John Schlesinger

Surfing on the crest of the British cinema's New Wave, John Schlesinger's "Billy Liar" arrived here in late 1963, smack between the psychological trauma of John F. Kennedy's assassination and the Beatles' six-string-caliber coup de gra^ce of the entire postwar period. Not the best timing for a satirical comedy, or any comedy, or any film at all.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts celebrated its annual Britannia awards Wednesday, but the vibe was distinctly American -- no one was escaping the post-election glow. Filmed for BBC America at the Beverly Hilton, host Alan Cumming welcomed 2012's crop of honorees including Daniel Craig, Daniel Day-Lewis, Quentin Tarantino, Trey Parker and Matt Stone.  Decked out in a gaudy red suit, Cumming cracked that his look was "recycled from Ann Romney's dress at the concession speech," as he wanted to prove that "even in defeat, there is beauty.

"Far From the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy. Read by Julie Christie. Listen for Pleasure (two cassettes). Christie, who played Bathsheba Everdeen in John Schlesinger's 1967 filming of the Hardy novel, gives a superlative reading, West Country accents in place, of the self-centered Bathsheba's tangled and fateful relationships with three men: the sturdy shepherd, the devoted landowner, the dashing soldier.