From one Croydonian to another.......

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2001)

As I too was born in that city called Croydon, just to the south of London, UK, I can hardly let the works of one of that city's most illustrious sons go by without any comments from me. It should be evident, thus far, that the city has brought some great persons into the world!
David Lean, who now has a museum dedicated to him in Croydon which can be visited `virtually' through the wonders of an Internet page which the city council's official web site has made available, has produced a few masterpieces of commercial cinema which in no way can be passed over lightly. The best  or at least the best known -, perhaps, are `Lawrence of Arabia', `The Bridge Over The River Kwai' and `Doctor Zhivago', and I take special care in not including `Ryan's Daughter'. The first two of these I shall comment on appropriately elsewhere at a future date.
Doctor Zhivago is not just simply a romantic love story: there is far more to it. As a backdrop you have the whole of the upheaval of the Russian October Revolution, without which neither the novel or the film would have been possible. Pasternak (Nobel Literature Prize, 1958 which he had to reject as the Soviet authorities would not have let him back into the country) followed the eminent Russian tradition of epic story-writing. The great novels of Dostoyevsky, Turguenef and Sholokhov are part of the tradition so unique to Russia, the philosophical and sociological orientated novels which often run to three volumes, even when not a trilogy, as is the case with Sholokov. Lean tried to transpose this panoramic vision in Pasternak's beautiful book to the big screen. Whereas there may have been what today might be called flaws and aberrations, there is no doubt that the end result is one of the greatest filmed stories of all time, superior in all aspects to the supposed greatness of such classics as `Gone with the Wind' or `Casablanca'. The great names of Hollywood have the fame and glory, but they do not have `it'  that magic, psychological touch of the Europeans for these kinds of grandiose productions. If there should be any doubt on this, I would like to say that the films of David Lean have won more `Oscars' (a VERY Hollywood award) in all the different departments than the films of any other director. I would like to be corrected if I am wrong.
Lean had the best actors available to him  mostly prestigious actors from theatre upbringing -, but crossed the English Channel to find Maurice Jarre for the music. And never let it be forgotten that Jarre's apportation to these films is superb. I will just brush the dust off of my ancient LP record of the film's music: MGM-EMI Records, 1966 and MONOPHONIC! A priceless recording. Jarre was so able to capture the ardent Russian spirit for his melodies, however romantic they may seem.
Omar Sharif plays the best part of his life here. The other main actors are magnificent, of course, and it is one of the rare occasions in which I have been able to see Rita Tushingham. I can remember her about 40 (????) years ago in a film, which, I think, was called `The Girl with Green Eyes'.
This film must also be remembered for its sumptuous photography: all that cold wide open Russian steppe. Nothing of the kind in fact. Parts of the film were made in Karelia, Finland, and some parts were filmed over the other side of the mountain some 80 kms from where I am now. The part of the film in which we see the frozen land around the frozen house were actually filmed in the valley of the River Tera in the north of the Castilian province of Soria, Spain, around the peaceful and very rural villages of Molinos del Razón, Valdeavellano, Aldehuela and Villar del Ala; in the background the peak of Cebollera is clearly recognisable. The railway station scenes were shot in the provincial capital Soria. Mercifully, our winters here are today nowhere near so hard as shown in the film!
One of the first videos in my collection, every five years or so I blow off the dust and give it another watch; the same as any good book is worth more than one reading, an excellent film is worth more than one viewing. And beyond any doubt, Doctor Zhivago is long since one of the great classical films.