'A beloved figure' Richard Burton film shines spotlight on Welsh birthplace

Hardly a day goes by when villagers don't spot a cinephile traipsing in the footsteps of Richard Burton, peering at his old house, taking in the vista across the valley from the aqueduct, perhaps enjoying a pint in the Miners Arms, where he and Elizabeth Taylor drank on visits to his south Wales birthplace.

- Steven Morris

The tourist traffic to Pontrhydyfen is likely to increase after a biopic about the gritty early life of Burton opens in cinemas this weekend, especially as it comes in the centenary year of the Hollywood actor's birth.

"We're expecting quite a rush," said Andrea Edwards, the chair of the Burton Bont festival committee, which is organising village events to mark the centenary. "Richard Burton is such a beloved figure here and across the world."

A gala screening of the film, Mr Burton, took place at the Reel Cinema in Port Talbot yesterday - much of the village decamped there - which is followed by a week of preview screenings in the town before the film is released in cinemas across Britain from 4 April.

Edwards said: "The village will certainly be going to take a look. We're looking forward to seeing what they made of our place."

Ed Talfan, the film's producer, said the crew had loved shooting in the village, using locations including in a steep graveyard where there is a memorial to Burton, and the aqueduct.