Richard Burton

  • Jirí Trnka – Sen noci svatojánské AKA Midsummer Night’s Dream (1959)

    1951-1960AnimationCzech RepublicFantasyJirí TrnkaWilliam Shakespeare

    The first puppet kinescope in the world. It is based on the famous poetic comedy by William Shakespeare. Three worlds meet in this story: the noble world of three Athens couples, a common popular world of tradesmen amateur theatre and a fairy-tale happiness of magic creatures as elves and nymphs. The film is considered the most remarkable Jirí Trnka work and a milestone in the history of the world animation.Read More »

  • Tony Palmer – Wagner (1983)

    1981-1990DramaTony PalmerTVUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    Wagner is a giant, unwieldy beast. Eight hours devoted to the German composer, from the age of 35 to his death. Its sheer length allows the screen to play house to his politics, his person and his loves all within the frame of his music. Yet is enacts a precarious balance between the epic and the personal, between reverence and irreverence and between high art and high camp. Indeed, at its centre is not Wagner, nor Richard Burton who portrays the composer, but director Tony Palmer who grapples with the material throughout, sometimes succeeding and sometimes falling flat on his face.Read More »

  • Joseph Losey – Boom! (1968)

    Joseph Losey1961-1970CampDramaUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    Movie version of playwright Tennessee Williams’ “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore” involves very wealthy Flora “Sissy” Goforth (Dame Elizabeth Taylor), supposedly dying, and living in a large mansion on a secluded island with her servants and nurses. Into her life comes a mysterious man, Christopher Flanders, a.k.a. “Angelo Del Morte” (Richard) and The Witch of Capri (Noël Coward). The mysterious man may or may not be “The Angel of Death”.Read More »

  • Michael Tuchner – Villain (1971)

    1971-1980CrimeDramaMichael TuchnerQueer Cinema(s)United Kingdom

    Quote:
    “Murderous, sadistic London gang leader Vic Dakin, a mother-obsessed homosexual modeled on real-life gangster Ronnie Kray, is worried about potential stool pigeons that may bring down his criminal empire. The brutal Vic cuts the throat of one bloke who has been a little too loose-lipped, afraid that his gossiping may turn into a grand operatic performance for the coppers. Vic, who enjoys playing at rough trade with his sidekick Wolfe, plans a payroll robbery and directs the blackmailing of Members of Parliament with a taste for unorthodox sex. Scotland Yard Police Inspector Matthews, playing Javert to Vic’s Jean Valjean, is moving in on him and the gang. Gang-member Frank is hospitalized for an ulcer, and Inspector Matthews might be able to make him sing. Will Frank spill the beans to the coppers before Vic can silence him?” – Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb)Read More »

  • Christian Marquand – Candy (1968)

    1961-1970Christian MarquandComedyEroticaFrance

    Candy is a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, from a screenplay by Buck Henry. The film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin. It stars Marlon Brando, Ewa Aulin, Ringo Starr, John Huston and Enrico Maria Salerno. Popular figures such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Anita Pallenberg, and Florinda Bolkan appear in cameo roles.Read More »

  • Tony Richardson – Look Back in Anger (1959)

    Drama1951-1960Tony RichardsonUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    ‘Three years after its incendiary run on the London stage, director Tony Richardson’s film version of John Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger (1959) became one of the precursors to the British “kitchen sink” dramas of the 1960s. Enhancing the aim to show British life as it really was through the hopeless existence of enraged working class stiff Jimmy Porter and his put-upon, better-born wife Allison, Richardson unstintingly reveals the grunginess of their industrial city residential milieu with its drab row houses and unkempt children.Read More »

  • Martin Ritt – The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)

    1961-1970DramaMartin RittThrillerUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    At the height of the Cold War, British spy Alec Leamas (Richard Burton) is nearly ready to retire, but first he has to take on one last dangerous assignment. Going deep undercover, he poses as a drunken, disgraced former MI5 agent in East Germany in order to gain information about colleagues who have been captured. When he himself is thrown in jail and interrogated, Leamas finds himself caught in a sinister labyrinth of plots and counter-plots unlike anything in his long career.Read More »

  • Various – The Longest Day (1962)

    1961-1970ClassicsUSAVariousWar

    Synopsis:
    In 1944, the U.S. Army and Allied forces plan a huge invasion landing in Normandy, France. Despite bad weather, General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the okay and the Allies land at Normandy. General Norma Cota travels with his men onto Omaha Beach. With much effort, and lost life, they get off the beach, traveling deep into French territory. The German military, due to arrogance, ignorance and a sleeping Adolf Hitler, delay their response to the Allied landing, with crippling results.Read More »

  • Joseph L. Mankiewicz – Cleopatra (1963)

    1961-1970ClassicsEpicJoseph L. MankiewiczUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    In 48 B.C., Caesar pursues Pompey from Pharsalia to Egypt. Ptolemy, now supreme ruler after deposing his older sister, Cleopatra, attempts to gain favor with Caesar by presenting the conquerer with the head of Pompey, borne by his governors, Pothinos and Achillas. To win Caesar’s support from her brother, Cleopatra hides herself in a rug, which Apollodorus, her servant, presents to Caesar. The Roman is immediately infatuated; banishing Ptolemy, he declares Cleopatra Egypt’s sole ruler and takes her as his mistress. A son, Caesarion, is born of their union. Caesar, however, must return to Italy. Although he is briefly reunited with Cleopatra during a magnificent reception for the queen in Rome, Caesar is assassinated shortly thereafter, and Cleopatra returns to Egypt.Read More »

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