I tend to agree with the OP, to a point.
In 1966, Taylor's performance was a revelation. But while I liked her quiet moments better, the crassness and vulgarity of the character and the dialogue impressed people at time, on that cusp in the mid-'60s where the old world was ending and the new world was emerging.
I'm not fond of Pauline Kael as a rule, and I think her criticism is too harsh and off-base (as usual) but in retrospect, Taylor's performance comes off as merely goodish today with plenty of shlock mixed in -- perhaps because we soon became so familiar with subsequent outrageous performances from Elizabeth. (I love her in NIGHT WATCH).
Burton is the best thing in VIRGINIA WOLFE (I also loved him in THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, and there's nothing like London's bustling streets in the Cold War chill of the mid-sixties) and the B&W cinematography.
Likewise, VIRGNIA WOLFE is a kind of time capsule picture.
I like Taylor in it more than Sandy Dennis, perhaps because Dennis seemed to give the same neurotic-to-the-point-of-nausea performance in everything she did.
George Segal was all wrong, and I wish Robert Redford had accepted the role instead. Redford was still stiff and limited at this point in his career, but he would have seemed less like George Segal and that's fine with me. I alway think "hack" with Segal, even back then, while Redford would have seemed more the part. (He thought it was a "terrible movie" and apparently didn't regret the decision not to do it).
I essentially like the picture, and think it's aged okay. But I would love to see Albee's dream cast of Bette Davis and James Mason. I can only imagine how perfect that would have been.
--
LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA
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