In his own right

BBC News features the Patrick Brontë exhibition opening today at the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

Objects owned by Patrick Brontë, father of the famous literary sisters, have gone on show in Haworth to mark the 150th anniversary of his death in 1861.
Born in Ireland in 1777, the son of a poor farmer, Patrick Brontë studied at Cambridge University before eventually being appointed vicar of Haworth.
The new exhibition features some of the curate's own publications, as well as many letters and personal possessions.
Organisers hope to show that Brontë was a fascinating man in his own right.

Culture 24 announces the opening of the exhibition as well.

The Irish Times reports the sad news that,

The house on Long Island that inspired Daisy Buchanan’s residence in ‘The Great Gatsby’ is to be knocked down. (Michael Parsons)

And then goes on to look at other iconic literary houses:

LITERATURE has produced many wonderfully evocative descriptions of fictional houses – from Dickens’s Bleak House: “one of those delightfully irregular houses where you go up and down steps out of one room into another” to Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights: “Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones”. (Michael Parsons)

The Hollywood Reporter may know the reason behind the uncertainty as to whether Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival or not:

... and Andrea Arnold, with her new version of Wuthering Heights — if the film can be completed in time, that is. (Gregg Kilday)

Variety has only just made available their review of Wuthering Heights 1939 dated March 1939:

Emily Bronte's novel, published a century ago, tells a haunting tale of love and tragedy. Samuel Goldwyn's film version retains all of the grim drama of the book. Dramatic episodes are vividly etched, without benefit of lightness. It's heavy fare throughout.
Merle Oberon has two loves - a pash for stableboy Laurence Olivier and love of the worldly things David Niven can provide. After unsuccessfully goading Olivier to make something of himself, girl turns to marriage with Niven. Olivier disappears, to return several years later from America with a moderate fortune. Miss Oberon keeps her smouldering passions under control, and Olivier marries Niven's sister (Geraldine Fitzgerald) for spite. Climax is reached with Miss Oberon dying from an incurable disease in Olivier's arms.
Stark tragedy is vividly etched throughout. Tempo is at a slow pace, with many sequences devoted to development of psychological reactions of the characters. It's rather dull material for general audiences.
Olivier provides a fine portrayal as the moody, revengeful lover. Miss Oberon is excellent throughout, nicely tempering her changing moods. Niven handles his role satisfactorily, while Miss Fitzgerald is impressive as Niven's sister, who comes under the spell of Olivier and finds nothing but unhappiness in her marriage to him.
Story is unfolded through retrospect narration by Flora Robson, housekeeper in the early-Victorian mansion of Yorkshire. After briefly detailing background of three principals as children, tale swings into the main love theme and tragedy.
Production has been given best facilities possible in all departments. Camera work by Gregg Toland is top grade, and settings are in keeping with period of the story.
Direction by William Wyler is slow and deliberate, accenting the tragic features of the piece. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur wrote the screenplay.

The Journal & Courier reviews another old movie, Devotion, now that it is available (US only though) as a made-to-order DVD.

The lowdown: Ida Lupino and Olivia DeHavilland star in this fictional biography of the Brontë sisters, Emily and Charlotte, who wrote such works as "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre."
The film purports to show how their personal lives influenced their writings. The movie is a bit overdone and is abetted by one of Eric Wolfgang Korngold's overwrought scores. (Bob Bloom)

The Romance Reviews interviews Beth Williamson/Annabella Bloom, author of Wuthering Heights: The Wild and Wanton Edition.

Q: Wuthering Heights is a classic, one that thousands have loved over the years. Was there any aspect about adding to it that worried you?
Absolutely! The story is told from the perspective of the narrator, Heathcliff's tenant, who is being told the story by Nelly, former nurse and childhood friend to Healthcliff & Catherine. I've never written in first person and it can be challenging to write sex scenes from a second hand point of view. Additionally, I had to write in Brontë's style, not my own. It had to be as seamless as possible.
Q: Was there a particular character that was more challenging to work with?
Heathcliff. He arrived as a gypsy child, unwanted by everyone except Mr. Earnshaw and Catherine. He was beaten and treated as a servant, not truly given a chance to be a gentleman. I had to make it more likeable, or at the least, evoke a little sympathetic to the reader.

They are also giving away a copy of the book.

This reviewer from Anime News Network doesn't seem to know much about the Brontës:

[Kaoru Mori's] Emma is a romance, but it's also a loving recreation of Victorian England; not the grimy, dark England of Victorian hypocrisy, black lung and child labor, but the England of the Brontë sisters, of beautiful gardens and fancy balls, where women wear corsets and men wear top hats and everyone is so polite and proper they don't tell their true feelings. Emma is a romantic fantasy set in a faraway land, the land of Victorian England, where the expectations of family and class clash against true love between a man and a maid. (Jason Thompson)

Emlynchand and Addicted to Reading post about Jane Eyre. Chrisbookarama discusses the Thornfield section of the novel. Cannonball and Cinephilia and Sass review the 1944 and 1996 adaptations respectively. Lit and Life posts about Villette as part of the read-along.

Categories: Books, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontëana, Movies-DVD-TV, Patrick Brontë, Wuthering Heights