Plot

This short film, a mini-biography of of writer and Nobelist Boris Pasternak, serves as something of a promotional film for the upcoming film version of his novel Doctor Zhivago (1965). It includes scenes with David Lean, Alec Guinness, and Geraldine Chaplin among others. Pasternak grew up in an artistic home where men like Lev Tolstoy were frequent visitors. He refused, however, to sing the praises of the Bolshevik revolution and was refused permission to publish it in his home country. It was eventually published in the West to great acclaim.—garykmcd

Using still pictures and newsreel footage, this short tells the life story of Russian author Boris Pasternak, who was forced by the Russian government to refuse the 1958 Nobel Prize in literature. The story ends with director David Lean selecting the stars who will appear in the film version of Pasternak's greatest novel, Doctor Zhivago (1965).—David Glagovsky <dglagovsky@prodigy.net>