Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton - Discussion & Photos! :)

[ClassyCo]

I'm trying to watch Burton's THE ROBE (1953) for the holiday, and Elizabeth is nowhere to be found. But it's like early-Marc Antony. Burton crucifies Jesus, and Jesus' robe torments Burton.

It's camp as the Easter bunny. And I just find Burton's endless posing so tiresome; he can be an exhausting actor: he's both highly energetic and lazy simultaneously.

It's not that he's bad exactly ......

I've never understood the hype Burton gets as an actor. I honestly haven't seen him in that much so far, but I think the only thing I've liked him in is VIRGINIA WOOLF.

But I've come across the occasional movie buff that thinks he's one of the greats, but I just don't see it. Like your comment here, I find him to be habitually lazy and coasting on a reputation without anything to hold it up.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I've never understood the hype Burton gets as an actor. I honestly haven't seen him in that much so far, but I think the only thing I've liked him in is VIRGINIA WOOLF.

But I've come across the occasional movie buff that thinks he's one of the greats, but I just don't see it. Like your comment here, I find him to be habitually lazy and coasting on a reputation without anything to hold it up.

He's a weird mix of being very-engaged-and-in-the-moment countered by an overly-detached mechanical-ishness, reciting his lines contemptuously as if reading them off of a typewriter, pausing and slowing only to look quasi-soulful for no discernable reason, Burton seemingly hoping that the juxtaposition will work.

Tricks, they are.

He screams in disgust at underlings, then grins wryly at their candor. Repeatedly. In nearly every film.

VIRGINIA WOOLF is probably his best performance. Though, as I say, there are others.

 

[ClassyCo]

VIRGINIA WOOLF is probably his best performance. Though, as I say, there are others.

What other films is he good in? Would you recommend any of them?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

What other films is he good in? Would you recommend any of them?

Well, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and TAMING OF THE SHREW pretty much work.

 

[ClassyCo]

Well, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and TAMING OF THE SHREW pretty much work.

I have heard good things about those.

 

[ginnyfan]

Has anyone been able to go through the whole 148 minutes of Divorce His, Divorce Hers (1973) ? Well, today, I couldn't....

This is a TV movie they made in 1973, their last project together I think, just before their own marriage started to fall apart. I did see the terrible reviews and ratings it got but was still interested to check it out. Well I gave up after an hour cause it just did not feel like it was leading anywhere and the constant repetitive flashback scenes stared to wear thin. The movie is about a divorce and two different perspectives on it, first Burton's and then Taylor's. The idea is intersting, they filmed on location in Rome so the project had a lot going for it but in the end, the lack of good script kills the whole thing. It's also very 70s TV series plus the visuals are also garish 70s. This was not Liz's best decade, looks wise, and here we get her in both best and worst of her 70s versions.

So to go back to my initial question, if anyone saw this in full, how was it for you? I'm actually shocked it has 2 votes here, which is twice more than The VIPs.

 

[rayray]

Brava, Ginnyfan! I also tried to make it through both of these and made to through half of "his." It was ponderous (with very little to say or think about) and tiresome. The fact that I'm going through my own separation made me yearn for more substance, but it's very very 70s TV Movie, as you mention.

 

[Karin]

Has anyone been able to go through the whole 148 minutes of Divorce His, Divorce Hers (1973) ? Well, today, I couldn't....

So to go back to my initial question, if anyone saw this in full, how was it for you? I'm actually shocked it has 2 votes here, which is twice more than The VIPs.

I am one of the people who voted for "Divorce His, Divorce Hers" (1973)
I first watched it back in 2008 as I was discovering Taylor-Burton. I have re-watched it several times and made two fan videos from the matieral too.
I loved it. I think it's the feeling of being a fly on the wall. Yes they are playing fictional characters but it felt like it was mirroring what was happening in Elizabeth and Richards lives at the time. Their emotions are very raw and chemsitry is obviously there.

That said. I am not sure I would enjoy watching that movie as much today after having been through a really painful breakup in my own life.

Anyway if anyone wants to check out the fan videos I made of this mini tv-series you can watch them here:

 

[ClassyCo]

Has anyone read or seen this book? I saw it at Barnes & Noble the other day.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Weird curio, with Sammy Davis, Jr., 1966:

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I'm currently watching BOOM! (1968) for the first time. It's very weird, based on a Tennessee Williams play, starring Taylor, Burton and, of all people, Noël Cowerd (in a role Katharine Hepburn turned down!) The sets are wild, Douglas Slocombe's camerawork is striking, and the vistas from Sardinia are gorgeous.

Not surprisingly, BOOM! bombed at the box office.

A little doc on BOOM! and SECRET CEREMONY (1968) -- some folks say the latter is actually pretty good:

 

[ClassyCo]

I'm currently watching BOOM! (1968) for the first time. It's very weird, based on a Tennessee Williams play, starring Taylor, Burton and, of all people, Noël Cowerd (in a role Katharine Hepburn turned down!) The sets are wild, Douglas Slocombe's camerawork is striking, and the vistas from Sardinia are gorgeous.

Not surprisingly, BOOM bombed at the box office.

A little doc on BOOM! and SECRET CEREMONY (1968) -- some folks say the latter is actually pretty good:

I've never seen BOOM!, but filmmaker John Waters says it's "the perfect movie". I'm not sure about that, based on Waters' reputation and the word on the movie itself.

 

[KayLloyd]

My mom saw Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor looking in a jewelry store window in Toronto when he was doing the modern dress Hamlet.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Richard Burton would have turned 100 years old today (he didn't even make it to his sixties -- and now MikeUK can't tell us his secrets!)

I can't believe I haven't done a title card for Burton! What was I thinking??

It's so hard to find portrait pics of Burton where he doesn't look too severe. I chose a Welsh church and cemetery as background.

 

[Karin]

Amazing that Richard was born 100 years ago today!
I was actually just thinking of that a couple of hours ago. I am re-reading the Melvyn Bragg book right now. Somehow that biography about Richard seems less interesting to read now when his diaries have been published in it's entirety.

I haven't done any new fan music videos in three years so I have nothing new to share. But I will repost the photos I took in his hometown Pontrhydyfen in Wales when I visited it in 2010.





The actual house where he was born.

 

[Toni]

Richard Burton would have turned 100 years old today (he didn't even make it to his sixties -- and now MikeUK can't tell us his secrets!)

I can't believe I haven't done a title card for Burton! What was I thinking??

It's so hard to find portrait pics of Burton where he doesn't look too severe. I chose a Welsh church and cemetery as background.

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Here he looks a bit like Roger Grimes...

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Here he looks a bit like Roger Grimes...

No, not really. Plus he was way too old (and the booze made him look even older).

 

[James from London]

This is a really great podcast about the making of Cleopatra, really detailed, really interesting: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-plot-thickens/id1504732282

 

[Karin]

Seems like Richards' 100th birthday was not forgotten. In this clip his daughter Kate and granddaughter are interviewed about the blue plack put up on the house where he was born.

 

[Toni]

Amazing that Richard was born 100 years ago today!
I was actually just thinking of that a couple of hours ago. I am re-reading the Melvyn Bragg book right now. Somehow that biography about Richard seems less interesting to read now when his diaries have been published in it's entirety.

I haven't done any new fan music videos in three years so I have nothing new to share. But I will repost the photos I took in his hometown Pontrhydyfen in Wales when I visited it in 2010.

View attachment 57766


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The actual house where he was born.
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The Spanish dubbing actor who was Burton´s "official voice" visited this place a few years after his passing, as a way to homage him. Believe it or not, this late Spanish actor, whose name was Arseni Corsellas, also dubbed Larry Hagman in "Dallas", first in Catalan, and on TNT, in Spanish too.