While Emily Brontë's 1847 book Wuthering Heights may be a classic, it is not very interesting to read, especially when it is compared with William Wyler's 1939 movie that is based on the novel.
One of the reasons I liked the movie better than the book was that it eliminated a lot of the complications. The movie focused just on Cathy (Sarita Wooten/Merle Oberon) and Heathcliff's (Rex Downing/Laurence Olivier) great love for each other. While the other issues and storylines complicate the book and bring in other issues and themes, it is not necessary for them to be in the movie because they just seem pale in comparison to Cathy and Heathcliff's tragic love affair. If the parts of the book that were left out of the movie had been included, the movie would have had too much going on in it and would not have really been able to focus on Cathy and Heathcliff's relationship.
I also liked the movie better because of the way that Heathcliff was represented. In the book, he was portrayed as so gruff and rough that I did not really understand how Cathy could love him. In the movie, while he certainly was not the life of the party by any means, he was at least very handsome and a little softer than the image of Heathcliff from the book. Heathcliff's character in the book was so harsh, it almost seemed inhuman. Heathcliff's character in the movie was more real.
Although the movie was simplified from the book, I think it was an improvement. The ending and all of the other characters seemed a little farfetched. Even though the ending of the book does complete the characters and story, it seems somewhat unrealistic. The movie is not very realistic either, but I think it is more so than the book.
I liked the movie better than the book because while I appreciated the book for its literary value, I enjoyed watching the movie.