Movie of the Week: Far From the Madding Crowd

[jacey]

My cinebuddy, H, has a far better memory of the 1967 Julie Christie version of this and she had quite a lot to say about the loss of dramatic moments, particularly the ending. I wasn't as critical of it as she was. I particularly liked Matthias Schoenaerts measured take on Gabriel Oak (never having been much of a fan of Alan Bates) and I like Carey Mulligan, though to be fair I also liked Julie Christie in the Bathsheba Everdene role. There's no comparison between Sergeant Troys, however. Terence Stamp wins by a mile, leaving Tom Sturridge standing at the starting gate. As for Farmer Boldwood, yes I think I like Michael Sheen somewhat better than Peter Finch. If there was drama lost at the end it was a directorial quirk not an acting one.

No spoilers for anyone who hasn't been forced to read the book at school (and I have to say that I hated Thomas Hardy, though this does seem to be one of his more cheerful books, despite the body-count.) Bathsheba Everdene turns down a marriage proposal from one man, comes into some property, is proposed to by another, marries for lust and... well... no spoilers. One woman, three men and eventually a satisfactory ending (for Bathsheba, at least, with a few trials and tribulations along the way.

The 1867 version was interesting in its choice of folksongs: Julie Christie (dubbed by Isla Cameron according to IMDB) singing Bushes and Briars as compared to Carey Mulligan's Let No Man Steal Your Thyme. I stuck around for the music credits to see if i could catch on to who did the actual singing but although Eliza Carthy and saul Rose were heavily mentioned in the credits they flashed by too quickly for me to be sure and seemed to be mostly for arrangements. Though there was a version of Lay Me Low straight out of the John Tamms songbook. His version to a T. Though to be fair it is a Shaker song from the 1830s. I was amused by the fact that IMDB says: "The song sung by Carey Mulligan in the teaser trailer is a cover of "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" (traditional) by Pentangle" Oh dear, IMDB, yes I'm sure Pentangle did sing it, but so did an awful lot of other people, What don't you get about 'traditional'?

Anyhow now I suppose the only thing I can do is to go and order the remastered DVD version from 1967.

Comments

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

I had free tickets for a performance at the Theatre Royal in Bath, must have been early 90s. Can't recall any big names and it was okay ... for a Thomas Hardy. ;)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

The qualifier 'for a Thomas Hardy' kinda says it all. What a miserable bugger he must have been. :-)