"Far From the Madding Crowd", 1967 Janni/Schlesinger

[Belle]

This beautiful Panavision restoration is so evocative for me. I first saw the film in 1968 and must have seen it at least 3 or 4 times shortly thereafter, thinking about it day and night for a long time. The music of Richard Rodney Bennett forms a huge part of my enjoyment of the film, as is the glorious cinematography of Nicholas Roeg. England can provide such beautiful vistas for Hardy novels made into film. And the weather, the rural settings of cold stone cottages and slushy roads suits the often lugubrious tone of Hardy. It's as though the cold and damp gets knotted in the bloodstreams of the characters, only to unfurl with the coming of summer. Thoughts of Keats.

Critics weren't so kind about this film at the time and I can't remember why; perhaps it may not have been faithful to Hardy's novel (I haven't read that one). If I was to make some criticism it would be that it lingered on the Captain Troy sequences for too long. Stamp was brilliant as Troy but he was an unsympathetic character, cold and cruel. There's symmetry between himself and Bathsheba - for she is equally cold and dismissive to her ardent admirer Gabriel Oakes (Bates).

This picture belongs to Alan Bates, in a commanding yet understated performance, and the luminous Julie Christie. Finch was very sympathetic as the pathetic and obsessed farmer Boldwood. I've rarely seen him so vulnerable in any film except for Schlesinger's "Sunday, Bloody Sunday". What a fine actor he was too. Terence Stamp leaves me cold because he's icy in whatever parts he plays, though he was ridiculously pretty in this film.

My early forays into television can be traced right back to big films like this, including the usual epics, starting in the late 1950s and going through to circa 1970. I determined that I wanted to work in film, come hell or high water, and would do whatever it took. Gradually the compass drew me true north to ABC television where I did indeed have the opportunity to become a film editor. At the time I remember thinking, "this is it; do you want this or not?" I withdrew at the crossroads - for the road less travelled - mostly because I disliked the film-making fraternity of bullies, sycophants and their egos. And I'd met my husband who was light years away from that culture; 50 years of marriage have taught me that I made the right choice. I love him and film more than ever!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3556B9odLBE