Doctor Dumbvago

Rating: 5/10 (27 December 2014)

Despite pretty snow-drenched scenery and some good moments, this melodramatic exercise will grate on your patience at times.
Omar Sharif's dippy haircut and arrogant mustache grow tiresome very quickly, but that's nothing compared to his character's repeated acts of stupidity, like when he leaves his wife and child so he can get off the train and wander aimlessly through the woods like a halfwit. Would his character have been that clueless? Or when, after being conscripted, he deserts the army to head to the two places where they know to look for him so they can shoot him for desertion.
Other annoyances include Rod Steiger's unrelentless, unannounced, and unwanted appearances throughout the film. It was a 'cheating' of sorts that we didn't get to see him dropped by a firing squad somewhere along the way.
Overblown adaptation; the cinematography is the 'star' here.