{"id":148,"date":"2025-08-01T03:51:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=148"},"modified":"2026-05-25T15:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T19:09:19","slug":"doctor-zhivago-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=148","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Zhivago-1965"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doctor Zhivago-1965<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director David Lean<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Julie Christie, Omar Sharif, Rod Steiger<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top 250 Films #31<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #42<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"449931\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed June 18, 2014<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doctor Zhivago (1965) is a great film to watch on a cold night or throughout the crisp winter or holiday season.<\/p>\n

The film is a classic masterpiece directed by the talented David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, 1962, A Passage to India, 1986), whose perfectionism is evident in his epic films.<\/p>\n

Nearly every scene could be a painting, so the cinematography alone is reason enough to become enchanted with art.<\/p>\n

Of course, the story is also a goldmine as a sprawling decades-long love story unfolds amid the ravages of the bloody Bolshevik Revolution.<\/p>\n

The film is set in the bitter cold of Russia (though all scenes were shot in Spain), and the harshness of the climate and the war combine with a doomed love story set against the backdrop of numerous battles and wartime conditions.<\/p>\n

Nearly all sequences are set in winter, and the blustery, icy effects are set against numerous scenes of cozy, candlelit cabins or more extravagant, glowing surroundings.<\/p>\n

Viewers must be surrounded by fire, flaming candles, or another form of warmth as a snowstorm or blizzard rages outside for a perfect viewing experience.<\/p>\n

A large-screen television or a cinema is simply a must to watch this film, as it is epic on the grandest scale.<\/p>\n

Omar Sharif and Julie Christie (a gorgeous star in her day) are cast perfectly as Uri and Lara, young forbidden lovers enthralled with one another but involved with significant others.<\/p>\n

The film dissects their initial meeting and their story over the years, experiencing marriages, births, and deaths throughout the ravages of Russia in the early twentieth century.<\/p>\n

Despite their affairs, neither is deemed unsympathetic\u2014quite the contrary.<\/p>\n

Audiences will fall in love with the pair and become enchanted as they watch their love-tortured adventures unfold.<\/p>\n

Sharif and Christie are just magnificent and utterly believable as a couple.<\/p>\n

The set pieces are magnificent and flawless in design and detail (my favorite is the Ice Palace).<\/p>\n

The cinematography is breathtaking, and the content is remarkably close to the superior novel by Boris Pasternak, evoking a sense of “really being there” in the viewer.<\/p>\n

Doctor Zhivago (1965) is a brilliant film, perfect for a snowy winter evening.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations<\/strong>: 5 wins<\/strong>-Best Picture, Best Director-David Lean, Best Supporting Actor-Tom Courtenay, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (won)<\/strong>, Best Music Score-Substantially Original (won)<\/strong>, Best Art Direction, Color (won)<\/strong>, Best Cinematography, Color (won)<\/strong>, Best Costume Design, Color (won)<\/strong>, Best Film Editing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doctor Zhivago-1965 Director David Lean Starring Julie Christie, Omar Sharif, Rod Steiger Top 250 Films #31 Scott’s Review #42 Reviewed June 18, 2014 Grade: A Doctor Zhivago (1965) is a great film to watch on a cold night or throughout the crisp winter or holiday season. The film is a classic masterpiece directed by the … Continue reading Doctor Zhivago-1965<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8086,32,8959,534,533,192,194,11301,1113,9131,9442,760,5984,699,8883,621,222,8882,2471,7530,7464,7465],"tags":[8087,60,8963,535,536,193,195,11302,1116,9136,9445,762,5989,701,8885,623,221,8884,2472,7533,7460,7461],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-31-favorite-film","category-1965-films","category-adrienne-corri","category-alec-guiness","category-david-lean","category-dramas","category-epics","category-geoffrey-keen","category-geraldine-chaplin","category-ingrid-pitt","category-jack-macgowran","category-julie-christie","category-noel-willman","category-omar-sharif","category-ralph-richardson","category-rod-steiger","category-romantic-dramas","category-siobhan-mckenna","category-tom-courtenay","category-top-100-films","category-top-250-films","category-top-50-films","tag-31-favorite-film","tag-1965-movie-reviews","tag-adrienne-corri","tag-alec-guiness","tag-david-lean","tag-dramas-2","tag-epics-2","tag-geoffrey-keen","tag-geraldine-chaplin","tag-ingrid-pitt","tag-jack-macgowran","tag-julie-christie","tag-noel-willman","tag-omar-sharif","tag-ralph-richardson","tag-rod-steiger","tag-romantic-dramas","tag-siobhan-mckenna","tag-tom-courtenay","tag-top-100-films","tag-top-250-films","tag-top-50-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22366,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/22366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}