Guys and Dolls / Far From the Madding Crowd – London Film Festival critic’s pick for Sunday October 19

A double bill of classic musicals rounds off the festival nicely
Golden-hued nostalgia: Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and Stubby Kaye in Guys and Dolls
Nick Roddick3 October 2014

No premieres tonight apart from the closing film, Fury, and you won’t be seeing that unless you’ve already got a ticket. Besides, it opens in cinemas next Friday! But there are two films getting their one and only LFF screening today, and what a double bill they make.

Tickets permitting, you could treat yourself to an afternoon of golden-hued nostalgia at the BFI Southbank, starting with Guys and Dolls, which for many is the best Broadway musical of all time, here getting a Hollywood makeover featuring Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and the sublime Stubby Kaye, all giving the star treatment to Frank Loesser’s music and lyrics.

Then, as a chaser, John Schlesinger’s 1967 version of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd in the lushest of Technicolor thanks to Nicolas Roeg’s camerawork (he was still a cinematographer in those days). There’s a new version in the works with Tom Sturridge as Troy and Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba. But for a generation of filmgoers (and for one afternoon only) they will always be Terence Stamp and Julie Christie, both at the peak of their beauty. And, on that note, farewell to the LFF for another year.

Guys and Dolls, BFI Southbank, Sun Oct 19, 12.45pm.

Far From the Madding Crowd, BFI Southbank, Sun Oct 19, 4.15pm.

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