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Doctor Zhivago [1965]
from Warner Home Video
starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness
directed by David Lean

Features:

• PAL

Editorial Review:

David Lean's wintry adaptation of Boris Pasternak's melodramatic Russian Revolution romance, Doctor Zhivago, is a masterpiece of epic filmmaking, but one that risks leaving the viewer cold. Though none of the film was shot in the then USSR, Lean's assured technique nevertheless illuminates the breathtaking backgrounds magnificently: from the snowy wastes of the Urals to the strife-torn streets of Moscow, Lean stages a series of wonderful set-pieces showing war, revolution and its terrible aftermath. The problem lies in the foreground. Omar Sharif's entirely passive Zhivago is, we are told, a romantic poet of great sensitivity who internalises all his emotions and expresses them in verse. The trouble is the audience never gets to see a line of his poems, not even the centrally important "Lara" cycle. Thus Zhivago at the end of the picture is as much an emotional blank to us as he was at the beginning. His affair with the idealised beauty that is Julie Christie's Lara is also taken for granted by the filmmakers rather than set up in any convincing way, their mutual attraction remaining a mystery that creates a vacuum at the core of the picture. Given that none of the central characters with the exception of Rod Steiger's fire-breathing lecher Komarovsky ever give way to strong emotions, the romantic heart of the film remains oddly frigid. Matters are not helped by composer Maurice Jarre's incessant "Lara's Theme", which many will find teeth-grindingly irritating. Still, any David Lean epic, even a flawed one, is always going to be a first-class cinematic experience, and Zhivago is assuredly that.

On the DVD: A stunning anamorphic widescreen print is the ideal way to appreciate David Lean's craftsmanship and this movie's glorious, wintry cinematography. Maurice Jarre's "Lara's Theme" and the rest of his patchwork score can be heard in a music-only track, while Omar Sharif is joined by Lean's widow Sandra and Rod Steiger for an intermittent commentary. The second bonus disc contains a good hour-long making-of documentary plus 10 shorter contemporary documentaries giving various insights into the location shooting and the cast and crew. But it's the sheer beauty of the picture that will astonish and make this disc forever treasurable. --Mark Walker

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• One of the Greatest
  I first saw this film 30 years ago and was bowled over by the scenery and the actors. Recently I decided to watch it with a more critical eye and found to my surprise that I was even more captivated by the vastness of the landscape which throughout the film forms the backdrop for the tragic love story that unfolds.
  At first I thought that Sharif's Zhivago was too "soft" but as the film unfolded I realised that he was "the poet". Christie was as always perfect as Lara and we shouldn't forget Chaplin as... more info

• A decent failure, I suppose
  Ultimately this multi Oscar winning epic is a filmic failure. Winning Oscars has never been a guarantee that the movie is actually any good to watch, such a strange bunch sit on the Acadamy's voting panel. Here, we have a film that is a good case in point: The movie is certainly an epic production, has very good technicians at the creative helm, the director, cinematographer and screenwriter unit are very rightly regarded as one of the all time best teams in cinema's history, and yet the movie undeniably... more info

• No one loves poetry like a Russian!
  From the stern opening shot of the commisar to the sweeping scenery of the urals, no other film will capture the feel of russia in revolution.
  If you are thinking of getting this film just hold this in mind, You are in good hands. David Lean photography and direction are seamless, few post war directors use fades to such effect. The music score won many awards at the time of release and so one of the special features is watching the film with no dialogue, just music.
  Omar is great, i think i love... more info

• beautiful,Brilliant,Breath taking
  Bridge on the River Kwai,Lawrence of Arabia brilliant films but David Lean cant do another amazing film of course he can Doctor Zhivargo is a masterpiece of a movie set in the russian the cinematograpy is beautiful acting is superb i defently recomend this if you havent seen it and if you have seen it i recomend you to get the DVD it has the dvd all togther incuding the cast comentary has over 5 hours of special features.
  Just thing i dont like is that the dvd has a side a and side b would have been... more info

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