Far From the Madding Crowd [Blu-ray]

Director: John Schlesinger John Schlesinger

Overview

This 1967 version of Thomas Hardy's novel should have done better at the box office than it did, given the star power of Julie Christie and the visual and aural fidelity to its source material. Julie Christie plays Bathsheba Everdene, a country heiress who is loved by three different men: Terence Stamp, Peter Finch and Alan Bates. Convinced that she is the intellectual superior of all three, Bathesheba loses many early opportunities for lasting happiness. Finally shedding herself of her haughty attitude, Bathsheba unconditionally accepts the love of Bates. The euphoric exuberance of Nicolas Roeg's photography is matched by the direction of John Schlesinger and the screenplay by Frederick Raphael. Only the nittiest of nitpickers would complain that some of the medium shots don't match the closeups (watch Terence Stamp's clown makeup in one scene).

Product Details

Release Date:	02/10/2015
UPC:	0888574131869
Original Release:	1967
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Language:	English
Time:	2:51:00
Sales rank:	26,838

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Julie Christie	Bathsheba Everdene
Alan Bates	Gabriel Oak
Terence Stamp	Sgt. Troy
Peter Finch	William Boldwood
Prunella Ransome	Fanny Robin
Fiona Walker	Liddy,Farmers at Corn Exchange
Paul Dawkins	Henery Fray
Andrew Robertson	Andrew Randle
John Barrett	Joseph Poorgrass
Julian Somers	Jan Coggan
Pauline Melville	Mrs. Tall
Vincent Harding	Mark Clark
Laurence Carter	Laban Tall
Margaret Lacey	Maryann Money
Harriet Harper	Temperance
Denise Coffey	Soberness
Brian Rawlinson	Matthew Moon
Freddie Jones	Cainy Ball
John Carrie	Pennyways
Marie Hopps	Mrs. Coggan
Owen Berry	Old Smallbury
Michael Beint	Laborer
Alison Leggatt	Mrs. Hurst
Victor Stone	Billy Smallbury,Teddy Coggan
Walter Gale	Jacob Smallbury
Jonathan Newth	Gentleman at Cockfight
Derek Ware	Corporal
John Donegal	Sailor
Peggy Ann Clifford	Fat Lady at Circus
Noel Henkel	Circus Manager
Bryan Mosley	Barker
David Swarbrick	Fiddler at Barn Dance
Alba	Gentleman at Party
Leslie Anderson	Boldwood's Laborer
Keith Hooper	Boldwood's Laborer
Frank Duncan	Farmers at Corn Exchange
John Garrie	Pennyways
Richard Rodney Bennett	Composer

Technical Credits

Frederic Raphael

John Schlesinger	Director
Joseph Janni	Producer
Frederic Raphael	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Praised by critics but shunned by audiences, this 1967 British film captures the brooding beauty of the English countryside and the young woman it sometimes symbolizes, Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie). Christie's character is a young woman courted by two rustics and a dashing soldier, whose fates hang by the thread of her caprice and charm. As she works her way from immature fixation on dashing Terence Stamp (Sgt. Troy of Her Majesty's Dragoon Guards) to mature love for Alan Bates as Gabriel Oak, an unassuming farmer she earlier rejected, the cinematography, the musical score and the splendid acting perform in synergy to make the most of the unfolding drama. Based faithfully on Thomas Hardy's 1874 novel of the same name, the film showcases nature as it mocks or mimics the emotions of the characters through gloomy fog, gnarled roots, and the blush of a setting sun. Director John Schlesinger's original wide-screen version of the film aptly frames the community in which these characters live, the fictional county of Wessex, which is the real-life county of Dorsetshire, Hardy's home. Located in southern England near the English Channel, Wessex is a remote little paradise, "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," as poet Thomas Gray described such a place in his "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." But strife does visit Wessex; it arrives in the form of jealousy, cruelty, unrequited desire and a shocking murder, all of which churn maelstroms in the souls of Christie, Bates, Stamp and Peter Finch, a wealthy farmer who is Christie's third suitor. Bates, Stamp and Finch are especially good as they vie for and interact with Christie. In the end, calm returns to Wessex as the characters return to "the noiseless tenor of their way." Richard Rodney Bennet won an Academy Award nomination for his haunting music score, and the film itself earned a place as No. 79 on The British Film Institute's List of top 100 films. It is an honor it richly deserves.

All Movie Guide - Mike Cummings