Far From The Madding Crowd

[Kirsten]

I guess there's a new movie. Here's a video on the film from the AP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5vyD...

[Larissa]

Ooooh! I hope it's good! I just finished it as my inaugural Thomas Hardy.

[Feliks]

New movie?

I can tell you that the *definitive* version of the movie (Terence Stamp, Peter Finch, Julie Christie, Alan Bates) has just been released on DVD (and BS-ray) from the Warner Bros Archives.

http://shop.tcm.com/detail.php?p=3343...

http://shop.tcm.com/detail.php?p=7851...

At all costs, this is the version any fan of Thomas Hardy, drama, the English countryside, (or any fan of good directing, acting, & cinematography) should pay heed to. Take my word for it. You wouldn't want to watch a sumptuous story like this attempted by clumsy young techno-oafs shooting it in 3d digital cameras and the lead role 'acted' by some designer-drug-addled chippie who got her start in MTV videos.

[Maggie]

Just can't picture Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba - not after Julie Christie.

[Kirsten]

Just check out "Far From the Madding Crowd" on IMDb.com: http://www.imdb.com/find?q=far+from+t...

1998 - Nigel Terry and Nathanael Parker? That's not too shabby.

[Maggie]

I remember that TV version - Nathaniel Parker was a good Gabriel Oak.

[Kirsten]

BBC Radio 4's The Film Programme interviewed director Thomas Vinterberg on "his latest adaptation of Far From The Madding Crowd and why he hasn't seen all of John Schlesinger's 1967 version with Terence Stamp and Julie Christie."

It can be found for streaming here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05s3gzg

[Feliks]

I sometimes endorse the choice of an artist or a writer to deliberately not review the work of some of his predecessors. For example, lots of authors in the 50s & 60s had to studiously avoid reading Hemingway to ensure his powerful style didn't overcome their own; and render them merely 'Hemitators'. Even today, some authors practice this habit.

But most of the time I don't like to grant such leeway. Because it gives too wide a berth to the type of artist who hasn't--or won't-- do his homework and preparation.

Recent instance of this: Chris Nolan admitting he hadn't ever taken the time to view 'Last Year at Marienbad' either before or during his long quest to bring 'Inception' to the screen. Outlandish!

[Kirsten]

Carey Mulligan was interviewed yesterday on BBC Radio 5 Live's Kermode and Mayo's Film Review: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05s0vx3

I also heard her recently on NPR: http://www.npr.org/2015/05/01/4032728...

Film critic Bob Mondello's review can be found here: http://www.npr.org/2015/05/01/4033713... and Ella Taylor's review is here: http://www.npr.org/2015/04/30/4028240...

[Kirsten]

I guess that I never knew that David Nicholls, author of Booker-nominated novel Us, was the screenwriter for Far from the Madding Crowd.

You can download an interview with David here: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/5...