Doctor Zhivago [1965] [DVD] [Dual Disc Format]*

I first saw this film about 10 years ago. I was an impressionable teenager and was swept away by the intensity and romanticism of this film. Coming to it again after all these years,I wasn't sure how I would react. But to say I was NOT disappointed would be an understatement. The first thing to say is that this film looks even more stunning on DVD - the breathtaking cinematography is served well by the transfer to DVD. I was struck again by the visual beauty and lyricism of this film, and I must disagree with the amazon review - I thought Omar Sharif and Julie Christie's performances were brilliant in a subtle, understated way. There is none of the cheesy overacting which mars so many films produced in the mid-sixties. Sharif is mesmerising - he brings a quiet, sensitive soulfulness to his role as Zhivago. This film is so long that the DVD actually contains an "intermission", but with such an intriguing, involving story, you don't notice the hours pass. I am generally not one for Hollywood epics, but after watching this again it's reinstated as one of my all-time favourite films. DVD was invented so that we can have the privilege of seeing these beautiful, classic films in all their intended glory.

David Lean was a filmmaker whose films could range from small budgeted london yarns to huge expensive period epics....and DR.Zhivago was one such huge epic...One look at the film and its scenes and you know that a master is at the helm.. Here are a few sweeping visuals which you'll be hit with... vast expanses of snow white steppes deep in the wild heart of russia...a funeral procession winding its way through the desolation... An orphaned boy after the loss of his mother looks up at a tree and the rustling breeze makes the leaves fly around like poetry in motion... thats how Lean can make his scenes work...immaculate sense of emotion accompanied by dazzling photography and rousing music...its a hook you cant escape..(Maurice Jarre`s Lara`s theme...my mum hums it...and so do I..its unforgettable) Anyways on with the film...its based on Boris Pasternak`s hugely complex novel...and the plot of the movie too is big...its spans across decades one thread holding it tight...Lean`s masterful story telling... I wont give away the story because the visuals of the film will affect you in its own way and i dont want to walk you through it... The performances in the film are good almost as extraordinary as 'Lawrence of Arabia'(Lean`s other small little film)...Omar Sharif and Julie Christie share a great chemistry....supported well by a huge cast especially good is the role of Komarovsky played by Rod Steiger... The camerawork by Freddie Young is flawless...epic in its scope and delicately pristine in its beauty....the snow never looked so good in the movies....see the ice palace...its the most haunting of all movie sets ive ever seen..See the scene where snow flakes melt on a window when the rays of the sun wash over it... There never has been and never will be a filmmaker like David Lean...his loss is a real dent in the world of cinema... Go see Dr.Zhivago...you will know just why...!

Age cannot wither it, nor custom stale its infinite variety. All human (or at least Russian) life is here in a stupendous, rich DVD transfer - spotless and detailed. You get everything, too - they've put in the overture and entr'acte title cards and music so you can have an intermission just as they used to in the cinema. The film is huge and you can really lose yourself in it. Yes, a lot of the book had to be cut. Yes, Omar Sharif never quite fits the role and yes, "Lara's Theme" can grate after a while - but against that you have Julie Christie at her most luminous, Rod Steiger at his most arrogant (but all broken up inside), some of the greatest landscape photography you'll ever see and a historical sweep that somehow remains human in scale. Disc one has the film on both sides - two-thirds of it is on side A (which is DVD-9) and the last third is on side B (which is DVD-5). The second disc (also DVD-5) has plenty of documentaries, archive clips, interviews and reminiscences and shows the astonishing amount of work it takes to make a film like this. You get a lot for your money.

Update: Sometime in the first half of 2009, the image on this page changed to one of a mostly red cover (the one I have and wrote about was mostly white). I'm not sure if it's the same edition.