Mr Burton Review

Richard Burton is one of Wales’ most famous actors, and the relationship with his adopted father serves as the centre of his biopic.

Richard Jenkins (Harry Lawtey) is a schoolboy from a working-class family in Port Talbot. Richard’s English teacher, P.H. Burton (Toby Jones), notices his potential, and the pair become close when Richard decides to become an actor. The pair faces challenges from Richard’s family and accusations from the community.

Mr Burton’s production was very Welsh. It was mostly filmed in Wales, the majority of the cast were Welsh, and the director, Marc Evans, has focused on making Welsh-themed films, such as House of America, Patagonia, and Hunky Dory. Mr Burton was a handsomely made film that can be admired. Considering the presentation and the subject matter, Mr Burton was a film that was targeted towards an older audience, and it was evident at my screening, which was mainly populated by older ladies.

Due to Mr Burton being about acting, it required top-tier acting, and it got it from its cast. Lawtey has a growing reputation, appearing in Industry and Joker: Folie à Deux, whilst Jones is a celebrated character actor. The film portrayed their relationship as a male version of Pygmalion and My Fair Lady since Mr Burton taught Richard how to perform, pronounce, and project. There was also a little bit of The King’s Speech in Mr Burton due to some of the exercises P.H. made Richard undergo. The class theme does play differently to an audience in 2025, where a man had to change his identity and personality to be accepted as an actor. Recently, actors in the UK have spoken about the need for more opportunities and training for working-class actors, most famously, Jodie Comer.

Mr Burton was a class story. Richard was a working-class lad who was expected to take up a job in his industrial town. He wasn’t expected to do anything more. The male members of his family were miners, and none of his family had completed school, let alone gone to university. Richard had the potential to go to Oxford but had to fight discrimination because of his background and nationality. To be accepted by the middle classes, Richard had to shed his Welshness. This was made easier by Richard’s family rejecting him. I thought of the quotes that had falsely been attributed to Dylan Thomas: “Land of my fathers? My fathers can keep it.”

The film did attempt to draw parallels with William Shakespeare’s Henry V. The play was a presence throughout the film, from being the play that Mr Burton made Richard read, to Richard performing the play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Henry V acted as a mirror for Richard since Richard was a ruffian and drunkard from Wales who was forced to take responsibility and become a leader. In Richard’s case, he becomes a leading man. However, some people state that Richard was a tearaway, yet he was portrayed as an enthusiastic and decent young man. He only became unpleasant when he left Wales and became a drunk when he was in Stratford-upon-Avon. Lawtey was brilliant playing both the Welsh schoolboy and the arrogant young star.

Mr Burton had a standard inspiring teacher story. Richard was shown to be a youth with overlooked potential, had a drunk father (Steffan Rhodri) who had so many kids he didn’t know all of them, and his brother-in-law (Aneurin Barnard) was a hardass who wanted Richard to join the workforce as soon as possible. There was a cliché early in the film where Richard’s dad got plastered and missed Richard’s first performance on the stage. Mr. Burton was a playwright before the war, but was assigned to be a teacher during the war. The pair ended up teaching and inspiring each other.

Mr Burton was a perfectly serviceable film for its target audience, and it was wonderfully acted.