DOCTOR ZHIVAGO 45th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Book reviewed by John J. Puccio

—> See Link to our Blu-ray Review (below)

Turbulent were the times and fiery was the love story of Zhivago, his wife and the passionate, tender Lara.

A Love Caught in the Fire of Revolution

"A masterpiece comparable to Gone with the Wind."
—(Los Angeles Herald-Examiner)

"At once generous yet austere, huge but never out of human scale, gently unfolded yet full of power, it is a work of serious genuine art."
—Richard Schickel (LIFE)

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO 45th Anniversary Edition on
DVD and Deluxe Blu-ray Book »
(Now available - released May 4)

David Lean's 1965 historical epic was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won five. The film starred Omar Sharif in the title role as a married surgeon in love with a nurse (Julie Christie) during the Russian Bolshevik Revolution. It was adapted from a novel by Boris Pasternak.

Burbank, CA — On May 4, Warner Home Video debuted another magnificent state-of-the-art restoration on Blu-ray disc, this one marking the 45th anniversary of Doctor Zhivago — David Lean's romantic epic film, adapted from Boris Pasternak's Pulitzer Prize novel, which captured ten Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and five wins. Released with brand new bonus content: a premium Blu-ray Book ($35.99 SRP) and a 45th Anniversary Edition 2-Disc DVD set ($24.98).

"We're very excited about this meticulous new restoration from Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging and, in particular, how incredible Doctor Zhivago will look on Blu-ray," said George Feltenstein, WHV's Senior Vice President, Theatrical Catalog Marketing. "The qualities that have kept the film so vital and popular all these years — the sweeping love story, the gorgeous vistas and unforgettable imagery — are all dramatically enhanced through the unprecedented technical capabilities of Blu-ray. The result is not only breathtakingly beautiful to look at but also provides a magnificent aural experience with Zhivago's highly-lauded sound mix presented with unprecedented clarity and dimension."

Both editions boast a new documentary on the enduring legacy of the film while the Blu-ray Book will contain 44 pages of insightful essays, cast photos, historical film facts and a CD with eight selections from the Oscar®-winning soundtrack that featured "Lara's Theme" — one of the best-selling soundtrack recordings of all time.

Doctor Zhivago is also available by Video on Demand from cable and satellite providers. The film is now ready for electronic download from online retailers including iTunes, Microsoft Xbox LIVE, Zune video marketplace and Amazon Video on Demand.

Omar Sharif (Lawrence of Arabia, Funny Girl) and Julie Christie (NY I Love You, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) star in Doctor Zhivago, which was the last of the three great historical sagas directed by David Lean, the grand master of the genre. (His others were The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, which won him Best Director Oscars®). Filled with passion, drama, personal and political strife, the film also stars Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson and Tom Courtenay.

Oscars® Dr. Zhivago won were for Best Screenplay (Robert Bolt), Best Cinematography (Freddie Young), Best Music Score (Maurice Jarre), Best Art Direction - Set Decoration (John Box, Terence Marsh, Dario Simoni) and Best Costume Design (Phyllis Dalton). The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (Courtenay).

Bonus Features include: (both DVD & Blu-ray)
• Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration Part 1 & 2 (all-new production)
• Commentary by Omar Sharif, Rod Steiger and Lady Sandra Lean (wife of David Lean) Part 1 & 2
• Introduction by Omar Sharif
• Doctor Zhivago: The Making of a Russian Epic
• Trailer
11 Vintage Featurettes:
• Zhivago: Behind the Camera with David Lean
• David Lean's Film of Doctor Zhivago
• Moscow in Madrid
• Pasternak
• New York Press Interviews Omar Sharif
• New York Press Interviews Julie Christie
• Geraldine Chaplin Screen Test
• This is Omar Sharif
• This is Julie Christie
• This is Geraldine Chaplin
• Chaplin in New York

Blu-ray exclusive: 8-Song CD Soundtrack Sampler of the Oscar®-winning score

Feature Running Time: 197 Minutes
16x9 Widescreen, Color, Audio: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO — Explore further:
—> Blu-ray Review by John J. Puccio »
EXCERPT: When you watch a later David Lean film, you not only find epic action, adventure, or romance, you find epic scope. And, above all, you find epic beauty. Ravishing, breathtaking beauty, with every shot framed as a work of art. Think of Kubrick in this regard. In terms of epic beauty, "Doctor Zhivago" may be the loftiest of all his creations, and it's a pleasure to say that Warner Brothers have not slighted it in their new, three-disc Blu-ray Book edition.

More than anything, "Zhivago" is a love story. As a critic of the day commented, it may be the biggest, grandest soap opera ever produced, a criticism that at the time distressed the director no end. But it is soap with the exalted breadth of a "Gone With the Wind." Like its earlier colleague, it tells an intimate story of love and conflict set against the backdrop of a country in war. The characters in conflict are a young, kind, sensitive doctor and poet, Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif); Yuri's fiancée and future wife, Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin); Yuri's second love, Lara (Julie Christie); Lara's idealistic fiancée and future husband, Pasha (Tom Courtenay); and Lara's rich, powerful seducer, Komarovsky (Rod Steiger).

Adapted by screenwriter Robert Bolt from the semiautobiographical novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Boris Pasternak, "Zhivago" is a passionate movie about passionate people in passionate times. Nothing is ever simple here as Lean analogizes the shifting loyalties in national affairs with the shifting loyalties of the story's human relationships.

Omar Sharif says on the commentary track that Zhivago is the part for which people best know him today, even more than for his remarkable role in "Lawrence of Arabia." One can see why. His Zhivago is delicate, heroic, benevolent, confused, and troubled. His fervent love for two women drives him to desperation, and the young Sharif well exudes his character's naive and bewildered discomfort. Julie Christie's fragile-appearing Lara is, nonetheless, strong and resilient; and Ms. Christie is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful people ever to grace a screen. Steiger's Komarovsky is an inveterate womanizer, yet he, too, proves almost noble in time. Chaplin's Tonya is the very model of a faithful, dutiful wife and more; she is caring, loving, and understanding, yet surprisingly self-reliant as well. All the same, Courtenay's role is perhaps the most intriguing of all, as he must undergo the severest personality transformation. His metamorphosis is astonishing, for which he deservedly earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Old pros Alec Guinness as Yuri's elder brother and Ralph Richardson as Tanya's father perform as ably as we would expect them to and further complement the fine cast.

I don't suppose the film would be half so well remembered, though, if it weren't for Maurice Jarre's musical score and Freddie Young's cinematography. Jarre's music may, indeed, be as famous as the film itself. Play a moment of "Lara's Theme" for people, and they will instantly recognize it. It's the kind of expansive, visionary music that every filmmaker dreams of putting into his work. What's more, while it's music at once massive and imposing, it can be sweet and tender as well, particularly when played on the traditional Russian balalaika.

"Doctor Zhivago" reveals shot after shot, scene after scene, of glorious beauty (with Spain and Finland filling in for Mother Russia). It won five Academy Awards in 1965 for Best Screenplay (Robert Bolt), Best Cinematography (Freddie Young), Best Musical Score (Maurice Jarre), Best Costume Design (Phyllis Dalton), and Best Art and Set Decoration (John Box, Terry Marsh, and Dario Simoni). Additionally, it won Golden Globes for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Music, and Best Screenplay; and the American Film Institute voted it number thirty-nine on their list of Top 100 Films of all time.

More important, it remains in the hearts of countless moviegoers as one of the greatest romances ever filmed, and we welcome its release on high-definition Blu-ray disc.

(Click thru the Link above for the full review)

Rated PG-13 for mature themes

Film Synopsis:
A Love Caught in the Fire of Revolution
Turbulent were the times and fiery was the love story of Zhivago, his wife and the passionate, tender Lara.

David Lean demonstrates again why he's a peerless filmmaker of substance and scale, directing Boris Pasternak's tumultuous tale of Russia divided by war and hearts torn by love. Epic images abound: revolution in the streets, an infantry charge into No Man's Land, the train ride to the Urals, an icebound dacha. Golden Globe Best Actor Award winner Omar Sharif plays the title role, in love with Lara (Julie Christie, the National board of Review's Best Actress choice) and caught up in the tidal wave of history. Hauntingly scored by Maurice Jarre (who earned one of the film's five Academy Awards) and full of indelible performances, Doctor Zhivago (American Film Institute Top - 100 American Films selection) is a moviemaking wonder.

The 1965 film captures the essence of Boris Pasternak's Russian novel of remarkable passion and sweeping grandeur, presenting an intimate and deeply emotional story against the enormous backdrop of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution. Over the years, critics have noted that while famous for its portrayal of one of the most cataclysmic periods of the 20th century, the ultimate power of Doctor Zhivago emanates from Lean's rendering of the fragile, yet indomitable human spirit -- and its capacity for love. Accompanied by Maurice Jarre's hauntingly memorable score and Freddie Young's rich photography, the film achieves a lavish level of production values rarely surpassed to this day.

Omar Sharif stars in the title role of Doctor Zhivago, portraying the surgeon-poet over a half-century period. Zhivago, who is married to Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin), an aristocratic girl with whom he raises a family, is also in love with Lara (Julie Christie), a nurse whose life has been destroyed by tragedy. Repeatedly brought together and separated from each woman by war and revolution, Zhivago is torn apart by conflict. He loves Tonya deeply but his poetic soul belongs to Lara. Much like his beloved country, Zhivago's spirit becomes battered by the devastation of war as he struggles to maintain his individualism in the face of overwhelming odds.

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