|
|
1949
The Last Days of Dolwyn B&W
Burton makes a strong debut in this drama. Set in a Welsh village, the locals
are promised a ‘better life’ in Liverpool as their beautiful valley
is set to be flooded for the provision of a reservoir for mill towns in Lancashire.
Burton, having left the village as a delinquent, returns to ‘sell’ the
idea of a better life – the locals are divided in their opinion.
 |
| Screenplay: Emlyn
Williams |
| Producer: Anatole
de Grunwald |
| Director: Emlyn
Williams |
| Running time:
95 minutes |
| Country: UK |
| Available
from Amazon.com |
|
|
|
|
1949
Now Barabbas Was a Robber B&W
A somber story of prison life with Burton playing an Irish terrorist inmate. He
vividly portrays his second screen role, in a film that argues against the death
penalty.
|
| Screenplay: Gordon
Parry |
| Producer: Anatole
de Grunwald |
| Director: Gordon
Parry |
| Running time:
84 minutes |
| Country: UK |
|
|
|
|
1950
The Woman with No Name B&W
Burton plays a Norwegian airman, Nick Chamerd. He bigamously weds Yvonne Winter
who is suffering from amnesia.
|
| Screenplay: Theresa
Charles, Guy Morgan |
| Producer: John
Stafford |
| Director: Ladislao
Vajda |
| Running time:
84 minutes |
| Country: UK |
|
|
|
|
1950
Waterfront B&W
In only his third film, Burton plays Ben Satterthwaite, an unemployed ship’s
engineer, in this bleak melodrama. This unrelenting portrait of Liverpool in the
Depression exposes the trials and tribulations of the seaman and the misery he
inflicts on his shipmates and his family as a result of his habitual, drunken
ways.
|
| Screenplay: John
Brophy, Paul Soskin |
| Producer: Paul
Soskin |
| Director: Michael
Anderson |
| Running time:
80 minutes |
| Country: UK |
|
|
|
|
1951
Green Grow the Rushes B&W
Burton plays ‘Bob Hammond’, the leader of an enterprising gang that
uses an ancient charter to smuggle brandy into the southern coast of England.
|
| Screenplay: Howard
Clewes, Derek Twist |
| Producer: John
Gossage |
| Director: Derek
Twist |
| Running time:
88 minutes |
| Country: UK |
| Available
from Amazon.com |
|
|
|
|
1952
My Cousin Rachel B&W
Based on Daphne du Maurier’s novel, Burton plays Philip Ashley with an emotional
intensity that is emphasized by his striking visual presence. Olivia de Havilland,
as his on-screen wife Rachel Ashley, delivers equal emotion. This film provides
Burton with his first Oscar nomination for his first foray into Hollywood.
|
| Screenplay: Nunnally
Johnson |
| Producer: Nunnally
Johnson |
| Director: Henry
Koster |
| Running time:
176 minutes |
| Country: USA |
|
|
|
|
1953
The Desert Rats B&W
In this WW2 drama Burton plays a Scottish Army officer in charge of a disparate
group of ANZAC troops that become engaged in the Battle of Trobuk against Field
Marshal Rommel. Despite the problems facing Burton’s character, he manages
to successfully bring down Rommel’s men.
|
| Screenplay: Richard
Murphy |
| Producer: Robert
L Jacks |
| Director: Robert
Wise |
| Running time:
84 minutes |
| Country: USA |
| Available
from Amazon.com |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
1953
The Robe Colour
Promoted as, ‘The first motion picture in CinemaScope – the modern miracle
you see without glasses!’, Burton plays Marcellous Gallio, a Roman officer
who wins Christ’s robe in a dice game during the Crucifixion.
|
| Screenplay: Albert
Maltz, Philip Dunne |
| Producer: Frank
Ross |
| Director: Henry
Koster |
| Running time:
133 minutes |
| Country: USA |
| Available
from Amazon.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1955
The Rains of Ranchipur Colour
Edwina Esketh and her husband arrive in a small town in India. The spoilt madam
soon meets and falls in love with an Indian doctor called Dr. Safti played by
Burton. The film is entitled accordingly, as there is a terrible earthquake that
is followed by days of rain.
|
| Screenplay: Merle
Miller |
| Producer: Frank
Ross |
| Director: Jean
Negulesco |
| Running time:
103 minutes |
| Country: USA |
|
|
|
|
1955
Prince of Players Colour
A biopic of the American actor Edwin Booth the brother of John Wilkes Booth –
Abraham Lincoln’s assassin. Burton plays Edwin the actor and consequently
acts, with confidence, extracts from Richard III, Hamlet, Othello,
Romeo and Juliet.
|
| Screenplay: Moss
Hart |
| Producer: Philip
Dunne |
| Director: Philip
Dunne |
| Running time: 102
minutes |
| Country: USA |
|
|
|
|
1956
Alexander the Great Colour
Billed as, ‘The Colossus who conquered the world!’, Burton plays ‘the
colossus’, Alexander. This film uses CinemaScope and employs great armies
of extras to good effect.
|
| Screenplay: Robert
Rossen |
| Producer: |
| Director: Robert
Rossen |
| Running time:
129 minutes |
| Country: USA,
Spain |
| Available
from Amazon.com |
|
|
|
|
1957
Bitter Victory B&W
This edgy WW2 drama features Burton and Curt Jurgens as leaders of an assault
on Rommel’s HQ. The uncomfortable atmosphere between the two characters is
due to Burton having had an affair with Jurgen’s wife. The film was shot
in Lybia.
|
| Screenplay: Rene
Hardy, Nicholas Ray, Gavin Lambert |
| Producer: Paul
Graetz |
| Director: Nicholas
Ray |
| Running time:
105 minutes |
| Country: USA,
France |
|
|
|
|
1957
Sea Wife Colour
A Japanese submarine sinks a cargo ship containing British evacuees from Singapore.
Some of the passengers survive – an attractive woman (who is actually a nun),
a bigoted administrator, an army officer and a seaman – by escaping in a
lifeboat. Inner characteristics are exposed under the testing conditions.
|
| Screenplay: George
K Burke |
| Producer: Andre
Hakin |
| Director: Bob
McNaught |
| Running time:
81 minutes |
| Country: UK |
|
|
|
|
1959
Look Back in Anger B&W
This film of the John Osborne play epitomizes the era in which it was made. Burton
plays the relentlessly whingeing Jimmy Porter who grinds down his wife with his
attitude that life owes him a living.
|
| Screenplay: Nigel
Kneale, John Osborne |
| Producer: Gordon
L T Scott, Harry Saltzman |
| Director: Tony
Richardson |
| Running time:
95 minutes |
| Country: UK |
| Available
from Amazon.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
