Longe Deste Insensato Mundo

If you are wanting fast action and thrills then this film is not for you, however, if you enjoy a good drama with a haunting score then look no further. Bathsheba Everdine (Christie)has three suitors in the form of the dashing Troy(Stamp) the dependable Oak (Bates) and the brooding/obsessed Boldwood (Finch). The story revolves around her relationship with each of these three men with rural Victorian England as the backdrop. I particularly enjoyed Terrence Stamp's performance as Sergeant Troy whose real love is Fanny Robbin and not Bathsheba. Richard Rodney Bennett creates a lovely haunting soundtrack which conjures up the English countryside. A smashing film!!

There's a man or two who've taken quite a shine, they want to be your love, eternally entwine, one's a shepherd who has nowt, the t'other carries lots of clout, but desires from your side fail to align. Then a soldier takes a glance and your enraptured, he's taken all you have to give, and you've been captured, you're in love, and now so happy, you get married, it's rather snappy, that's when the ties begin to weaken, becoming fractured. Soon the man who you have loved leaves you in tears, as he vanishes, dissolves and disappears, leaves a door for a rich neighbour, who wants to offer you his sabre, he's prepared to wait a while, long as six years.

Fabulous performances by some rather splendid actors in a tale that engages and engulfs.

This adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel is a lush Cinemascope production with a rich British cast. The flirtatious Bathsheba (J. Christie) is spoiled for choice between the dashing caddish soldier, the simple shepherd and the brooding landowner. But, alas, I wasn't really spellbound watching it. I just couldn't believe that Julie Christie was this headstrong 19th century maiden. She looks far too contemporary for me; as she is just the perfect 60s icon in costume (same as in Doctor Zhivago).

The actual visual aspect of the film made me wonder. The director was obviously trying very hard to give to this feature a feeling of the Dorset countryside. But, somehow, his efforts to include subjective camera, overhead shots, etc, didn't work for me. It didn't blend with the story. I felt that Bathsheba didn't evolve through the film. Julie Christie played the same way from start to finish, in spite of the ordeal she had to go through.

Alan Bates was perfect as the farmer turned shepherd, as was Peter Finch as the landowner. It's striking that some silent sequences that should have been devastating just left me completely cold. It lacked atmosphere. On the plus side, there is a nice score by British composer Richard Rodney Bennett.

"Far from the Madding Crowd" is one of a handful of elegantly produced, intelligent wide screen masterpieces which have sadly been neglected by those responsible for DVD. Fortunately, by early in 2009, Warner Brothers finally released it on a handsomely remastered standard DVD edition. There is no news of a Blu Ray version. It is richly scenic in an unusually stark, atmospheric way. Its cast is made up of some of the finest actors working at the time it was made. All of them handle their parts in this well-written, literate script, extremely well. Peter Finch, who seldom turned in a weak performance, is a standout in this film.

The great works of literary giants like Thomas Hardy invariably inspire strong opinions about film adaptations. It is no surprise to me that some reviewers were very critical of Far From the Madding Crowd, based on their feelings that it distorted aspects of the original novel. Despite such interpretive choices, or modifications as may be at play in this dramatization, the rewards of its many great strengths, in my opinion, make it a glorious viewing experience.

If you are a home theater buff with the technology needed to view this film on a fairly large screen, you will delight in its evocative wide screen splendor. It draws you into the very unique environment that was always so important in Thomas Hardy's writing. I am thrilled that such thoughtful epics as "Tess" and "Lord Jim" are all, at last, available in DVD release. "Far from the Madding Crowd" and David Lean's "Ryan's Daughter" are among those long awaited widescreen home entertainment selections which constitute the sublime highlights of any film library. They are visual masterpieces that cry out to be seen in such a high-resolution format as the DVD provides.

I have never read a good word about this film in any movie guide, which frankly baffles me. I think it's a masterpiece, and despite Hardy being one of my favourite authors, I think this is actually better than the novel. It also contains two absolutely perfect moments. But first some general comments. The photography is gorgeous, actually looking more realistic than idyllic, beautiful but sometimes cold and forboding, brooding over the tragic proceedings. Secondly, the remarkable soundtrack by Richard Rodney Bennett lends the movie a good deal of its emotiveness. The use of English folk songs to comment on the proceedings is ingenious, sometimes impressively reflective of the situations, and at points extremely unsettling.

Julie Christie is beautiful and I found her Bathsheba the precise mixture of headstrong independence and vulnerability. Terence Stamp's repulsive Troy is a triumph of casting and Alan Bates is wonderful as the simpliest of her suitors. The film is stolen for me though by Peter Finch, who begins a hat trick of devastating performances, here, in The Trials of Oscar Wilde and Sunday Bloody Sunday. His Boldwood is a remarkable creation, so eligible, so tragic, so lost and helpless. His scene with Bathsheba when she suggests Christmas to be a time when she will make a decision on their future is heartbreaking. "Christmas," he smiles. "I'm happier now." But the scene that should surely secure this movie a place in film history is that in the graveyard. Without spoling the plot for those who have yet to see it, the gargoyle spewing rainwater over the graves as the sound of "The Bold Grenadier" plays is as affecting an image as one is ever likely to see on screen. The Boldwood plot has a darker outcome here than in the book, which I'm sure Hardy would have approved of. This is a beautiful and disturbing movie that does not shy away from Hardy's bleak view of existence, and adds to the mix a strong sense of gritty 60s honesty. Beautiful, devastating and unforgettable.