might have done in the role. I don't think that anybody else would have brought quite the same iconic quality to Scarlett. But I think some of the others might have been good in some respectsnot
as
good, mind you, but adequate. -
Nflorin19 — 19 years ago(October 14, 2006 02:38 PM)
I am hopeless. Every time I watch the movie I want Heathcliff to wait a minute to hear the end of Cathy's famous rant about finding him common and then professing her love. Damn - couldn't the housekeeper give Heathcliff the heads up? Couldn't he take the time to find an umbrella? That scene is so incredible - so heart wrenching. And - when he goes to her death bed - there is nothing likie it ever in movie history!
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isyfiles — 20 years ago(June 11, 2005 06:18 PM)
I loved Merle in this film.I loved the scene were she is talking about her looking brilliant and I love it when she's at the dance and she pretends she doesn't notice Heathcliff and the part were she went to Heathcliff's house to ask him if it's true that he's going to marry Isabella.I love the entire movie.Merle is brilliant!!!
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ndmur25 — 20 years ago(August 10, 2005 03:59 PM)
Oberon responded to Oliviereveryone did. He was a master craftsman; the greatest actor of his timeperhaps of all time. Merle Oberon looked the part, had enough ability to follow the leader and was a perfect Catherine. Wuthering Heights, the film, while not all of the Bronte novel, captures the essence and is complete in itself. Why argue with perfection? Revel is the ability to partake.