A One Mann’s Movies review of “Mr Burton” (2025).
“Mr Burton” is a ‘small’ film but a very well crafted one. It tells the little-known story of the early professional life of the great Welsh actor Richard Burton. I always knew that he was born as Richard Jenkins, but never knew how or why he changed his name… this filled in the blanks.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“Mr Burton” Plot:
Richie Jenkins (Harry Lawtey) is a bright pupil from an impoverished background in a Welsh mining village. With his mother deceased and his father (Steffan Rhodri) drunk most of the time, he lives with his sister Cis (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) and her increasingly irritated husband Elfed (Aneurin Barnard). But Richie finds salvation in Shakespeare through his schoolteacher Philip Burton (Toby Jones).
Certification:
UK: 15; US: NR. (From the BBFC web site: “Infrequent strong language, discrimination”)
Talent:
Starring: Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Lesley Manville, Aneurin Barnard, Steffan Rhodri.
Directed by: Marc Evans.
Written by: Tom Bullough & Josh Hyams.
Running Time: 2h 4m.
“Mr Burton” Summary:
Positives:
- A wonderfully nuanced performance from Harry Lawtey.
- Peerless performances (when are they anything else?) from Toby Jones and Lesley Manville.
- An interesting story that I wasn’t aware of.
Negatives:
- It’s obviously a low-budget production, but some of the VFX backdrops look very fake indeed.
- The back-end of the film felt rather rushed to me and disjointed.
Review of “Mr Burton”:
A solid, well-told Biopic.
In many of the biopics I see of famous people – e.g. Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde“; Whitney Houston in “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” – I have a pretty good knowledge of the major beats of the story before I go into it. With Richard Burton, not so much.
I guess for many younger readers, the name might not mean so much to them. They might not even have seen many of his films. They might know him from “that bloke on Jeff Wayne’s “War of the World” record that my Dad insisted I listen to over and over again in the car”! But Burton, as well as being a brilliant stage actor, starred in some classic films such as the biblical clasic “The Robe”; 1963’s steamy version of “Cleopatra” (where he met his future 2 x wife Elizabeth Taylor); 1965’s “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold”; 1966’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (again with Taylor) and 1968’s “Where Eagles Dare”. I have particularly fond memories of his 1978 telekenesis thriller “The Medusa Touch”, which is probably a TERRIBLE film but had, for me, a chilling performance from Burton.
But, I digress. This is about the biopic and the film ably charts a story, unknown to me, of how Burton could have so easily gone down the mines rather than deliver all of that great art.
Lawtey delivers the role to perfection.
Harry Lawtey is relatively unknown to me. He played a young Harvey Dent in “Joker: Folie á Deux“, but aside from that, he’s rather passed me by. Here, he manages to pull off Burton’s journey from nobody to star with aplomb. In the early scenes he is young, gawky and unimpressive. His acting at bad acting is great. (Like Les Dawson’s piano playing, you have to be a really good actor to act badly convincingly.) By the end of the film, his accent has been clipped back, he holds himself like the star would and he has somehow moulded his face to look far more like a young Richard Burton than you would ever have thought possible.
Jones and Manville: a safe pair of hands.
You couldn’t ask for a safer pair of acting hands than Toby Jones and Lesley Manville. Both here add value to the film. Manville plays the pair’s landlady, confusingly called “Ma”, with a wonderfully giggly and flighty character. Jones is in the title role and his best scenes are where he is arguing with Richard, with Richard insinuating that he is only getting close to him for unsavoury reasons and Philip vehemently denying that. (Although… behind his eyes…) It’s a superbly nuanced performance.
It’s absurd that the pair haven’t been recognised more for their film work. Manville was at least nominated for an Oscar (for “Phantom Thread“); but Toby Jones… nothing at all (although he has at least been recognised for his TV work).
I wanted to know more.
A problem with the film is that I felt it could have worked better as a 3 x 1 hour mini-series. The film, although documenting all of the interactions between Richard and Philip, features a 5-year gap at one point, for reasons I won’t spoil. When we return to Richard he is a fledgling star, about to take the world by storm with a performance of Henry V at Stratford. He’s a changed man, for bad (particularly alcohol-related) as well as good. But I was curious to know what happened in the interim. The last reel thus, for me, felt rather disjointed and rushed. Perhaps that is a different film (since this one could have been titled “Philip and Richie”).
Distracting backdrops.
The film has obviously been made for a pretty low budget given that many of the industrial backdrops of Port Talbot in the 1940s look distractingly false. I also thought I detected some CGI old cars in one scene. It’s not a major point. My film critic colleague, the Reverend Andy Godfrey, commented that because it felt like a stage play the background felt like stage backdrops, which is fair enough.
Summary Thoughts on “Mr Burton”
It’s a solid biopic. Not one I would necessarily rush back to to watch again, but interesting and informative and with strong central performances.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Mr Burton”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6Trx84-gy4.
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Excellent film I’m from Pontrhydyfen and thought it was brilliant and all the actors took amazing roles
Oh, thanks for commenting. I thought “Ponty” was “Pontypridd” (my Welsh geography isnt great!) so thanks for clarifying! Glad you enjoyed it.