Far from the Madding Crowd
Original film poster by Howard Terpning
Directed byJohn Schlesinger
Screenplay byFrederic Raphael
Based onFar from the Madding Crowd
1874 novel
by Thomas Hardy
Produced byJoseph Janni
Starring
CinematographyNicolas Roeg
Edited byMalcolm Cooke
Music byRichard Rodney Bennett
Production
companies
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • 16 October 1967 (1967-10-16) (United Kingdom)
  • 17 October 1967 (1967-10-17) (United States)
Running time
169 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.75 million[2]
Box office$3.5 million (US/Canada)[3]

Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British epic period drama film adapted from Thomas Hardy's 1874 book of the same name. The film, starring Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Terence Stamp and Peter Finch, and directed by John Schlesinger, was Schlesinger's fourth film (and his third collaboration with Christie). It marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works exploring contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by Nicolas Roeg and the soundtrack was by Richard Rodney Bennett. He also used traditional folk songs in various scenes throughout the film.

It was nominated for one Oscar for Best Original Music Score and two BAFTAs, Best British Cinematography (Colour) and Best British Costume (Colour) (Alan Barrett).

Plot

Set in the rural West Country in Victorian England (circa 1870), the story features Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie), an obnoxious, beautiful, headstrong, independently minded woman who inherits her uncle's farm and decides to manage it herself. This engenders some disapproval from the local farming community. She employs a former neighbour, Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates), as a shepherd. Rejected by Bathsheba earlier as a suitor for lack of wealth, Gabriel lost his own flock after one of his dogs drove them off a cliff.

Bathsheba impulsively sends a valentine to William Boldwood (Peter Finch), a nearby gentleman farmer. Misinterpreting her capriciousness, he falls passionately in love with her and proposes; Bathsheba promises to consider his offer. However, she soon meets and becomes enamoured of Frank Troy (Terence Stamp), a handsome sergeant, dashing in red uniform.

Troy was to marry young Fanny Robin (Prunella Ransome), a maidservant pregnant with his child, but she went to the wrong church on their wedding day. Unreasonably insulted and humiliated by waiting at the altar with friends with the bride not turning up until after everyone has left, Troy refuses to go through with the ceremony. He is then posted to a different town. Jealous at seeing Bathsheba become besotted with the handsome Troy, Boldwood offers him money to leave Bathsheba alone. Troy plays with the distressed Boldwood, suggesting that he might accept if Boldwood offers enough money and rejecting increasing amounts until Troy humiliates Boldwood by announcing that he and Bathsheba are already married. Bathsheba’s impulsive decision leads to a series of circumstances in which Troy acts selfishly and irresponsibly while Bathsheba continues to adore him. At their wedding banquet Troy sends Bathsheba off to bed alone, while he gets drunk with all the farmhands except Gabriel, who turns away in disgust. When a fire breaks out, threatening their harvested haystacks, the drunken men are useless; Gabriel, with Bathsheba’s help, must deal with the situation to avert disaster. Troy gambles away much of Bathsheba's money and creates disharmony among the farmhands. When Fanny comes to Troy, in an advanced state of pregnancy, to ask for his help, Troy coldly sends her away. Upon learning that Fanny has died in childbirth, Bathsheba confronts Troy, who affects remorse over Fanny’s death and swears cruelly to Bathsheba that he never loved her and has loved only Fanny. His clothes are later found by the ocean, where he has presumably drowned himself.

Assuming that Troy is dead, Boldwood coerces Bathsheba to marry him. She will not commit to an engagement but promises she will not marry anyone until the end of the 7-year period before Troy can be declared legally dead. If Boldwood still wishes it, she will then marry him at that time. In the duration, it is revealed that Troy has become the star attraction in a troupe of actors, enacting the dramatic role of an intrepid highwayman with a horse that performs tricks on cue. When the troupe comes to Weatherbury, Troy enhances his theatrical makeup to avoid recognition. He spots Boldwood and Bathsheba in the crowd, who do not recognize him. Having grown weary of life touring, Troy reappears to reclaim his wife at the engagement party of Bathsheba to Boldwood. Boldwood shoots and kills Troy. Demonstrating that she is still besotted by Troy despite his caddish behavior, Bathsheba throws herself on Troy’s body and loudly grieves him, repeating his name in despair while Boldwood looks on in horror.

Boldwood is last seen in a prison cell, awaiting execution. Gabriel tells Bathsheba that he is emigrating to The United States. Realising how much she needs his quiet strength and unselfish devotion, Bathsheba persuades Gabriel to remain in Weatherbury, which he agrees to do only on the condition that they marry. The last scene shows Gabriel, in gentleman's attire, reading the newspaper in the drawing room of their manorial home, with Bathsheba quietly engaged in her own activity in his company. Prominent on the fireplace mantle is the elaborate automaton clock Troy had given Bathsheba as a wedding present: a castle with a gallant soldier in red uniform on the tower playing his trumpet to announce the hour.

Cast

Production

The film keeps close to the book.

The budget was $3 million, 80% of which was provided by MGM, 20% by Anglo-Amalgamated.[4]

The film was shot largely on location in Dorset and Wiltshire.[5]

Release

The film premiered on 16 October 1967 at the Odeon Marble Arch attended by Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon.[6]

Reception

The film is memorable for the subtly erotic scene between Sgt Troy and Bathsheba in which he flaunts his expert skills as a swordsman in a private fencing display in a prehistoric earthwork (actually Maiden Castle).

Roger Ebert found the scenes of the rural area and rural life to be "splendid". His strongest criticism is that the film missed the point of the small society of rural life:

Thomas Hardy's novel told of a 19th century rural England in which class distinctions and unyielding social codes surrounded his characters. They were far from the madding crowd whether they liked it or not, and got tangled in each other's problems because there was nowhere else to turn. It's not simply that Bathsheba (Julie Christie) was courted by the three men in her life, but that she was courted by ALL three men in her life.[7]

The film performed well at the box office in the UK but was a commercial failure in the U.S.[2]

Far from the Madding Crowd received mixed to positive reviews from critics; the film holds a 64% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 reviews.[8]

Awards

Won
Nominated

Books

  • Going Loco by Lynne Truss, 1999,

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Far from the Madding Crowd (U)". British Board of Film Classification. 15 September 1967. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 Alexander Walker, Hollywood, England, Stein and Day, 1974, p. 362.
  3. ↑ "Big Rental Films of 1968", Variety, 8 January 1969 p 15. Please note this figure is a rental accruing to distributors.
  4. ↑ Marks, Sally K. (8 January 1967). "Film Company a Hardy Lot: Film Company a Hardy Lot". Los Angeles Times. p. n11.
  5. ↑ IMDB.com, retrieved 25 January 2018
  6. ↑ "International Sound Track". Variety. 9 August 1967. p. 24.
  7. ↑ Roger Ebert (23 January 1968). "Far from the Madding Crowd". Ebert Reviews. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  8. ↑ Far from the Madding Crowd at Rotten Tomatoes

Further reading

  • Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh, eds. The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film (2nd ed. 2005) pp 136–127.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.