Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)

The latest re-adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel inspired me to move an old one up in my queue, though it had a very long wait. Both movies presently have a 7.3 on IMDb; the newer has the higher Rotten Tomatoes rating. I've learned that newer ratings are less trustworthy, prone to going down later, so I knew my priority.

If people really don't like the oldie as much, I suspect that a significant difference in run time has something to do with it. Back in 1967, people still accepted epics with overtures and intermissions. The plot synopsis may not sound like enough to sustain nearly three hours, either: Victorian rural heiress Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie) gets courted by a shepherd (Alan Bates), a landowner (Peter Finch), and a soldier (Terence Stamp). Of course, the relative familiarity of those actors' names was another reason I had less interest in the 2015 version.

Despite having a British setting and nothing to do with race, the story kept reminding me of Gone with the Wind. Not only does Bathsheba inherit a fortune and entertain multiple love interests; she has a moral to learn in shame. She's not as shrewish as Scarlett O'Hara, nor does the drama in her life turn so tragic; the ending's actually pretty happy. But she can be a terrible fool when it comes to emotions, whether her own or others' (like I'm one to talk). For example, we know from the soldier's first encounter with her that there's simply no way the two of them could be happy together for long. Some of her turnarounds are so quick that I imagine her servants struggling not to laugh.

My favorite aspect may be the music. Apart from what plays during the overture and intermission, the 19th-century aristocrats seem to have good taste in party accompaniment...when they don't resort to drinking songs, anyway. I wish I could say the same for their costumes, authentically dominated by dull colors.

A word of warning: In one scene, a bad dog torments sheep until they start tumbling off a cliff. I'm not entirely sure that no animals got hurt. Did the UK require that assurance at the time?

Maybe it takes someone with more fondness for the genre than mine to delve into the merits of FftMC in general or the 1967 film in particular. To me, it's very much OK. It didn't bore me or offend my sensibilities. I just don't expect to see any other version in the next decade unless someone wants to see it with me.