Far From the Madding Crowd Films

Thomas Hardy’s classic novel “Far from the Madding Crowd” has once again been made into a film. Hardy fans know there are two prior versions. The 1967 film won 2 National Board of Review Awards: Best Film and Best Actor (Peter Finch). The 1998 TV movie won a BAFTA for Best Photography and Lighting (John Daly).

There are 4 main characters in “Far from the Madding Crowd.”

Bathsheba Everdene: the main character, a “handsome” woman who inherits her uncle’s farm and decides to make a go of it. Two men fall in love with her. She was portrayed by Julie Christie in 1967, by Paloma Baeza in 1998. Carey Mulligan plays her in the new film.

Gabriel Oak is a farmer Bathsheba knew before she inherited the farm. He proposed marriage and she rejected him. When happenstance reunites them, he agrees to work for her. 1967: Alan Bates; 1998: Nathaniel Parker; 2015: Matthias Schoenaerts.

William Boldwood is a prosperous farmer, a lifelong bachelor. Bathsheba plays a joke on him that causes him to become obsessed with marrying her. 1967: Peter Finch; 1998: Nigel Terry; 2015: Michael Sheen.

Into this mix comes dashing and wild Sergeant Frank Troy and yeah, that bad boy thing kicks in. Things really get messy. 1967: Terence Stamp; 1998: Jonathan Firth; 2015: Tom Sturridge.

Fans of the classics have probably already seen the first two and have a favorite. Give us the 1998 TV movie. But it will still be fun to see how the 2015 one holds up.

The film is not due out in theaters until May 1st so you have plenty of time to watch or rewatch the earlier versions. “Far from the Madding Crowd” was first published in 1874. Thomas Hardy took the title straight out of Thomas Gray’s poem “Elegy in a Country Churchyard.”

“Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray;
Along the cool sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.”

They may have done that in the poem but they certainly didn’t in the novel!