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The overture from the 1967 film version of Thomas Hardy's 1874 novel "Far From The Madding Crowd" with photos and poster art from both the 1967 movie along with the 1998 BBC version, as well as illustrations from the book. After "Tess Of The D'Urbervilles", this is my favorite Hardy novel, with "The Return Of The Native", "The Woodlanders" and the less well-known "A Pair Of Blue Eyes" third, fourth and fifth respectively. The original score was composed by Richard Rodney Bennett (here performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra), which was Oscar-nominated. John Schlesinger's production presented Julie Christie as the beautiful, headstrong Bathsheba Everdene, who, in rural 19th century England, inherits a farm and decides to manage it herself, while she is loved by three diverse men. Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates), the shepard who loves her sincerely and remains loyal throughout it all, Farmer Boldwood (Peter Finch), whose infatuation with the willful beauty becomes increasingly obsessive, and rakish Sergant Frank Troy (Terence Stamp), who fascinates and thrills Bathsheba, but he is not what he seems, and this revelation leads to tragic consequences. The BBC film stars Paloma Baeza in the lead, with Nathaniel Parker as Gabriel, Nigel Terry as Boldwood and Jonathan Firth as Troy. Although I enjoyed both presentations, I have a special place for Schlesinger's adaptation, perhaps mainly because I am a huge fan of Christie, Bates and Stamp. Although well-received in Britain, the epic film was dismissed by critics in the US, which may account for its unavailability on region 1 DVD and scant VHS copies, the other version is also hard to find. I really love the chemistry and brilliant cinematography in the earlier picture, so rustically captured by Nicholas Roeg, and Christie and Bates would team together again four years later as the ill-fated Edwardian lovers in Joesph Losey's "The Go-Between". Considered to be the most pastoral of Hardy's novels, set in his fictional Wessex, "Crowd" is filled with many biblical parallels, most obvious being the herione's name and the presentation of Gabriel as a shepard. The novel is indeed a classic, and both films are worth seeing. Enjoy!

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