Dr. Zhivago

[mysterygal]

I saw the remake of this movie, starring Kierra Knightly. I'm still debating how I'm rating this movie!. For those of you who have seen both, is the new and old alike?

 

[scotrace]

The original is hard to top. A sweeping and epic film.

Knightly is so, so... SKINNY!

 

[mysterygal]

The original is hard to top. A sweeping and epic film.

Knightly is so, so... SKINNY!

I guess she wouldn't make it in Madrid?! I didn't realize how skinny she was until I saw this movie...her clothes literally hanged on her.
Well, since it sounds like we've got the same taste in movies, I'll have to track down the original one. I've found the originals are usually way better anyways. In the original, does it have a sad ending? (need to be prepared!) the new one, I had tears flowing down...I'm glad I was alone when I watched it

 

[scotrace]

I'm not telling.


But have tissues.

And you will So want one of the Big White Fur Hats you see in it!

Everyone has bad 1960's hair and makeup, though. I mean it really stands out. What were they thinking?

 

[mysterygal]

I'm not telling.


But have tissues.

Actually, that was the best way of answering that. I hate it when people tell me what happens in a movie! And the ending, well, it's one of the best things about it!

 

[Harp]

I wonder why Hollywood continues to produce
inferior sequels against classic films like Dr Shivago,
a cinematic masterpiece.

 

[mysterygal]

That hat is pretty darn bad. Fashion in general is usually a little off beat. I'm still waiting for when women want to start dressing and looking like women and likewise with the men. I have a feeling, I shouldn't be holding my breath on that one

 

[Caledonia]

The original is spectacular. The whole atmospheric broodiness of it all. The Ms Knightly version is one of the few times that a remake has held its own. Given that Ms K was, I think but I may be wrong, 17 or 18 at the time, she is laudably good. It's a weepy at various points, a bit longwinded at some. I liked it, Husband liked it, it's survived the various parings of the DVD ollection. In fact, now that you bring it up, I see an epic unravelling before me this weekend! Sad to say I have never read it. I think I'll put it on priority for my reading list for this winter.

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

The original film directed by David Lean is a masterpiece of narrative storytelling, but relatively little of the original novel's content survived unaltered. However arrogant it may seem, think of it as a story concept by Pasternak as re-imagined and re-interpreted by Lean with a screenplay by Robert Bolt.

Boris Pasternak was a brilliant poet, but hardly a great novelist. The genius of Lean was his ability to strip away all the distracting elements (extraneous subplots and unecessary secondary characters), get to the kernel of a story, tell it in deft visual strokes and with startling economy for such a massive scope and large budget.

So, the first version is 15% Pasternak, 85% Lean. Not so with the re-make, which is 90% Pasternak . . . . and 10% whomever. Which is to say, it's a paint-by-the-numbers bit of directing that uses its slavish fidelity to the original source material as a crutch for mediocrity. One superior aspect about the re-make is the fleshing out of Komorovsky's character. He's more dimensional. But still, Sam Neil is a paltry shadow compared to Rod Steiger's masterful performance.

 

[mysterygal]

I saw the older version yesterday and I actually like the newer one better because it seems to give the character more 'depth'...but both are enjoyable.

 

[Tomasso]

Julie Christie

:essen:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And her very '60s piled-up hairdo.

.

 

[Roger]

Very hard to outdo a great film. Loved the original, one of the first movies I saw as a child in America. But, I slept through most at the drive-in.lol Saw it later

 

[mysterygal]

Very hard to outdo a great film. Loved the original, one of the first movies I saw as a child in America. But, I slept through most at the drive-in.lol Saw it later

That's what I wish we had around here, drive-ins! Never been to one, but they sound like they'd be fun.
I agree, Most of the classics can never be outdone. The only other one that was remade that I like just as well, as the first is, 'Pride and Prejudice'.

 

[Hondo]

Hats

That hat is pretty darn bad. Fashion in general is usually a little off beat. I'm still waiting for when women want to start dressing and looking like women and likewise with the men. I have a feeling, I shouldn't be holding my breath on that one

But...didn't they in Russia have hats like these?

You can not out do the original movie, I am thinking the new film will have computer special effects, animations for white Russian winters, buildings sets.
I never really thought about makeup, hair styles, remember its only a movie