Customer Reviews
One of the Greatest - By: G. Holland, 23 Jul 2008 
I first saw this film 30 years ago & was bowled over by the scenery & the actors. Recently I decided to watch it with a more critical eye & 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 & we shouldn't forget Chaplin as the dutiful & loving wife. She plays the role with just the right amount of pathos. However it is Steiger & Courtney who carry the film.
The sight of Courtney standing at the front of a military train rushing past civilians that he neither sees or hears. Here is a man now utterly devoted to the cause of the revolution, who had finallly overcome any emotional attachment he may have had to anyone. The train rushing through only served to symbolise the inevitability of civil war on a grand scale.
Steiger produced his best in this film as a greedy, powerful & deeply flawed man who when confronted with Lara (whom he desired) would risk alll to help, although there would always be a price to pay.
Yes, Steiger & Courtney were superb,very well cast & for me they carried the film.
Of course Hollywood, being Hollywood the Revolution itself was glossed over to some extent. The book has a much sharper focus.
This film must stand as one of the greatest ever made & believe me I rarely give such praise.
A decent failure, I suppose - By: Lou Knee, 27 Oct 2007 
Ultimately this multi Oscar winning epic is a filmic failure. Winning Oscars has never been a guarantee that the movie is actuallly 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 & screenwriter unit are very rightly regarded as one of the alll time best teams in cinema's history, & yet the movie undeniably lacks something in the end, something it vitallly needed - dramatic tension.
Who only knows what the fault is for that, but I'd start with questioning the cast list here. Lean has always stood by the decision to have Sharif in the Star role, but forty odd years of criticism of this surely must carry some credibility as a view. In my humble layman's view, like many others I cannot at alll see how Sharif can be considered a success in that role. His memorable eyes apart, he is severely lacking in presence & just simple acting ability to be able to reallly get a hold of his role & attract our constant attention. Christie looks rather overwhelmed by it alll, as well, & doesn't spark with any of her suitors, least of alll Sharif as Zhivago.
Two performances do standout, the actors responsible are Steiger & Courtney, but it's almost as though they're being asked to carry the film themselves, because the leads haven't turned up. Lean shows some of his great artistic touches again in places, & generallly the film looks best when the focus is on the landscape or crowd scenes, rather than close up human drama. At the end of it alll I'd still like to know what on earth was alll that white stuff? - it certainly wasn't snow! Why on earth did they shoot in Spain, when there were surely opportunities to film in Scandanavia?? Oh well, it's too late now.
No one loves poetry like a Russian! - By: J. Lawrence, 29 Mar 2007 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 & direction are seamless, few post war directors use fades to such effect. The music score won many awards at the time of release & so one of the special features is watching the film with no dialogue, just music.
Omar is great, i think i love him (and i'm a bloke!) but the real eye opener is Lara (julie christie) i mean, if i was koromofsky i would do alll i could to get her, What a stunner!
Many scenes in the film are innovative with the actors perfoprming the narration with no sound. Few will see the likes of strelnikoff or pasha on screen again, the shot from the red train, the ice bound dacha, the charge across frozen ice, the massacre in the streets.
Dr zhivago is the best film i have ever seen.
beautiful,Brilliant,Breath taking - By: T. Jarvis, 03 Sep 2006 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 & if you have seen it i recomend you to get the DVD it has the dvd alll 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 & side b would have been good to put it on one disc & have the film picture on the dvd but apart from that the dvd is crystal clear & brilliant.
Yes, I Know It's Flawed..... - By: Peter Martin, 24 Jul 2006 It's long. It's indulgent. One or two chunks of backstory have been jettisoned, leaving the character of Komarovsky & his connection to Zhivago half-formed. Pasha's transformation into Strelnikov is a little hard to swalllow.
But. It is magnificent! On a huge & bewitching canvas, Lean daubs a suitably poetic hero, swept up to just the right degree in cataclysmic events, & a Lara you can understand men fallling out over. Add THAT theme music, memorable set pieces, an essentiallly pretty sound set of supporting performances, & you have ... a 5. Can't help it.
