The Critics' Corner on DOCTOR ZHIVAGO

"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.

"The sweep and scope of the Russian Revolution, as reflected in the personalities of those who either adapted or were crushed, has been captured by David Lean in Dr. Zhivago, frequently with soaring dramatic intensity. Director has accomplished one of the most meticulously designed and executed films -- superior in several visual respects to his Lawrence of Arabia" -- Murf, Variety.

"Mr. Bolt has reduced the vast upheaval of the Russian Revolution to the banalities of a doomed romance." -- Bosley Crowther, The New York Times.

"See it, feel it, treasure it. Don't play games with it. And don't make comparisons. No, I take that back. Make some comparisons with some of the other highly touted films currently going the rounds. Then go bask in its wonder." -- John Cutts, "It is all too bad to be true: that so much has come to so little, that tears must be prompted by dashed hopes instead of enduring drama." - Newsweek.

"A majestic, magnificent picture of war and peace, on a national scale and scaled down to the personal. It has every element that makes a smash, long-run box office hit." - The Hollywood Reporter.

"Though it doesn't equal Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean's epic wartime romance may be his most accessible film. It tells a simple love story in a complex setting and, for the most part, avoids easy resolutions to messy emotional relationships....Dr. Zhivago remains one of the most ambitious and watchable of the "big" '60s films, and one of the best depictions of a civil war's terrible human costs." - Mike Mayo, War Movies.

"Zhivago is a syrupy romance, without poetry or plausibility." - David Thomson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.

"..for the long list of stars, for David Lean, and for admirers of Pasternak's novel, Dr. Zhivago is no more than a competent blockbuster." - Peter Cowie, Eighty Years of Cinema.

"..in this movie, so full of "realism," nothing really grows - not the performances, not the ideas, not even the daffodils, which are also so "real" they have obviously been planted for us, just as the buildings have been built for us. After the first half hour you don't expect the picture to breathe and live; you just sit there. It isn't shoddy (except for the balalaika music, which is so repetitive you could kill the composer); it's stately, respectable, and dead." - Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies.

"Doctor Zhivago (M-G-M) is a mixture of Lean's two well-tried methods of dealing with the classics: ornate Dickensian for scenes like the burial of Yuri's mother, or Yuri's own poetic inspiration by ice and candlelight; epic spectacular for ravages and battles and, of course, the long train journey from Moscow to the Urals...The actors look good, but with the exception of Rod Steiger, who as Komarovsky has the most clearly defined role anyway, their performances lack momentum....One is always conscious that nobody is Russian, and that nobody quite lives up to one's preconceived idea of the character that he or she portrays." - Elizabeth Sussex, Sight and Sound.

Awards & Honors

Doctor Zhivago was the number two film at the box office in its year (The Sound of Music was number one) with over $60 million in rentals in the U.S. alone. Its current international gross is over $111 million.

In most of the year's acting awards, Julie Christie's performance in Doctor Zhivago was beaten out by her performance in Darling. The National Board of Review named her Best Actress for both films.

Doctor Zhivago won Golden Globes® for Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Actor-Drama (Omar Sharif), Best Director (David Lean), Best Screenplay (Robert Bolt) and Best Score (Maurice Jarre).

Doctor Zhivago was nominated for ten Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (Tom Courtenay). It won for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Freddie Young), Best Art Direction (John Box), Best Costumes (Phyllis Dalton) and Best Score (Maurice Jarre).

The film's best-selling soundtrack album won the Grammy® for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show.

In 1988, "Lara's Theme" won a special People's Choice Award as Favorite All-Time Motion Picture Song.

Compiled by Frank Miller & Jeff Stafford