Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton Film Collection (DVD, 2006, 5-Disc Set)

They are NOT the royal couple of acting--perhaps one of the most popular of the era, but not the best. Here is a collection of some of their movies:

THE VIPS: Deals with a group of people stranded at London's Heathrow airport. Burton and Taylor play a couple on the skids--she is having an affair with Louis Jordan. The subplots include Rod Taylor as a business tycoon and an early Dame Maggie Smith as his secretary who is in love with him. And she is excellent. The delight of this movie is Dame Margaret Rutherford as a ditzy old gal in an Oscar winning performance. She makes the movie.

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF: Perhaps the couples most famous movie. It certainly won the most awards. Burton plays a middle aged professor at a college whose foul mouth wife (Taylor) feels he is a failure. They play cruel mind games to divert their boredom, and the movie suffers from too much staginess and very little action. Taylor won an Oscar as an overweight (which she had a hard time losing over the years) shrew and she screams her way through most of this movie.

THE SANDPIPER: Is completely unbelievable. Taylor is a free living bohemian whose son is enrolled in a parochial school with Burton as it's headmaster who winds up having an affair with her. The only redeeming value is the Oscar winning love theme "The Shadow of Your Smile" and they should have used Connie Francis' version (Burton's choice) in the movie.

THE COMEDIANS: Based on Graham Greene's edgy political thriller is the best of the lot about people who wear comedic masks to hide their true selves and living in Haiti under Papa Doc's brutal regime. Burton manages a run down hotel and is having an affair with a diplomat's (Peter Ustinov) wife (Taylor). The underlying theme is the poverty and brutality surrounding them. Although it is a bit long, this is overlooked movie is more relevant today than when it was made.

This is a nice collection, inexpensively packaged with little information. The transfers are excellent. This is definitely for Taylor/Burton fans only.