1940/50s
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
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
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
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
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
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
- Available:
- from Amazon.com

Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
Golden Globe nomination for best actor.
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
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

Academy Award nomination for best actor.
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
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
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
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
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
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
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
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Look Back in Anger (Colour)

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
1960s
The Bramble Bush (Colour)

Burton plays a New England doctor who returns to his home town and falls in love with his dying friend’s wife. Adapted from a bestseller by Charles Mergendahl. Corruption and adultery feature heavily.
- Screenplay:
- Milton Sperling, Philip Yordan
- Producer:
- Milton Sperling
- Director:
- Daniel Petrie
- Running time:
- 93 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Ice Palace (Colour)

The backdrop of this film is the development of Alaska from 1918 to statehood in 1958 and the trials of Zeb Kennedy, played by Burton.
- Screenplay:
- Harry Kleiner
- Producer:
- Henry Blanke
- Director:
- Vincent Sherman
- Running time:
- 160 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The Longest Day (B&W)

A colossal war movie portraying the WW2 D-Day landings. Burton stars alongside Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Kenneth Moore, Robert Mitchum, and Sean Connery. Burton speaks the best line: ‘I don’t mind being one of the few; trouble is we keep getting fewer.’
- Screenplay:
- Cornelius Ryan, Romain Gary
- Producer:
- Darryl F Zanuck
- Director:
- Andrew Marton, Ken Annakin, Bernhard Wick
- Running time:
- 168 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Cleopatra (Colour)

‘The motion picture the world has been waiting for!’, rang the publicity machine for this epic, glorious, historical drama. Burton plays Mark Antony to Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra – filling their roles to the very brim. To this day, taking inflation into account, this is the most expensive film ever made: $40m at the time, approximately $250m in today’s money.
- Screenplay:
- Joseph l Mankieicz, Sidney Buchman, Ranald MacDougall
- Producer:
- Walter Wanger
- Director:
- Joseph L Mankiewicz
- Running time:
- 248 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The VIPs (Colour)

A slick production telling the tale of a flight delay at Heathrow. The film unfolds around the ensuing repercussions for the uppity passengers. Burton plays Paul Andros, married to Frances Andros who is played by Elizabeth Taylor. The cast also includes Margaret Rutherford, Maggie Smith, Orson Welles and surprisingly, David Frost.
- Screenplay:
- Terrance Rattigan
- Producer:
- Anatole de Grunwald
- Director:
- Anthony Asquith
- Running time:
- 119 minutes
- Country:
- UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Becket (Colour)

Burton plays the title role alongside Peter O’Toole as King Henry II and Sir John Gielgud as King Louis VII of France.
- Screenplay:
- Edward Anhalt
- Producer:
- Hal Wallis
- Director:
- Peter Glenville
- Running time:
- 119 minutes
- Country:
- Available:
- from Amazon.com

Academy Award nomination for best actor.
Golden Laurel for best male performance.
Golden Globe nomination for best actor.
Night of the Iguana (B&W)

Based on the Tennessee Willams play, Burton stars as Reverend Laurence Shannon, a defrocked cleric who is trying to find God again. With Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner also starring the tagline reads: ‘One man, three women, one night’.
- Screenplay:
- Anthony Veiller, John Huston
- Producer:
- Ray Stark
- Director:
- John Huston
- Running time:
- 112 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
On the trail of the Iguana (Colour)
This short documentary made for the promotion of The Night of the Iguana focuses mainly on John Huston and how he manages to realize his vision for a film. Many of the actors from the film explain what it is like to be directed by Huston.
- Screenplay:
- Producer:
- Director:
- Ross Lowell
- Running time:
- 14 minutes
- Country:
- USA
Hamlet (B&W)

Burton more than fills the title role in this filmed recording of two public performances of the New York theatrical production.
- Screenplay:
- John Gielgud
- Producer:
- William Sargent Jr, Alfred W Crown
- Director:
- Bill Colleran
- Running time:
- 191 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The Sanpiper (Colour)

A vintage Hollywood Burton-Taylor vehicle. It was filmed at the height of the public’s mania over the couple. Burton plays an Episcopalian priest who runs a school to which Taylor’s son is sent. There is a torrid affair, followed by whistle blowing from a jealous colleague of Burton.
- Screenplay:
- Dalton Trumbo, Michael Wilson, Irene Kamp, Louis Kamp
- Producer:
- Martin Ransohoff
- Director:
- Vincente Minnelli
- Running time:
- 112 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (B&W)

Classed as the most authentic Cold War films, Burton exercises his acting talent to full effect as Alec Leamas, a British spy sent to East Germany – supposedly to defect. With bleak black and white photography and smart directing, this film adaptation of John Le Carre’s novel, is one of the best of its kind.
- Screenplay:
- Paul Dehn, Guy Trosper
- Producer:
- Martin Ritt
- Director:
- Martin Ritt
- Running time:
- 112 minutes
- Country:
- UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com

Academy Award nomination for best actor.
Golden Laurel for best male performance.
BAFTA film award for best British actor.
What's New, Pussycat? (Colour)

Woody Allen’s debut as a writer and performer includes Peter Sellers, Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton, Romy Schneider and Ursula Andrews. While it is rumoured that Allen is not particularly proud of the unchecked ad-libbing, the film is hilarious and has a soundtrack written by Burt Baharrach.
- Screenplay:
- Woody Allen
- Producer:
- Director:
- Clive Donner
- Running time:
- 104 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (B&W)

Paint-blistering performances by Burton and Taylor who, as fictional husband and wife, brutally expose their decaying marriage. The two show no mercy in lacerating each other with verbal volleys in front of their dinner guests – acted by George Segal and Sandy Dennis. This is a five Oscar-winning exhausting feast and feat for all involved.
- Screenplay:
- Ernest Lehman
- Producer:
- Ernest Lehman
- Director:
- Mike Nichols
- Running time:
- 123 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com

Academy Award nomination for best actor.
Golden Laurel for best male performance.
Golden Globe nomination for best actor.
BAFTA film award for best British actor.
The Comedians (Colour)

Set in Haiti of ‘Papa Doc Duvalier’, Burton plays a hotel owner who fatalistically witnesses Haiti slipping into barbarism. Elizabeth Taylor plays wife to Peter Ustinov, a European ambassador. Burton’s character has to deal with politically charged guests, a love affair with the ambassador’s wife and manipulation by a British arms dealer. The cast also includes Alec Guinness and Lillian Gish.
- Screenplay:
- Graham Green
- Producer:
- Peter Glenville
- Director:
- Peter Glenville
- Running time:
- 167 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Doctor Faustus (Colour)

Christopher Marlowe’s play, depicting a man who sold his soul to the devil, was one of Burton’s favourites. He cast himself as Faust and Elizabeth Taylor (his wife at the time) as Helen of Troy. Burton first put the play on at Oxford and then utilized his box-office muscle to, finance, produce and co-direct this screen version.
- Screenplay:
- Nevill Coghill
- Producer:
- Richard Burton
- Director:
- Richard Burton, Nevill Coghill
- Running time:
- 167 minutes
- Country:
- UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The Taming of the Shrew (Colour)

‘In the war between the sexes, there always comes a time for unconditional surrender,’ reads the tagline for this film of Shakespeare’s play. Acting at the height of their love affair, Burton and Taylor lift the lead characters from the page to the screen with tremendous, compelling vitality. Add the rich photography, sets and costumes and you have pure visual indulgence.
- Screenplay:
- Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Paul Dehn, Franco Zeffirelli
- Producer:
- Richard Burton, Franco Zeffirelli
- Director:
- Franco Zeffirelli
- Running time:
- 116 minutes
- Country:
- USA, Italy
- Available:
- from Amazon.com

Golden Globe nomination for best actor
BAFTA film award for best British actor
Boom (Colour)

Burton and Taylor star in this adaptation of Tennesse William’s play The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore. Noël Coward plays Taylor’s confident.
- Screenplay:
- Tennessee Williams
- Producer:
- John Heyman, Norman Priggen
- Director:
- Joseph Losey
- Running time:
- Country:
- UK, USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Candy (Colour)

A cast of big names who allegedly got paid $50,000 each for a week’s work in this kookie satire. Charles Aznavour, Marlon Brando, James Coburn, John Huston, Walter Matthau, Ringo Starr, John Astin and Anita Pallenberg join Burton.
- Screenplay:
- Buck Henry
- Producer:
- Robert Haggiag
- Director:
- Christian Marquand
- Running time:
- 124 minutes
- Country:
- France, Italy, USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Anne of the Thousand Days (Colour)

This historical drama focuses on Henry VIII’s obsession with siring a male heir and the repercussions falling on those around him. Burton plays Henry as a soulful yet determined monarch. Margaret Furse won an Oscar for the costumes she designed in this film.
- Screenplay:
- Bridget Boland, John Hale, Richard Sokolove (adaptation)
- Producer:
- Hal Wallis
- Director:
- Charles Jarrott
- Running time:
- Country:
- Available:
- from Amazon.com

Academy Award nomination for best actor.
Golden Globe nomination for best actor.
Staircase (Colour)

Burton and Rex Harrison parade as two ageing homosexual hairdressers that have been living together for 20 years. The film reveals that their relationship does not withstand the test of time or absence.
- Screenplay:
- Charles Dyer
- Producer:
- Stanley Donen
- Director:
- Stanley Donen
- Running time:
- Country:
- UK
Where Eagles Dare (Colour)

A WW2 espionage adventure staring Burton as Major John Smith who is tasked with leading a crack commando force to rescue a key American General who was captured by the Nazis. Then, a hugely profitable picture: now, a movie classic.
- Screenplay:
- Alistar MacLean
- Producer:
- Elliot Kaster
- Director:
- Brian G Houston
- Running time:
- 148 minutes
- Country:
- UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
1970s
Raid on Rommel (Colour)

A WW2 drama in which Burton plays Captain Foster, who releases prisoners to attack Trobruk. The film was originally meant for TV.
- Screenplay:
- Richard Bluel
- Producer:
- Harry Tatelman
- Director:
- Henry Hathaway
- Running time:
- 93 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Villain (B&W)

Burton side-steps the confines of roles that made him the world’s highest paid movie star to play Vic Dakin, a homosexual East End thug who rules by fear, yet is loved by his mother. The film is successfully black, violent and ugly.
- Screenplay:
- Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Al Lettieri
- Producer:
- Anatole de Grunwald
- Director:
- Michael Tuchner
- Running time:
- 93 minutes
- Country:
- UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Under Milk Wood (Colour)

A screen version of Dylan Thomas’ celebrated radio play. Burton plays First Voice – the narrator – with comfortable familiarity. He not only knew Dylan well, but also had already performed the play on radio. In both versions Burton’s voice, once again, raises the hairs on our necks. Outstanding work.
- Screenplay:
- Andrew Sinclair
- Producer:
- Jules Buck, Hugh French
- Director:
- Andrew Sinclair
- Running time:
- 87 minutes
- Country:
- UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The Assassination of Trotsky (Colour)

Burton energetically portrays Trotsky in this historical drama about the assassination of the Russian revolutionary. Shot on authentic locations, Alan Delon stars as Frank Jacson, the assassin charged by Stalin to commit the fatal deed.
- Screenplay:
- Nicholas Mosley, Masolino D'Amico
- Producer:
- Norman Priggen, Joseph Losey
- Director:
- Joseph Losey
- Running time:
- 102 minutes
- Country:
- France, Italy
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Bluebeard (Colour)

Burton plays Baron Kurt von Sepper, a WW1 pilot who is admired as a ladykiller and literally is one.
- Screenplay:
- Ennio De Concini, Edward Dmytryk, Maria Pia Fuscc
- Producer:
- Alexander Salkind
- Director:
- Edward Dmytryk
- Running time:
- 125 minutes
- Country:
- France, Italy, West Germany, Hungary
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Hammersmith is Out (Colour)

Burton plays a mentally disturbed patient in a hospital run by a doctor, whose sanity is also questionable.
- Screenplay:
- Standford Whitmore
- Producer:
- Alex Lucas
- Director:
- Peter Ustinov
- Running time:
- 114 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
The Fifth Offensive (Colour)

As Marshall Tito, Burton portrays the breakthrough of a German encirclement. The actor persuaded the producers to rewrite his role to mirror the first-hand account of the battle by F W D Deakin in his book The Embattled Mountain. The film was originally released under the title The Battle of Sutjeska.
- Screenplay:
- Branimir Scepanovic, Sergei Bondarchuk, Wolf Mankowitz
- Producer:
- Nikola Popovic
- Director:
- Stipe Delic
- Running time:
- 124 minutes
- Country:
- Yugoslavia
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Massacre in Rome (Colour)

Based on a true story, Burton stars with Marcello Mastroianni as a priest who tries to stop mass executions in retaliation for the death of German troops by partisans.
- Screenplay:
- George Pan Cosmatos, Robert Katz
- Producer:
- Carlo Ponti
- Director:
- George Pan Cosmatos
- Running time:
- 95 minutes
- Country:
- Italy, France
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The Klansman (Colour)

Burton plays Breck Stancill, a simple landowner to Lee Marvin as Sheriff Big Track Bascomb, in this film about simmering racial tensions in a small southern town between civil rights activists and active members of the Klu Klux Klan.
- Screenplay:
- Millard Kaufman, Samuel Fuller
- Producer:
- William Alexander
- Director:
- Terence Young
- Running time:
- 107 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The Voyage (Colour)

Based on Pirandello’s story of two lovers, unable to marry, who are destroyed by fate. Burton plays Cesar opposite Sophia Loren as Adriana.
- Screenplay:
- Diego Fabbri, Massimo Franciosa, Luisa Montagnana
- Producer:
- Carlo Ponti
- Director:
- Vittorio De Sica
- Running time:
- 102 minutes
- Country:
- Italy
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Jackpot (Colour)
Only half of this film was made. Burton is cast as Reid Lawerence, an actor who is paralysed by a falling lift.
- Screenplay:
- Millard Kaufman, Peter Draper
- Producer:
- William Alexander
- Director:
- Terence Young
- Running time:
- 70 minutes
- Country:
- France, Italy, USA
Exorcist II: The Heretic (Colour)

Much less a sequel than a rethinking of the original source material. The focus here is on the quest of Father Lamont, played by Burton, to deal with the demon still present in Linda Blair.
- Screenplay:
- William Goodhart
- Producer:
- Richard Lederer, John Boorman
- Director:
- John Boorman
- Running time:
- 112 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films nomination for Saturn award for best actor.
Equus (Colour)

Originally a play by Peter Shaffer, this is a powerful psychological drama about a boy whose repressed emotions lead him to blind six horses. Burton takes the role of Martin Dysart the psychologist. Martin’s long speeches suit Burton’s strong narrative abilities.
- Screenplay:
- Peter Shaffer
- Producer:
- Lester Persky
- Director:
- Sidney Lumet
- Running time:
- 132 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com

Academy Award nomination for best actor.
Golden Globe nomination for best actor.
Absolution (Colour)

Burton plays a priest in a Catholic boarding school for boys. His protégé runs away with a hippie and commits murder. The boy’s confessions cause complete consternation for Burton who is compelled to find the corpses.
- Screenplay:
- Anthony Schaffer
- Producer:
- &npsp;
- Director:
- Anthony Page
- Running time:
- 91 minutes
- Country:
- UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Sergeant Steiner (Colour)

As a sequel to Sam Pekinpah’s Cross of Iron, this wartime drama is set in the period towards the end of WW2. Burton as Sergeant Steiner, attempts to secure a ceasefire and surrender. The film was also released under the title Breakthrough.
- Screenplay:
- Peter Berneis, Tony Williamson
- Producer:
- Wolfgang Hartwig
- Director:
- Andrew V McLaglen
- Running time:
- 115 minutes
- Country:
- Germany, UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The Medusa Touch (Colour)

Supported by an impressive cast of British actors – Michael Horden, Gordon Jackson and Derek Jacobi – Burton plays a novelist driven to the brink by his murderous mental powers in this supernatural thriller.
- Screenplay:
- John Briley, Jack Gold
- Producer:
- Director:
- Jack Gold
- Running time:
- 104 minutes
- Country:
- France, UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
The Wild Geese (Colour)

A real Boys Own action adventure film which races along as a good action film should. Burton plays mercenary leader Allen Faulkner, hired by a wealthy and unscrupulous merchant banker to rescue an imprisoned African leader. Roger Moore, Richard Harris, Hardy Kruger and Stewart Granger all look as if they are enjoying their roles.
- Screenplay:
- Reginald Rose
- Producer:
- Euan Lloyd
- Director:
- Andrew V McLaglen
- Running time:
- 128 minutes
- Country:
- UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Lovespell (Colour)

Burton is cast as the ageing King Mark of Cornwall in this film of Wagner’s opera. Filmed in Ireland, it was also released under the title Tristan and Iseult/Isolde.
- Screenplay:
- Claire Labine
- Producer:
- Tom Hayes, Claire Labine
- Director:
- Tom Donovan
- Running time:
- 91 minutes
- Country:
- USA
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
1980s
Circle of Two (Colour)

In this drama Burton stars as a 60-year-old failed artist to Tatum O’Neal’s 16-year-old, wilful schoolgirl. They befriend each other after spotting each other at a porn movie they have gone to see. She persuades him to resume his career as an artist, he persuades her to become a writer.
- Screenplay:
- Thomas Hedley
- Producer:
- Henry Van Der Volk
- Director:
- Jules Dassin
- Running time:
- 108 minutes
- Country:
- Canada
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
Wagner (Colour)

This huge nine-hour biographical panorama of the life and times of Wagner includes an impressive cast. Burton plays Wagner, Vanessa Redgrave as Cosima von Bulow, John Gielgud as Pfistermeister, Ralph Richardson as Pfordten, and Laurence Olivier as Pfeufer. Filming took place over seven months, in Switzerland, Bavaria, Venice, Sienna and Hungary.
- Screenplay:
- Charles Wood
- Producer:
- Alan Wright
- Director:
- Tony Palmer
- Running time:
- 488 minutes
- Country:
- Austria, Hungary, UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com
1984 (Colour)

George Orwell’s study of a dystopian future is made bleaker than the 1955 film version of the same novel. Set in a futuristic state, Oceania, the totalitarian regime ensures that the human spirit has difficulty surviving. Burton plays O’Brien, who, with his voice and patience, manages to personify ‘Big Brother’s’ omnipresence.
- Screenplay:
- Michael Radford, Jonathan Gems
- Producer:
- Simon Perry
- Director:
- Michael Radford
- Running time:
- 108 minutes
- Country:
- UK
- Available:
- from Amazon.com