Far from the Madding Crowd

I first saw this movie in 1968 when I was 14 as an assignment for school. The other day I saw it again late one Saturday night on my local PBS station. I remembered how entranced I was in the mood and the music, and that was still the same now. The movie was nominated for a Golden Globe as best picture(drama) and it won for best score.

But after living for 30 years I really see it as a great story about the relationship choices we make in life. It really made me reflect on my own choices in life.

The main character is played by Julie Christy age 26, who is the owner of a sheep farm in England. She is very beautiful and more than one man is in love with her. I won't say which man she marries but even after the movie was over I felt perplexed as to any one right outcome. That we all make choices at different times in our lives and sometimes the reasons are the same and sometimes they are different. Sometimes we make emotional choices and sometimes intellectual ones. But they are all choices we have to live with.

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, just don't align. Then a soldier takes a glance and your enraptured, taking all you have to give and you've been captured, you're in love, and now so happy, you get wed, it's rather snappy, that's when ties begin to break, becoming fractured. Soon the man who you have loved, leaves you in tears, as he vanishes, dissolves and disappears, opens a door for the rich neighbour, who wants to offer you his sabre, and is prepared to wait a while, a long six years.

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

"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.

What a treat to see an adaption of this marvellous but hard going book, of course it's always worth the effort to read Hardy, but it takes getting into, you have to be in the right mind frame, so dramatisations of his wonderfully rich characters are always wonderful to watch, and open up his work to a wider audience I should imagine.

This film in particular was pretty true to the script, if a little condensed, in places. I felt Alan Bates was just fantastic on screen, but probably had the right amount of charm and screen magnetism for the box office, but a little too much to be a true Farmer Oak as described by Hardy, what women in her right mind would ever turn him down,being so sweet and looking like that, I must watch more of his films.

Everyone else was just brilliant as well, and it was lovely to see the beautiful Dorset I visit often so on the big screen and note it really hasn't changed that much at all since the filming in the 60's.

An excellent film, don't miss it !!!

A British period drama; A story about a beautiful woman who arouses the ardour of three rival suitors in 19th-century rural Dorset. Headstrong, and having flirted and toyed with their affections, she chooses to marry one that leads to trouble. John Schlesinger's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel is a superbly photographed production thanks to cinematographer Nicolas Roeg. The screenplay is faithful to the original story whilst maintaining the wit necessary for it to be engaging. Richard Rodney Bennett's wistful score works very well. Julie Christie is a fascinating presence. She is convincing as one, under whose spell, many a man could fall.