Far from the Madding Crowd

Just off to see FFTMC in Leicester - looking forward to it and will report back!

We are going to see it this week. I loved the original film - hope this doesn't disappoint.

I must see it, but am attached to the memory of Alan Bates as Gabriel Oak and Julie Christie as Bathsheba. I saw the film in a drive-in cinema in Nairobi. Difficult to forget that.

I loved that version anno I saw a trailer for this new one the other day and I can't say it made me think 'oh I must see this'. I'll be interested to hear everyone's thoughts.

Terence Stamp was my heartthrob - wonderful eyes and so handsome in his Sergeant's uniform. The 1967 film will take some beating.

Am interested in this one too.....but my memories of Terence Stamp as Troy will be hard to beat.

Trouble is, this novel was part of my OU literature course and once you have really pulled a novel apart you can find fault a little too easily.

Yes, I agree the old film will live longer. I was so impressed with Peter Finch as the anguished Boldwood. Can't see the excellent M. Sheen doing better. Surely, G.Oak shouldn't look scandinavian?

I'd like to see it, I remember seeing the 1960s one when I was still at school we were reading Thomas Hardy's The Woodlanders for English Literature so were quite fired up to see a film of another of his books. Julie Christie and Terence Stamp were the quintessential 60s couple, we all admired Julie Christie and fancied Terence Stamp, except my best friend, she preferred Alan Bates, cos she thought TS was too mean and nasty as Troy, well he was supposed to be. I loved that version, although I didn't think JC was made up to look very Victorian with the ubiquitous long blonde hair with fringe and frosted lipstick of the time. Great film though. I want to see this one I believe Carey Mulligan makes a good Bathsheba

Hilda. I feel like you. I taught it at GCSE level for a number of years. Can I bear another look at it! I reckon I have seen the old film about 20 times.

I agree with baubles in that the trailer left me a bit cold [the trailer for A Little Chaos looked far more interesting]. But it had a great review from Mark Kermode the other night and I do respect his view so we're going to see it tonight.The casting puts me off though; I used to love Carey Mulligan but several films she's made recently haven't worked for me, and I feel that Michael Sheen, who is the most chameleon like actor since Gary Oldman just looks, in the film, like Michael Sheen. The film will only be a success for me if I don't keep thinking of him as a]Tony Blair or b]Brian Clough. Watch this space....

Have just remembered that I also enjoyed a Granada tv series of it with Nathanial Parker as Gabriel (sigh).....some young unknown was Bathsheba, which was probably a good idea considering how iconic Julie Christie had been. The actor playing Bolderwood was also very good....intense and believable as someone driven to (spoiler alert) what he does.

So I have just come back from seeing FFTMC and the cinema was empty which is a huge bonus I cannot stand people talking and rustling sweet papers in films. It was good but then its a marvellous story. The cinematography and the music, especially the folk tunes were excellent BUT for me the acting (apart from Michael Sheen) wasn't a patch on the original version. I would say go and see it- its a good version and perhaps its just that Terence Stamp, Peter Finch and Alan Bates were all cracking actors and Julie Christie did passion better than Carey Mulligan who is a talented actress but not got a lot of depth to her yet.

Going to see it tomorrow night.

Teetime Just shows doesn't it that you need to see a film for yourselves whatever other peoples critique of it. I thought Carey Mulligan was perfect, and enjoyed all the other performances. I'd go as far as to say I would watch it again.

Same here ginny. In fact, on the way back we both gave the film a 9/10 [I may go as far as a 10] and I said that I could quite happily sit through it again, and there are very few films I could say that about. Michael Sheen brought great inner sadness to the role and Carey Mulligan was exquisite; her face is so expressive. The music was beautiful [I wonder if Mumford and Sons were involved in any way with that?] and the scenery was to die for. I would have agreed about Gabriel, having seen the trailer, but in the film itself he was perfect and I found myself falling madly in love with him . The one weak point for me was Captain Troy; his acting was good but he didn't have any sex appeal or charisma [I kept thinking of Pete Doherty and Kate Moss for some reason]. I love Thomas Hardy stories above everything and was prepared to hate the film, but I came away in tears. As someone once said, 'Hardy wrote great stories for women but, boy did he make them pay for it'. Sigh....

..there was something missing that I'm sure was in the original film and/or the book but it wasn't in this film...a comment made by, I thought, Gabriel [but I may be mixing it up with another Hardy story]. I need to do some googling.

No tears for me but I thought I saw a glisten in DH's eye - he is my Gabriel Oak but that's another story.

Someone on another forum said that the ending was patently obvious right from the start; well, I have to admit that I reckon it's a Hardy book that I haven't read and it's a long time since I saw the original film so, being Thomas Hardy I really wasn't sure what was going to happen, right up to the end. Now, had it been a Richard Curtis film it would have been different....[I sometimes wonder if my love of all things Hardy is what makes me enjoy wallowing in miserableness a lot of the time ].

Saw the film last night and really enjoyed it. I thought Carey Mulligan made a good Bathsheba, I presume that was her singing, she also had a singing role in the film "Inside Llewelyn Davis", she's got a very nice voice. Having read criticism of the young Belgian actor who played Gabriel Oak, I liked his performance, he conveyed stoicism, loyalty and disappointment very well, albeit in a "man of few words" way. Michael Sheen great as ever, in a role far removed from that of the blinking, smiley freshly elected Blair of "The Queen" that I tend to associate him with. The weak link for me was the young actor who played Sergeant Troy, I think I agree with Tegan's comments about him. He just didn't have Terence Stamp's magnetism which explained Bathsheba's all consuming initial passion for his character. All in all I wasn't disappointed even though I loved the original which I think I would like to see again now.

Mmmm....yes.....Terence Stamp.....the eyes......my friend was at school with him, the lucky......whatever happened to him? I'm off to look him up on wiki.....

Terence Stamp was brilliant in 'Pricilla Queen of the Desert' a really different role!

Yes, I'm going to get the original on dvd. Annoyingly our cinema showed it the other week but, then again, I think it's better to see the original after seeing this one. Alan Bates was a patron of our cinema and is much revered [sp]round here.

Watch out for Michael Sheen in Masters of Sex- the story of masters and Johnson pioneers of research into adult human sexual behaviour. he is such a good actor.

Just looked up Terence Stamp. He is 76 now and still acting. He has made a lot of films over the years and had affairs with Julie Christie (the chemistry!) and Chrissie Shrimpton in the 60s. Surprisingly he was only married once in the early 2000s and that was only for (I think) 6 years, no children.