REVIEWS
In the Sunday Telegraph John Preston commented “This version treated its audience as intelligent and assumed they had the ability to follow a story that unfolded visually rather than verbally”, adding that its “first and most self-evident virtue was that it looked more like a movie than a traditional telly drama. There was a real richness of texture here” and noted “...a wealth of other cleverly wrought, yet essentially simple touches”. He was less impressed with Andrew Davies’s script and Keira Knightley’s Lara, but commended Hans Matheson “terrific as the grown-up Yuri Zhivago – intense, playful, assured” and Giacomo Campiotti’s “bravura direction”.[5]
REVIEWS
Tom Jicha of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel called it “a stunning success” and continued, “Davies’ screenplay is involving, the cinematography is captivating, the costuming and set designs evoke a sense of time and place, and the top-of-the-marquee performances are world-class.” He concluded, “Doctor Zhivago is a hefty production, which demands a four-hour, commercial-free commitment from its audience. But the reward is a richly layered character study and love story, worthy of the franchise under which it airs.”[6]
Thanks. Mrs. M and I will check it out. But it has to live up to the film we saw together in April 1966 as we were falling in love during college.
I have since used the film as an educational tool for teaching world history/geography to HS sophomores during a 30 year stretch. Consequently, I have memorized the entire 3:17 script and quote it often as news stories contain some of its dystopian elements.