Far From the Madding Crowd; Far From the Madding Crowd; Tess of the D'urbervilles

"I'd like to know why the sun shines on the just and the unjust," says Tess Durbeyfield, one of 19th-century English novelist Thomas Hardy's most memorable creations. It's the kind of question that never would have occurred to Jane Austen's Emma Woodhouse, but then the worlds of Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy are much further apart than a half-century plus. If 1996 was the year of Jane Austen (with A&E's superb miniseries Pride & Prejudice and Miramax's delightful Emma), 1998 is shaping up to be Thomas Hardy's.Far From the Madding Crowd, written in 1873 when Hardy was still a relatively young man (34) and in love, was the author's first commercial and critical success. The story of Bathsheba Everdene, a strong-spirited young woman who is courted by three suitors, the novel appears--on the surface--to be a working-class gloss on Pride & Prejudice as it follows the romantic entanglements of Bathsheba, farmhand Gabriel Oak, gentleman Mr. Boldwood and rogue soldier Frank Troy. Initially, Bathsheba's coquettish behavior breaks hearts and ruffles emotions--standard romantic fare--but before the last arrow from Cupid's quiver has flown, despair, madness and death have turned Hardy's "romance" into something decidedly more dramatic. Why Masterpiece Theatre chose to tackle Far From the Madding Crowd--in light of the superior 1967 John Schlesinger film starring Julie Christie--is anybody's guess, but the result is an amiable if unchallenging adaptation. Paloma Baeza does a creditable job as the independent-minded Bathsheba, Nathaniel Parker is solid as Gabriel Oak, and Jonathan Firth (yes, another Firth has come forth) is a suitable rapscallion as Sergeant Troy. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P.And now for something completely different: GlobalStage Productions version of Far From the Madding Crowd, filmed on location in London, and introduced by Professor Elizabeth McNamer and her young charge Preston Blakeley, offers four players tackling nine roles. Not only do these spirited thespians do the novel justice, they also lend a sense of levity to the tale that could only occur on stage in front of a live audience (I especially liked the touch of having a corpse get up and walk to her coffin, since the other players weren't going to lift her.) Earthy songs, theatrical jokes, and clever interaction with the audience all add to the fun, while Hardy's basic story and characters are faithfully rendered. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P.The most ambitious of the new Hardy titles is, unquestionably, A&E's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, a beautiful production based on Hardy's 1891 masterwork. Justine Waddell stars as the rural farmgirl Tess, an innocent who--at 16--is raped by a distant upscale cousin, Alec D'Urberville (Jason Flemyng). Disgraced, guilt-ridden and mournful (after losing a child), Tess begins life anew as a milkmaid and gradually falls in love with a young gentleman named Angel Claire (Oliver Milburn). Just when it seems that the long-suffering Tess will find her own little piece of happiness with Angel, the wheel of fortune turns (cruelly) again, and Tess finds herself at the mercy of fickle fate in an--arguably--malevolent universe.The A&E production inevitably invites comparison to Roman Polanski's acclaimed 1979 Tess and it suffers. Waddell as Tess substitutes tears for acting too many times, Jason Flemyng as Alec cannot touch Leigh Lawson's so-smooth loathsome creation, and the admittedly beautiful cinematography here lacks the purposeful direction supplied by Polanski's vision. On the other hand, Oliver Milburn's Angel is equal to, if not better than, Peter Firth's rendition and Alan Lisk's luminous score is worth the watch alone. A strong, optional purchase; especially since the best-laid plans of mice and VCR-plus recorders often miss a scheduled showing--and people will want to see this one. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)