International A PEEK AT FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD - UK VERSION (1 Viewer)

I, of course, got the US Blu-ray from Warners the day it came out. I saw the film five or six times in its 70mm blow up here in Los Angeles at the Wilshire Theater. I loved the movie, the score, the actors - everything, but especially Nicholas Roeg's amazing photography. No home video release has come within a country mile of even hinting at that amazing photography. The Warner Blu, while not exactly terrible, just wasn't very good - nothing was sharp enough, color was a little boosted and the contrast was a little harsh - and it was obvious it was not from any original element, but some kind of IP or whatever.


So, I was looking forward to viewing the UK Blu-ray and it arrived today and I can safely say that it is an incredible transfer, one of the best I've ever seen. Everything looks as it should - detail is superb (lots of soft focus and diffusion on Ms. Christie), and the color is astoundingly perfect. And the sound, which is tinny and ugly on the Warners, is here full-bodied and stunning, making Richard Rodney Bennett's score really sound gorgeous - but the entire mix is much more present and wonderful. This is highly recommended by the likes of me. Finally this lovely film gets the treatment it so deserves - a 4K transfer off the original negative. Much love has gone into this. Yes, it's missing about a minute of violent cock-fighting footage, which is fine by me. Some guy on another forum refuses to purchase it because of those cuts as he doesn't care about the leap in quality only that minute of footage. No overture here either, and I'm fine with that, too, as I can't even listen to the overture on the Warners disc because the sound is so wretchedly awful.

Bruce, is this region locked? (I'm not [yet] multi-region.)

I've heard that it is B-locked.

Is the intermission music still there?

classicmovieguy said:

I've heard that it is B-locked.

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Thanks Byron. That's what Amazon.uk says, but I've learned not to trust that. Sigh.

I have the disc. It is definitely B locked.

The intermission music is there and sounds great. No overture or exit music and I think the missing footage in the cockfight really only adds up to less that twenty seconds.

haineshisway said:

The intermission music is there and sounds great. No overture or exit music and I think the missing footage in the cockfight really only adds up to less that twenty seconds.

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Have you tried initially selecting an alternate language before playback then changing language once the movie starts to see if the uncut version is on the disc?

I think it was one of the Conan films where BBFC cuts were still required but the edited version only played when English was selected. If you watched with another language the film played complete.

Shot in the dark of course but nothing to lose by having a go - I don't have the disc to check myself.

Producing a disc specifically for the UK market seems to be something these studios prefer not to do. Some films that still require BBFC cuts just don't get released in the UK while the rest of Europe gets them.

I don't enjoy seeing animals hurt on screen so I'm thankful such cuts exist.

I really like this movie and not having a region free player ordered the Warner Archive version. It is okay....but certainly not as I remember the film. (And I saw it a few times at the theatre.) The colour has definitely been boosted, as Bruce said above, and the contrast is harsh. The soft, lovely look of the picture has been sacrificed. The plot is not the important thing in this movie - it is the look and the "feel" of the land. The sound is pretty blah too. If you have the option, it sounds like you should definitely go for the Studio Canal version. I might have to break down and go region free yet.

classicmovieguy said:

I don't enjoy seeing animals hurt on screen so I'm thankful such cuts exist.

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I guess that's the majority of 50's westerns destined never to find a place in your collection then.


I guess you must be one of the few to import UK Blurays specially to get the cut version then


Fortunately every other country in the world realises that editing movies today that were made decades ago makes no difference whatsoever to animal welfare


I'd make sure you avoid the recent US Blu of Cannibal Ferox , specially if you don't like to watch pigs being stabbed several times in the body and throat while squealing in pain and terror

Any film with "Cannibal" in the title I'd not want to see anyway.

classicmovieguy said:

Any film with "Cannibal" in the title I'd not want to see anyway.

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I don't think many enjoy seeing animals in pain but editing old movies doesn't really serve any purpose

youworkmen said:

I guess that's the majority of 50's westerns destined never to find a place in your collection then.


I guess you must be one of the few to import UK Blurays specially to get the cut version then


Fortunately every other country in the world realises that editing movies today that were made decades ago makes no difference whatsoever to animal welfare


I'd make sure you avoid the recent US Blu of Cannibal Ferox , specially if you don't like to watch pigs being stabbed several times in the body and throat while squealing in pain and terror

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It has ZERO to do with animal welfare and has everything to do with what I enjoy watching. If others enjoy watching animals die in older movies, they have that option. I'm more than happy to see that unnecessary shit cut out. Not because I think it'll save any animal, but because it revolts me no less than a human snuff film would. The belief that it's the "enlightened" view that one must watch the animal suffer or die because it was filmed decades ago is ridiculous in the extreme.

Anyone who would forego buying the UK version of this film because of its less than twenty seconds of cockfighting violence, maybe less than ten seconds, can continue to live in a world I don't want to be part of. And the thing is, I believe those same cuts were in evidence when the film originally played in LA. I think they were only added back much later.

That is why I don't buy UK versions of bullfighting films...

JohnMor said:

It has ZERO to do with animal welfare and has everything to do with what I enjoy watching. If others enjoy watching animals die in older movies, they have that option. I'm more than happy to see that unnecessary shit cut out. Not because I think it'll save any animal, but because it revolts me no less than a human snuff film would. The belief that it's the "enlightened" view that one must watch the animal suffer or die because it was filmed decades ago is ridiculous in the extreme.

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Who said it was the "enlightened" view? Not me. It's all about having movies uncut.


As a movie collector paying good money for censored films is not on my agenda.

In the majority of cases - horsefalls for instance , you wouldn't see the animal die anyway

Looks like the currently accepted version is missing 3 minutes from the original version anyway.


http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/latest.htm#Far_From_the_Madding_Crowd_8823

youworkmen said:

Looks like the currently accepted version is missing 3 minutes from the original version anyway.


http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/latest.htm#Far_From_the_Madding_Crowd_8823

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Very confusing site and I would take nothing they say seriously since they don't cite any sources. The US version, in fact, trumpets that there are three minutes of unseen footage in that transfer. I presume some of that three minutes is the cockfighting violence - but since no one seems to have spelled out exactly what else was added we have no way of knowing. I believe the running times of the two discs are close and that if the UK is shorter it's because it's missing the overture and exit music (it does have the entr'acte).

haineshisway said:

Very confusing site and I would take nothing they say seriously since they don't cite any sources. The US version, in fact, trumpets that there are three minutes of unseen footage in that transfer. I presume some of that three minutes is the cockfighting violence - but since no one seems to have spelled out exactly what else was added we have no way of knowing. I believe the running times of the two discs are close and that if the UK is shorter it's because it's missing the overture and exit music (it does have the entr'acte).

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That site has been running for at least 15 years and they usually use the BBFC as their source aswell as other informed sources. Check out the Cutting Edge series of videos that lay out precisely what is missing from UK and US versions of various movies.


Having been using that site for over a decade I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of their claim. They often mention movies where bits are missing but the more detailed info is elsewhere on the site.


Although if the US version does mention 3 minutes of unseen footage then perhaps those minutes missing are actually included on the US disc. I assumed from the piece that Overtures, Intermissions etc would not be included in any details of missing footage as until the Bluray (possibly the dvd) Overture, Intermission, Exit music would not have been seen for many years, not in the UK anyway