No Zhivago reviews anywhere? (1 Viewer)

[GlennH]

A rather gushing review is now up at dvdfile.com:
http://www.dvdfile.com/software/revi...orzhivago.html

 

[Dave Scallan]

-------------------------------------------------------------------The 200-minute film is presented on a dual-sided platter, with the break occurring at the movie's Intermission point, one of the best cliffhanger Intermissions ever conceived.
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I have seen this film twice in the theater and have always wondered about the intermission.
Right before the intermission Uri and his family are on a train headed east towards the Urals and his boyhood home. It is night and most everyone in the freight car is asleep.
Uri is looking out a little slit window in the train car looking at the countyside. -fadeout -intermission.
Now when the audience returns to their seats for part 2, The sound begins we hear a train, but the screen is black, no picture. We hear the train get louder and the whistle is blowing and at this point most people in the theater are looking at each other and then up at the projection booth wondering why the projectionist hasn't turned on the projector bulb. Right at this moment we see a small spot of white light in the middle of the screen and it gets bigger and bigger and we realize it is the exit of a tunnel that the train has been traveling trough. All of a sudden the train breaks out of the tunnel and we are treated to a vista of the snow -capped Ural Mountains.
Now I know the effect that Lean was going for of course, but the fact that virtually everyone believed there was a projector failure is what interests me. Did Lean know this is what would happen, and was a private joke for him?
Or did he misjudge that moment completely. The reason for the audience reaction, I believe is based on the reality of all the times we have been to the movies and the projectionist HAS screwed up. (put the wrong lens on, started the film with the wrong reel, sound dosn't sync with picture, ect.)Those moments are most likely not really known by filmmakers.
Of course the DVD will most likely not be misjudged by most people, although I will expect to read one or two posts about how people thought they had a defective disk at this moment in the film.
Well, I thought it was interesting!
Dave

 

[Douglas R]

Robert Harris' comments were most interesting. I've heard it said before that David Lean was not satisfied with the 70mm blow-ups from 35mm but when I saw the film in that format when it first opened I thought the picture quality was superb and it was only years later that I learnt that it was a blow-up and had not been filmed in 65mm as I had assumed (or more correctly been led to believe by MGM). I'm really looking forward to this DVD and I don't understand why people are dismissive of the film. I think I'm right in saying that in box office terms it was Lean's biggest success.

 

[RobertR]

You are right, Douglas. According to this thread:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/...ML/008077.html
It's number 8 or 9 on the all time list in terms of number of tickets actually sold (I hate the inflated numbers used these days).
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