MOVIES - Jan. 22, 1988

“Absolution,” a British-made suspense-thriller starring Richard Burton--completed in 1979 but never released in the United States--will have its American debut on Friday, Feb. 12, at the Beverly Center Cineplex. The production, from Trans World Entertainment, has been caught up in ownership battles since its completion and had only a limited run in England in 1980 after being named best film at the Oxford Film Festival. In it, Burton plays a rigidly opinionated schoolmaster-priest at a Roman Catholic boys school. Elliott Kastner produced and Anthony Page directed from Anthony (“Sleuth”) Shaffer’s screenplay inspired by an actual incident.