Wuthering Heights - 2009 ***

I am a huge fan of the Laurence Olivier version of this story. Therefore any tv drama of this was going to be closely compared to it. I thought this was a sumptuous drama and incredibly well done. Tom Hardy is a very versatile actor and puts his all into the role of Heathcliff who falls desperately in love with wild and carefree Cathy (played by his wife to be Charlotte Reilly). Certain parts of this were changed and I was disappointed (yet again comparing it to the 1939s version) because one of the most potent parts of the story was switched around, leaving me feeling a bit hollow. *SPOILERS* When Cathy dies in the book, Heathcliff is by her side, but in this version he is loitering outside in the garden without knowing what is going on. And also, when Heathcliff dies in the earlier film, he does so because of ill health and a broken heart, here he goes crazy and shoots himself. I can't deny that the acting was very good but for continuity and screenplay I have to side with the 1930s film.

Pink String and Sealing Wax - 1945 ****

One of the first Ealing movies I have seen that wasn't a comedy. I've always been drawn to it by the title of the picture, it sounds so old-fashioned and just up my street!

Googie Withers was looking lovely as Pearl, the wife of an alcoholic pub owner who befriends an innocent chemist's son in an effort to obtain some poison to kill her husband. At the same time there is another story going on in the son's household where the strictly religious father keeps a tight leash on his family to the extent where his daughter's plea to become a professional singer falls on deaf ears.

Exciting film, and a bit bizarre, plus it has the guy from George Formby movies as the alcoholic pub owner (and of course Googie Withers who was in one of George's films too, ironically with the pub owner actor!)