Absolution

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At a Catholic public school, Benjamin Stanfield (Dominic Guard) is tired of being the teacher's pet and decides to play a practical joke on his form master Father Goddard (Richard Burton). In confession, Stanfield tells Goddard that he has accidentally murdered his friend Blakey (Sir Billy Connolly) and buried him in the forest. When Goddard investigates the matter, he finds a buried scarecrow. Goddard is outraged, but, due to the seal of confession, he knows he cannot expel Stanfield. Shortly after, Stanfield once again enters the confession booth, telling Goddard that what before was a practical joke, he has now made happen. In disbelief, Goddard once again goes to the forest to investigate the matter. This time, he discovers Blakey's dead body. The plot soon thickens as Stanfield's fellow student Arthur Dyson (David Bradley) mysteriously disappears.

Richard Burton is an actor I could watch - and listen to - all day long (and never more so than when he appears alongside Elizabeth Taylor). He's extraordinary in the extraordinary Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Boom! ("Mrs. Goforth!"), and, of course, that opulent behemoth, Cleopatra (the film, not Ms. Taylor). His presence automatically elevates a production (not that Boom! needs further heightening, with Ms. Taylor drunkenly hectoring anyone who comes near - including Noël Coward - from the cliffs of an Italian island).

Sadly, Ms. Taylor isn't present in 1978's Absolution (see was playing a professor of ancient history in Return Engagement, instead), so Anthony Page's (The Wicker Man) thriller is a more sober (and less camp) affair than those earlier Burton/Taylor skirmishes. Instead, we have a young Billy Connolly, an even younger Dominic Guard (who Doctor Who fans will recognise from 1982's Terminus), and David Bradley (Kes).

Absolution had a troubled life, with Burton struggling from at least 1971 to get the picture made. Problems persisted during its production, with the budget slashed, forcing the film to wrap sooner than planned. It was then shelved until 1981 - and didn't see the light of day in the US until 1988. Richard Burton died in 1984.

Despite all of this, Absolution is a hoot, with a robed and dog-collared Burton stalking through dusky woods. Guard and Bradley are excellent in their supporting roles, with Bradley getting the juicier role as a weaselly cripple, and Connolly acquits himself admirably. There's a moment of real gore, and the final twist is as delicious as it is unexpected.

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"A film is a petrified fountain of thought." Jean Cocteau, French filmmaker, 1889-1963

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