Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)

Far from the Madding Crowd
original film poster by Tom Chantrell
Directed by	John Schlesinger
Produced by	Joseph Janni
Written by	Frederic Raphael
Starring	Julie Christie Terence Stamp Peter Finch Alan Bates Prunella Ransome
Music by	Richard Rodney Bennett
Cinematography	Nicolas Roeg
Editing by	Malcolm Cooke
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)(US) Warner-Pathé Distributors Ltd. (UK)
Release date(s)	1967
Running time	168 min

Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted from the book of the same name by Thomas Hardy. It was Schlesinger's fourth film and marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works which explored contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by Nicolas Roeg and the soundtrack was by Richard Rodney Bennett. Original folk songs were also used in various scenes throughout the film.

It was nominated for one Oscar for best Original music score and two BAFTA's, Best British Cinematography (Colour) and Best British Costume (Colour).

Plot

Set in the rural West Country in Victorian England, the story features Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie), a beautiful, headstrong, independently minded woman who inherits her uncle's farm, and decides to manage it herself, which engenders some disapproval from the local farming community. It centres around her three suitors: the steadfast but luckless shepherd Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates), the lonely and repressed farmer William Boldwood (Peter Finch), and the rakishly-handsome but faithless Dragoon, Sergeant Francis Troy (Terence Stamp). Prunella Ransome plays the unfortunate Fanny Robin, who dies, destitute, in a workhouse giving birth to his child.

The film is faithful to the book except as to the fate of Boldwood, who in the novel is declared insane but in the film is shown awaiting execution for killing Troy when the latter returned to claim Bathsheba after it had been presumed he had drowned at sea. The film was shot largely on location in Dorset and Wiltshire. 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) with an enthralled Bathsheba standing immobile before him. The choice of Christie attracted some criticism at the time^{[citation needed]}.

The film includes a scene filmed on Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, famed for its use in the much-loved Hovis advert: "It was a very long way to the top of the hill."

External links

• See screenshots and read more about the film at The Alan Bates Archive.
• Far from the Madding Crowd at the Internet Movie Database