Far from the Madding Crowd

Okay, all the good news first: yes, this IS the John Schlesinger-directed version of Thomas Hardy's classic novel, finally getting the long-overdue DVD release it so richly deserves. Everything about this film smacks of class. I cannot fault the perfomances; Julie Christie is gorgeous as always, and Peter Finch, Terence Stamp & Alan Bates will always make the ladies swoon. The production values are all first-class as well with stunning recreation of time and place. The music by Richard Rodney Bennett expertly teases our emotions in all the rights places, and Schlesinger's vivid direction should have won an Oscar.

Now the bad news (VERY BAD): the DVD transfer and presentation is an absolute travesty, up there with Zulu Dawn & the British releases of El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire as the worst to date. Nicolas Roeg's beautiful 2.35:1 Panavision photography (one of the main reasons I bought this) has been severely cropped to 1.78:1 after the opening credits (the back cover of course does not mention this fact, merely stating incorrectly that its "2.35:1 Widescreen"), and there is a lot of print damage that at times makes certain scenes distracting to watch. We are also treated to a tinny-sounding mono soundtrack that does the film no justice whatsoever. There are no extras, which begs the questions where are the documentaries and commentaries etc (Stamp & Christie are still around)?? Your guess is as good as mine.

I hope that the-powers-that-be see fit to re-release this film properly, nicely restored with at least one or two extras, and in its correct Panavision ratio all the way through! Until then, I recommend saving your money and waiting for it to either (a) get a fine re-release or (b) show up on TV instead.

At last! the long awaited DVD of John Schlesinger's 1967 cinematic masterpiece of Thomas Hardy's FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD. But don't throw your hats up too soon, discerning DVD buffs should avoid this dreadful quality package at all costs. I'm grudgingly prepared to accept the sad absence of ANY extras - even a trailer, but I have to say that this new release insults both it's valuable customers and the film itself, with extremely poor sound and the worst quality transfer I've seen in a long time. And it gets worse - Richard Rodney Bennett's towering emotional score is seriously depleted by a measly MONO soundtrack, and Nick Roeg's beautiful 2.35:1 Panavision photography is horrifyingly blown up to 16:9 full-screen aspect ratio immediately after the opening titles! This invalidates the sleeve-note claim to be the 2.35:1 version, and continues to rob the world from seeing the film on DVD in all it's widescreen glory. It also proves to be the short version, coming in at just under two hours, probably the TV cut, and certainly not the magnificent 3-hour plus version which I believe is available in widescreen on VHS in the US. In stark contrast, the other great Hardy film - Polanski's simultaneously released "TESS" comes in a fantastic value 2-disc restored special edition, packed with delicious extras, so this sub-standard MADDING CROWD fare is all the more difficult to take. John Schlesinger's masterpiece was photographed in Super-70mm Widescreen Panavision by Nicolas Roeg, one of the greatest cinematographers of our time, and performed by a rare ensemble of legendary players from Frederic Raphael's sumptuous screenplay. So will the studio please believe that this is the version we yearn to see again - and nothing less! Perhaps the highly respected US film restorers CRITERION will come to the rescue, and do for MADDING CROWD what they did for the US special edition DVD of Schlesinger's other great masterpiece BILLY LIAR (not to be confused with the lack lustre UK release). Ironically, even this mean offering can't stop the greatness of Hardy and Schlesinger from shining through, but until the arrival of a superior package - quality enthusiasts should leave this version on the shelf.

Far From The Madding Crowd [1967]Thanks to the previous reviewer for saving me some money. I hoped that they would take the opportunity to rectify their previous abysmal releases of this excellent production, but Studio Canal+ should be given a big minus for daring to turn out the same poor conversion of one of the leading films of the 60's. Presumably this was a cynically opportunistic re-release to coincide with the new TV version of Tess. When will someone release a widescreen, stereo, un-edited DVD of this? Until then, I'm out.

November 2010 and my question has been answered. However, the following is not a review of the same product as referred to above. This "Far From..." edition is NOT the Canal+ release, but a US import, Region 1, NTSC 2009 issue from Warner Home Video that Amazon has kindly made available to us. If you haven't got a player that is multi-region and NTSC compatible then it's worth getting hold of one to watch this new edition. It restores all the original features of the film, even the intermission (the last time I saw that was when it was first released in the cinema in 1967); it is widescreen, soundtrack remastered to Dolby 5.1, and while the image has been cleaned up, the original colours have thankfully not been over-intensified so the original atmosphere and mood is retained. Scenes and shots that had been cut out of the Canal+ version have been reinstated, such as the Harvest Festival service in the church, a fairly short but important sequence where Schlesinger gives us a telling overview of the characters and relationships at a key point in the story.

Okay, so all this may seem rather anal and nerdy, but the end result is that the excellent production, screenplay, directing, acting, music and cinematography all shine through to make watching this film again and again a great pleasure. Consign your older version to the dustbin (or recycle if possible) and get this one instead.