Tonight at the Motion Picture Academy is “Doctor Zhivago” (1965).
I never miss a screening of “Doctor Zhivago”. Never. I’ve been known to miss a screening of “The Bridge On The River Kwai” or “A Passage To India”, sometimes even a screening of “Lawrence Of Arabia”, but I never miss a screening of “Doctor Zhivago”.
I’m guessing this screening will be the most recent restoration of the film, with the new Turner titles on the end of it – the one with great sound restoration but a mediocre image (aka “meaty ochre” image).
10 Favorite Lines from Doctor Zhivago
(some great not only for their own sake,
but for how they precede
or follow a line, or play against an image)
- “You shouldn’t use human beings to move earth.”
- “My name is General Yevgraf Andreivich Zhivago. I’m looking for someone.”
- “How would the poet like to see a bit of general practice?”
- “I’ve no amorous experience, if that’s what you mean. None whatever. Lara’s seventeen. That speaks for itself.”
- “And don’t delude yourself this was rape. That would flatter us both.”
- “I am the only free man on this train! And the rest of you are cattle!”
- “Will you accept the terms of this ignoble Caliban on any terms that Caliban cares to make? Or is your delicacy so exorbitant that you would sacrifice a woman and a child to it?”
- “He must have known how ill he was. The walls of his heart were like paper. But he kept it to himself. He kept a lot himself.”
- “Oh, yes. People will do anything.”
- “Ah, then it’s a gift.”
