This is a dull, interminable version of the novel by George Eliot concerning two families involved in a feud over the mill business two friends of different classes desire to run. Financial times result in the mine being bought out by wealthy and powerful Felix Aylmer from the lower class Sam Livesay, the only thing he had that he could really call his. Their children have grown up together, but the family feud brings about a hatred between the two men that is present until their dying day. Livesay's son, James Mason, is vehemently opposed to the romance of sister Geraldine Fitzgerald and Aylmer's son, Frank Lawton, and does everything in his power to destroy it. But their love is too strong, and destiny is set in stone, even though nobody really ends up happy here.
This had potential, and certainly is lovely to look at in spots with its countryside settings and frequently stormy atmosphere. Like "Wuthering Heights" and many other classic sagas of doomed romance and patriarchal rivalries, this starts when the leading characters are children, and certainly, there is no classism between them as they grow up. Poor Fitzgerald has a well-dressed, sophisticated friend in well to do Victoria Hooper. The flashback sequence is highlighted by a scene where the nasty uppercrust invade the home of the ailing Lindsay to search for important papers, going through his personal items as he lingers in bed. However, much of the plotline is choppy and confusing, and this results in the film making the viewer distracted and often bored. Historically, it is interesting for the debuts of Mason and Fitzgerald, and other than the technical aspects of the film is sadly quite a disappointment.
This had potential, and certainly is lovely to look at in spots with its countryside settings and frequently stormy atmosphere. Like "Wuthering Heights" and many other classic sagas of doomed romance and patriarchal rivalries, this starts when the leading characters are children, and certainly, there is no classism between them as they grow up. Poor Fitzgerald has a well-dressed, sophisticated friend in well to do Victoria Hooper. The flashback sequence is highlighted by a scene where the nasty uppercrust invade the home of the ailing Lindsay to search for important papers, going through his personal items as he lingers in bed. However, much of the plotline is choppy and confusing, and this results in the film making the viewer distracted and often bored. Historically, it is interesting for the debuts of Mason and Fitzgerald, and other than the technical aspects of the film is sadly quite a disappointment.