Mr Burton
2025
Certificate 12A – DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY
Director: Marc Evans
With Harry Lawtey, Toby Jones, Lesley Manville
Runtime: 124 mins
It’s 1942 and Richard Jenkins (Harry Lawtey) is at school in Port Talbot, caught between the pressures of an alcoholic father, a devastating war, and his own ambitions. A new opportunity beckons when Richard’s natural talent for drama catches the attention of his teacher, Philip Burton (Toby Jones). The young man thrives under Philip’s strict tutelage and the guidance of a kindly landlady, Ma Smith (Lesley Manville). But as the acting world comes within Richard’s reach, the burden of his past risks holding him back forever.
WHY WATCH THIS FILM? It’s a gripping account of the back story of Wales’s greatest actor.
“Lawtey effortlessly captures Burton’s silky diction, his swagger, his easy confidence as a performer, but also the bottled-up trauma of his childhood which he attempts to medicate with liquor and which threatens to undo him. While it’s questionable as to whether Richie ever managed to exorcise his demons, that he owes his remarkable career to Philip Burton has never been in doubt — something to which this film pays diligent tribute.” Screen Daily
“The performances from the two leads are impressive, with Lawtey deftly charting Richard’s progress from squeaky adolescent to adored stage smoothie, complete with trademark pout and mellifluous baritone. Jones finds wrenching sadness in the role of a teacher who once dreamt of writing for the stage and sees in Richard a conduit for his own unfulfilled life.” The Times