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One of the Last Great Epic Films

This film has grown on me. Omar Sharif is a bit stiff as the main character but was instructed to be by David Lean and the main character of the book is a bit like that too. Julie Christie is Lara, a woman who is more dream-like than real person, and Geraldine Chaplin is the perfect wife and mother who never says a cross word. Why are the characters this way? The story is told in flashback by an enthralled older brother who worships his younger brother and dreams of an almost perfect personality and life for him. The older brother is trying to figure out if a young woman he has met is the daughter of Zhivago and Lara. He tells the story to her as she tries to remember what how she was lost and separated from her parents at a young age. A sweeping, beautifully photographed and staged epic with a most memorable cast. I just love it.

Doctor Zhivago

I love this movie and watch it over and over. Thank you for sending it to me so quickly.

Flawed But Still A Very Good Movie

Russian literature ? I know of it but haven't read too much of it . From what I'm told Tolstoy , Dostoyevski et al don't exactly make for good bed time reading . I guess Boris Pasternak keeps up this tradition with his novel DOCTOR ZHIVAGO being a bit too top heavy with characters and incidents and it's this that has led to many critics putting the boot into the film on its initial release You could say that David Lean is the natural director for this kind of movie since he gives the word " Epic " a whole new meaning . Unfortunately he's not exactly the type of director who can make a tight script even tighter . The story contains a few too many characters and subplots ( Though this is probably the fault of the studio and screenwriter Robert Block more than Lean's )that leaves the audience wondering if it's a love story or a history lesson . It should also be pointed out that despite having some very memorable scenes like the frozen Russian bodies in a winter landscape , the train door covered in ice and the White Russian kids being machine gunned you still have to sit through a lot of talky scenes .However I'm going to be kind . DOCTOR ZHIVAGO works best when we're shown the birth of the Soviet Union , a wonderful ideal born out of the carnage from the Great War that ended up becoming in many ways even more terrible than Nazi Germany . Pasha starts by naively handing out seditious pamphlets speaking out against the Tsarist police state and ends up by becoming a communist despot , a good piece of character study showing that when people are given total power it will consume them totally . Oh and let's not forget the cast all of them are convincing but there's too many to mention by name so I'll just point out that Guiness is as superb as always and Stieger is absolutely breath taking , and it's shocking to think this great character actor went onto to star in straight to video films in the 1980s and 90s . Strangely the one performance I will always remember in this film is a cameo by Klaus Kinski as a prisoner on the train ! So a very good film but not a classic mainly down to the fact that has many memorable scenes surrounded by even more stodgy scenes . In other words you'll remember the great parts long after you've forgotten the boring bits which means you'll be slightly disappointed after seeing it again several years later

A Romantic Epic, But One That Is Missing Out On Another Great Love Story

Although I agree that this is a wonderful film (if a bit overlong), and is worth watching, I feel that, in his effort to make another "epic" and trying to match his incomparable "Lawrence Of Arabia" and "The Bridge On The River Kwai" , David Lean missed out on a more in-depth and meaningful plot.The novel, is more or less, a love story that takes place during the Russian Revolution, and the turmoil that this event inflicted on the human spirit. Boris Pasternak was basically calling things as he saw and experienced them, since he witnessed this upheaval. While the movie is gorgeous and fascinating to look at, and the music is superb, adding to the haunting quality of the story and the characters, the film fails to become a more intimate look at the people's lives, and therefore is missing some of the crucial elements of the book. Not to demean the late Robert Bolt, who was a very gifted screenwriter, and he deserved the Oscar he received, but he didn't (or perhaps, couldn't) recreate the labor of love that Pasternak penned.It was wonderful to see Julie Christie and Tom Courtenay together again on-screen, as they had such a smashing success with John Schlesinger's delicious "Billy Liar" (1963). However, the love story of Lara and Pasha, so sweetly detailed in the novel, is relegated to pretty much a back story or a minor plot element, perhaps to capitalize on Lara's destructive affair with Victor Komorovsky (the late and wonderfully devious Rod Steiger), and her upcoming, face-to-face encounter with Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif). I saw the movie before I read the novel, but even then, I felt very sorry for the character of Pasha, because we really were not given a lot of insight into him, or what it was that turned him from such an adoring lover to Lara, to the brutal Strelinkov, and since his character dies off-screen, I felt cheated out of a meaningful conclusion of that storyline. I was so touched by the book's information about their affection for one another, and the way the book had Zhivago and Pasha meet and discuss the love of both their lives - Lara. The 2003 Masterpiece Theatre TV remake starring Hans Matheson, Keira Knightley and Kris Marshall was much more faithful to the novel, and presented something closer to the full story.Julie Christie is always lovely and magnetic, and she obviously has an eye for great material. Her electric blue eyes and sensitive, full lips often say more that the viewer has heard her say. Geraldine Chaplin, as Zhivago's wife, Tonya, is sweet and gentle, but you have to wonder why she was so endlessly understanding toward him, even after he causes her so much heartbreak. The late Sir Alec Guinness is an interesting narrator to have for the story, and he always worked well with Lean. Sir Ralph Richardson and Sioban McKenna come off well as Tonya's parents, and Rita Tushingham excels in a small but pivotal role of the love child of Yuri and Lara. She was excellent in Tony Richardson's "A Taste Of Honey", and you have to wonder why she didn't have more of a career. Watch for the late Klaus Kinski in a brief but very effective portrayal of a man who becomes a prisoner of forced labor - his scenes on the train are riveting. Jack MacGowran has an interesting little part as well. Those 60s hairstyles do say something about the fashion then, even in a period film. You have to love to hate the despicable Komorovsky, who thought he was God's gift to women or something (and in the remake, Sam Neill is just as repulsively right in the role). Sharif's portrayal of Zhivago is impressive, but doesn't it seem like he is always brooding or crying?It has its flaws, but it is still romantic and I am still entranced with it, especially, for some strange reason, during Christmas. It is one of the best made films of all time, and it gives romantics a run for their money! Watch it, but get out the Kleenex!

Long

'Doctor Zhivago' contains a lot of little stories, all kept together by the character Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif). The movie doesn't really finish one part before starting the next and therefore it kind of feels like a complete movie. Every single little story was interesting enough to like this movie, but as a whole it has a lot of flaws.The story is about Yuri and how he marries Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin) but falls in love with Lara (Julie Christie) when he is a doctor on the front. The story is also about the Russian Bolshevik revolution. Yuri is a poet and the new leaders don't like what he has to say, it is too personal. After he gets back from the front and arrives in Moscow he has to flee with his wife, his son and his father. They go to a little place where they try to be happy. In a city nearby he is reunited with Lara and has an affair with her. Then he is taken by the Red Garde and has to be a doctor on the front again.The story also tells us a bit more about Lara and her affair with Komarovsky (Rod Steiger) who has an important role later in the story. During this affair Yuri first sees Lara. All this episodes in Yuri's life are little movies and they are all combined to one. Some of the events are big clichés, but with a director like David Lean the movie gets away with it.I have to say that there is much beauty in this movie. It is not shot on location but I would not be surprised if it was. There is a scene where a house has turned in a deserted ice palace and it looks so beautiful. Because of the beauty, the performances by Sharif, Christie, Steiger and also Alec Guinness as Yuri's half-brother, a fine direction by Lean and the interesting little stories this movie turned out to be pretty good.

Breathtaking Romance Set Against The Horrors Of Revolution

David Lean's masterpiece "Doctor Zhivago", is a cinematic journey into the yesteryear world of movie making on a scale of lavishness and grandeur largely unheard of nowadays. With no expense spared on transferring this unforgettable love story to the screen, even now almost 40 years on this film still amazes me with it's sheer artistry and outstanding qualities in every department. I see it as one of the greatest classics to come out of the 1960's combining as it does a perfect marriage of romance, tragedy, human emotion and passion, all set against the terrifying upheavels of one of the most significant periods in modern history, in this case the Russian Revolution. Such a film as this only comes along rarely.

"Doctor Zhivago", tells its story in a long flashback from the Russia of the 1960's. General Yevgraf Zhivago (Alec Guiness in another superb role), is searching for his half brother's lost child and believes he has found her (Rita Tushingham) at a power plant somewhere in Central Russia. During his examination of her he recalls the story of her possible parents, the idealistic, poetry writing young doctor Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) and the mysterious Lara (Julie Christie), the beautiful girl who won Yuri's heart but who vanished into Stalin's labour camps never to be heard of again. The flashback now takes us back to Pre Revolutionnary Russia where the orphaned Yuri is taken in by the wealthy Gromenko family of Moscow. We see Yuri train to become a successful doctor and eventually marry the Gromenko's lovely daughter Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin in her adult debut). War and revolution however sweep away Yuri's comfortable life as we witness the horrors of the great war and then the outbreak of the Russian Revolution. Working in a military hospital at the front Yuri encounters Lara again who is working as a field nurse and finds himself instantly drawn to her beauty and quiet strength of character. Yuri is torn between his love for Lara and his commitment to Tonya back in Moscow. Peace is declared and the two part company determined to get on with their lives. Yuri however finds that much has changed in his absence from Moscow as the Soviets have seized his home and moved in a large number of factory workers with his family now reduced to living in a couple of rooms of their former home. Starvation and deprevation are the harsh realities of life in Communist Russia and now Yuri encounters his half brother who warns him that the party does not look kindly on his free thinking poetry and have him targeted as an enemy of the new order in Russia. Moving to the country to escape possible persecution Yuri by chance encounters Lara now living on her own in the local town. The two reignite their passion for each other until Yuri is captured by the Red Army and taken away to provide medical assistance to them in the bloody civil war that is now tearing Russia apart. After much hardship he escapes and returns to Lara only to experience the unwelcome reappearance of Lara's old suitor Victor Komarovsky who informs the couple that they are about to be the next targets of the Soviet regime. He offers to take them to safety via the Orient but Yuri, concerned about Lara's safety allows Komarvosky to take her and her daughter on ahead but does not follow thus never seeing her again.

"Doctor Zhivago", is certainly an ambitious effort and one of the high water marks in film making in any decade. It boasts impeccable credits such as a fine literary source in the classic novel by Boris Pasternack, able direction with obvious reverence for the source material by the gifted David Lean, the hauntingly majestic "Lara's theme" by composer Maurice Jarre, and outstanding cinematography by Freddie Young. The superb cast is centred around Omar Sharif ideally cast in the best role of his career. Never has he been better than as the young doctor who is changed forever by war and revolution. Equally outstanding are Julie Christie in the role she is still best remembered for as the enigmatic Lara, Sir Ralph Richardson,brilliant as the long suffering head of the Gromenko family, Geraldine Chaplin as Tonya the ever loving wife of Yuri, and Tom Courtney as the ruthless revolutionary Strelnikov. The beautiful visuals used in this film also help enhance this unforgettable story with the wonderful location photography in Spain standing in for Russian landscapes. The many exciting and beautifully realised sequences in "Doctor Zhivago" constantly keep the viewers attention such as the brutal battle scenes in the frozen ice of the Russian Steppes, the frantic train escape from Moscow, and the scenes in the peaceful expances of Siberia with its daffodils and Silver Birch trees. The whole spectrum of violence, terror and beauty are captured in this one story make a viewing of "Doctor Zhivago", an awe inspiring journey.

Daid Lean displayed a genius in transferring a complex literary work onto the screen and a better screen version of the sprawling novel could not be achieved in my opinion. Every time I hear the hauntingly beautiful "Lara's Theme" I'm automatically transported back to this romantic story set in Russia and to images of daffodils and ice covered houses in the snow. For all lovers of romance "Doctor Zhivago", is unsurpassed entertainment of the first order and always manages to stir up all kinds of emotions which each screening. An outstanding viewing experience.

Doctor Zhivago

This is a classic movie. For me it also brings back the memories from my youth in a communist country. This is not a pure fiction, it is a story from the real life, millions of people suffered like that - unfortunately...

Different times makes different movies

i heard people compare Dcotor Zhivago with the recent movie The English Patient. some even compare it with Gone with the Wind. but they are so different. before i get to know the movie doctor Zhivago, i knew the music first. the music amused me and i started to wonder in what kind of circumstances was the music fit to... until few years ago, i bought the DVD and finally watched the movie. and of course, it became one of my best collections of movie DVDs. together with And Quiet Flows the Don, Doctor Zhivago gives us a vivid view of the time Russian's historical turning period, which brought the great changes of life for everybody in their countries, that no one can escape. (if i am not a Chinese, i might not have the right to say so. because compare with some period in China history, we experienced the same) the story struck me with so much truth, that only those experienced personally could write such master piece of novel, and later the movie makers brought them all true characters onto the screen, offering us a vivid view of every true people once lived during the struggling time. common people made the great historical event, and historical event influenced common people's life. no question, Dcotor Zhivago tells a story that will be ever remembered by later generations in the coming world history.

Another David Lean classic

What more can I possibly say about "Doctor Zhivago" that hasn't already been said? It's full of great performances, especially by Rod Steiger, one of the most versatile actors ever. And the lush musical score adds to the romantic yet tragic story. Even if this movie doesn't seem like it will appeal to you, it's one of those that needs to be seen. Plus, it's got something for everyone to enjoy. I strongly recommend this as another David Lean masterpiece.

I don't get it.

Maybe I'm not high-brow enough to truly appreciate this movie, but I honestly found it boring. It didn't help that I had little sympathy for the "hero." We're supposed to feel sorry for a man who willingly commits adultery? I guess so, but I just couldn't do it.Overall, I've sat through worse 3-hour epics, but I've also sat through much better ones.

Very Pretty But A Little Long

"Doctor Zhivago" is a fascinating touchstone of what made 1960s cinema uniquely great, without ever being great itself. It is unique, though.Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) pursues a happy life as a physician and poet in Czarist Moscow, until fate, war, and revolution drive him from home and family to a woman who turns out to be the love of his life, Lara (Julie Christie). But will those same forces contrive to tear them apart?Directed by David Lean in such grand style as to invite unfair comparisons to his previous masterpiece, "Lawrence Of Arabia", "Doctor Zhivago" is about as sumptuous as film-making gets. Whether its the hooded mink on Geraldine Chaplin's Tonya as she gets off a train or the baroque velvet finery of a fancy restaurant where Lara finds herself courted by the consummate political insider Kamarovsky (Rod Steiger), one is continually bombarded with the fact no expense was spared bringing this vision of the Boris Pasternak novel to the screen.The story covers a lot of ground in more than three hours, and though it does drag at times, Lean and screenwriter Robert Bolt nourish their production with much of the same visual and verbal eloquence that nourished "Lawrence". Maurice Jarre's eerie score, centered by the haunting "Lara's Theme", works at times like musical heroin, jolting you back into the movie just as your attention starts to drift. Cinematographer Freddie Young uses windows and mirrors as a constant visual reference, as if to underscore the movie's concern with the shallowness of appearances, but at least through the first two hours, what grabs you about "Zhivago" is its great sense of depth.But "sense of depth" doesn't exactly equal depth itself, especially when you get to the final hour, and the romance that is supposed to be the fulcrum of the film. Sharif on a DVD commentary suggests "Zhivago" is a woman's movie the way "Lawrence" is more for men. It's a sage thought, as one notices the rational side is pushed aside, along with Zhivago's wife and family, in favor of an all-or-nothing romance with Lara. Neither Bolt nor Christie do much to justify this gambit, however, and we are left with more images of windows for Sharif to stare out of, looking poetic.As Sharif himself plays Zhivago as a gentle, uncomplicated soul, there is ample room for the supporting players to outshine the leads. Steiger sinks his teeth in the film's meatiest part, a cagey, brutal man whose passion for Lara is at least as interesting as that of Zhivago's, his lips forming a cruel scowl but his eyes suggesting a secret hurt."Don't fool yourself into thinking this was rape", he tells Lara after one brutal encounter. "That would flatter us both." Ouch!Chaplin is also very good as the other woman in Zhivago's mess of a life, winning your affection with her unguarded smile and uncomplicated love for Yuri, which he is just good enough to know he doesn't deserve. Klaus Kinski pops up winningly at one point as a forced laborer, sneering as only he can. There is great cast work by the smallest players.If you want a film that bears witness to the cruelty of the Communist Revolution, and being caught up in social forces beyond one's control, "Doctor Zhivago" is all that and more. As a romantic saga it feels hollow at its center, and stretched out too far for all but the most patient of viewers. Yet what do I know? I'm just a guy.

Fabulous

Doctor Zhivago is romance and history and struggle all wrapped up in one tremendous piece of art!

Come On Now

I will admit that this movie is a litle slow at times, and it is a little hard to follow, and that the characters could have used some more development. But this is still a very good film. As other commenters have noted the cinemaography is wonderful and it really feels like Russia in the early 1900's. Some of the pivotal scenes are very moving when one ponders the significance of the scene in the lives of the characters. Maybe you just have to be in a reflective mood wehn you see this film. I give it at least an 8 out of 10.

Not Just an Epic, a lot of Drama and Poetry too

I first watched this movie decades ago, but it still haunts me.

As most people say, this is an epic. Yes, but it brings us into the very heart of events that turned the wheel of history: the rise and the blind force of the masses in the form of Communism, which was rather inhumane and devastating.

Communism was at first most ruthlessly suppressed by the authority, just in the way the Minster of Justice relentlessly taking advantage of the school girl, Lara. And then Communism grew fast taking hold of even the students including the boyfriend of Lara who later became a most furious Red Army General.

It isn't great cinematography that it is all about. Beautiful settings, yes, with literally thousands soldiers fighting in the snowy battlefields plus poetic scenes of calm and serene countryside in Russia etc. There are also round and forceful characters representing various aspects of human nature interweaving these epic changes giving the story a lot of drama and substances.

We have Lara's ex-boyfriend, the Red Army General who gave up virtually everything to fight for and who eventually died for his ideology; the pleasure seeking Minister of Justice or the "flesh", whose only concern was to save his own skin; Dr Zhivago was a poet with a soul who suffered most; and the doctor's half brother, the opportunistic secret policeman, or the real winner, who fished in the troubled water, riding the great tides and became a respected and powerful General in the new regime; and Lara the weak, she managed to survive but was deprived virtually of everything, love and daughter and the latter landed in an orphange without knowing her own history, bestowed with a deep sense of mistrust...

And the whole story was wrought up beautifully by great cinematography for one thing, and Dr Zhivago's poetry for another, and above all, by Lara's Theme played by a balailika which their daughter learned to play by instinct: it sounds so sad and irking. This is just too pricy a lesson.

I haven't read the original novel by Pasternak who had won the Nobel Prize. But judging from how David Lean handled " A Passage to India" and also how the story unfolds itself, there is little doubt that the novel is treated fairly and squarely: it's as good as, if not better than "Crime and Punishment".

Do Not Purchase This DVD!

Many scenes have been cut out. I saw the origninal movie when it originaly came out and this is NOT original.


Do not buy this version if you want the original version. I wish I knew where to get the original.

Please advise.

An uneasy walk between epic and love story

Doctor Zhivago is without a doubt an amazing accomplishment. It successfully, for the most part, takes the microcosm of several relationships and places it in the macrocosm of the Russian Revolution. The moments of snowy peace and love, protected from the turbulance of the outside world, create many striking images.

The movie is not without its weaknesses, however. These characters, small and insignificant as they are amidst the social turmoil, keep having amazing coincidences. I wish I could be so lucky as to take a train to Siberia or wherever, meet a leader of the revolution during a toilet break, get back to the train just as its leaving, and end up residing a few miles from the revolution leader's wife, who just happens to be my mistress and the most beautiful woman in the country. Thank goodness for that toilet break. The revolution leader got to tell me exactly where his wife was residing!

There is simply not enought dialogue and character development to believe the characters are who the movie says they are. Doctor Zhivago is the sensitive poet, we know, because he's always staring at things while sensitive music plays. He and Lara love each other deeply, we're supposed to believe, because, well, they're darn attractive people. But why else? Komarovsky is wicked, because wicked music plays and he keeps doing unnecessarily wicked things. Like raping Lara when she's willing to have consensual sex with him. And when he finally does decent things like warn Zhivago and Lara, they throw him down the stairs as wicked music plays. Give the guy a break!

Still, those days and nights in a snow-covered cottage, the wolves howling in the icy distance, can overcome many flaws.

There are some things that we just can't get over.

Omar Sharif remains indelibly associated with Dr. Yuri Zhivago, a Russian physician-poet who participates in the Bolshevik Revolution, only to have political history affect him against his will. Julie Christie is beautiful as ever as Lara Antipova, Zhivago's true love."Doctor Zhivago" certainly pulled off a coup by showing the conditions that led to the revolution: the czar's despotic rule, the crushing poverty, and forced conscription (especially since the generals cared nothing about the men under their command). Then, of course, the Russian people thought that they would have a workers' society, but it didn't turn out that way. The theme song "Lara's Theme" kept the movie going every step of the way. Maybe not the greatest historical drama of all time, but this is a movie that I recommend to everyone.

A Classic Dearly Remembered

This is a good adaptation of the Boris Pasternak novel. The enigmatic poet and doctor is at the center of the scenarist Robert Bolt's never ending poetic riddle, and the director David Lean surrounds him with an enormous historical reconstruction of the Russian Revolution. Neither the contemplative Zhivago nor the flux of events is uninteresting, and they remain an enigmatic dichotomy. In a movie, so full of realism, there is great impressionism. What is behind all those remarkable performances, the ideas presented in the dialogue, even the majestic cinematography of those daffodils, which Zhivago seems to gaze at so often. Freddie Young beautifully photographed this film. The lyrical composer Maurice Jarre gives us a love theme that goes through many innovative and emotional renditions evoking many interpretations of the events on the screen. David Lean's two other masterpieces, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and RYAN'S DAUGHTER form a trilogy along with DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. The years surrounding World War I form the backdrop for all 3 films, thus the trilogy I suppose.

The Russian Version of Gone With The Wind !

Ah, what a brilliant film ! With a great musical score, a love story set to the backdrop of War. To me its a Russian Gone With The Wind in many ways. Its running time is long enough, and if you can see the many parellells, they are uncanny. The old Russian Aristocracy (Southern Planters), faced with War and destruction to their way of life. The evil Bulshevicks (Yankees), cost them their freedom and genteel lifestyle, but stil they manage to go on. The cinematography here is excellent- the snow scene is classic. Symbolism is carefully played out, and the audience can really identify with the characters. I think it is a truly underrated Classic. A must see for anyone interested in Russian History, or just a great story. The acting is superb also !

Touching Movie

A movie based on an all -time great classic novel by Boris Pasternak.The story reflects Dr Zhivago's early optism about the revolution after he witnesses the massacre of innocent street men marching for bread and his later disillusionment with the Bolshevik Revolution where he feels one's individuality is trampled upon.The Characters of Victor Khmorosky and Pasha Sternikov throw significant light on the political situation of that time.Omar Sharif enacts the character of Dr.Zhivago with brilliant intensity, showing great sensitivity .THe scenes where 'Lara's theme'is played and Lara is either with him or about to leave him and when he is writing his 'Lara'poems are amongst the most heart touching moments in the history of Films.Dr.Zhivago's eyes tell the story .Dr.Zhivago,is so much in love with his Country that he refuses to leave Russia ,even when Lara is leaving which is significant .Even the original book was not anti-communist however apolitical Dr .Zhivago remained.Scenes are wonderfully contrasted and shifted in the movie and the love story of Dr Zhivago and Lara is brilliantly merged with the political happenings of the time.The scenes where Dr Zhivago treats Victor Khmorosky after Lara shoots at him in a party,when Dr Zhivago meets Pasha Antipov in the train and when the Dr. meets his brother Evgraf are of great significance portraying the theme of the story.In the story Dr.Zhivago to a great extent portrays Boris Pasternak's disillusionment with the revolution. One of the all time great movies,with great direction and casting.Every actor does justice to the part he is playing.Omar Sharif gives one of the best acting displays ever in the history of Hollywood.Harsh Thakor