Tim Burstall

Directing

Tim Burstall

Born — Died

1927-04-20 — 2004-04-19

Place of birth

Stockton-on-Tees, England, UK

Known for

Directing

Credits

31 titles

Tim Burstall (20 April 1927 – 19 April 2004) was an English Australian film director, writer and producer, best known for hit Australian movie Alvin Purple (1973) and its sequel Alvin Rides Again (1974).

Known for

Behind the camera

Attack Force Z poster
5.9

Sent to rescue survivors from the site of a plane crash in the South Pacific during WWII, Captain Kelly and his elite squad of Australian commandos must keep tabs on a defecting Japanese official who could hold the secret to peace.

Attack Force Z

1982

Alvin Purple poster
5.4

Alvin is your average guy, except for the fact women find him irresistible and chase him everywhere. He tries to avoid them and get psychiatric help but gets used by the psychiatrists as a gigolo to treat other patients instead.

Alvin Purple

1973

Alvin Purple poster
5.4

Alvin is your average guy, except for the fact women find him irresistible and chase him everywhere. He tries to avoid them and get psychiatric help but gets used by the psychiatrists as a gigolo to treat other patients instead.

Alvin Purple

1973

The Adventures of Eliza Fraser poster
5.1

An old captain & his young wife share a lot of adventures after they're shipwrecked and captured by Aborigines on an island near Australia.

The Adventures of Eliza Fraser

1976

The Adventures of Eliza Fraser poster
5.1

An old captain & his young wife share a lot of adventures after they're shipwrecked and captured by Aborigines on an island near Australia.

The Adventures of Eliza Fraser

1976

High Rolling poster
9.0

Two fun-loving carnival workers take a vacation with the hope of finding plenty of sex and drugs. Their "quest" is fulfilled when they encounter a dope-peddler and two exotic nightclub dancers.

High Rolling

1977

Great Expectations: The Untold Story poster
6.3

A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.

Great Expectations: The Untold Story

1987

Nightmare at Bittercreek poster
6.3

In a deadly battle for survival, four women are hunted by a ruthless group of killers they accidentally stumble upon while camping.

Nightmare at Bittercreek

1988

The Naked Country poster
4.5

Far North Queensland, 1955. Deep in the untamed frontier tough rancher Lance Dillon and his sensual, but bored wife, battle inhospitable nature to eke out a living from their cattle herd. When the aborigines kill the Dillon's prize bull a chase begins that will culminate in bloody tragedy with Lance pitted against Mandaru - an aborigine struggling to maintain his cultural way of life

The Naked Country

1985

The Naked Country poster
4.5

Far North Queensland, 1955. Deep in the untamed frontier tough rancher Lance Dillon and his sensual, but bored wife, battle inhospitable nature to eke out a living from their cattle herd. When the aborigines kill the Dillon's prize bull a chase begins that will culminate in bloody tragedy with Lance pitted against Mandaru - an aborigine struggling to maintain his cultural way of life

The Naked Country

1985

The Last of the Knucklemen poster
6.0

In the tradition of Sunday Too Far Away, this independent film is based on the classic Australian play by John Power. Pic tells the story of a group of miners living in a camp in outback Australia. They swear, brawl, gamble, and drink heavily. Central to the story is the conflict between Tarzan, the authoritarian group leader and cocky loud-mouth wisecracking Pansy. This results in a bare-knuckle punch-up for the movie's denouement.

The Last of the Knucklemen

1979

The Last of the Knucklemen poster
6.0

In the tradition of Sunday Too Far Away, this independent film is based on the classic Australian play by John Power. Pic tells the story of a group of miners living in a camp in outback Australia. They swear, brawl, gamble, and drink heavily. Central to the story is the conflict between Tarzan, the authoritarian group leader and cocky loud-mouth wisecracking Pansy. This results in a bare-knuckle punch-up for the movie's denouement.

The Last of the Knucklemen

1979

Duet for Four poster
3.0

A middle aged man, Ray Martin, faces a series of problems – his wife is cheating on him, his mistress wants to get married and Americans want to take over his toy business.

Duet for Four

1982

Duet for Four poster
3.0

A middle aged man, Ray Martin, faces a series of problems – his wife is cheating on him, his mistress wants to get married and Americans want to take over his toy business.

Duet for Four

1982

Kangaroo poster
7.3

A mild-mannered English conscientious objector moves to what he feels will be the relative calm of Australia after World War I, but gets caught in the middle of violent battles between the rising trade unions and fascist groups.

Kangaroo

1986

Alvin Rides Again poster
4.5

Alvin Purple, a man who can't hold down a job because of his voracious sexual appetite, impersonates a dead American Gangster.

Alvin Rides Again

1974

No artwork available
10.0

A story of three old friends coming together.

Three Old Friends

1974

Petersen poster
3.8

Tony Petersen, a married electrician and ex-footballer, goes to university to study English. Petersen is odd man out at the uni. He receives extracurricular help from his stuffy professor's beautiful lecturer wife in her office. Their get-togethers there are quite rootine. The professor is also seeing one of his students after class. Petersen and the professor's wife talk about having a baby. But then she accepts an appointment to Oxford, provoking a rage in Petersen...

Petersen

1974

Petersen poster
3.8

Tony Petersen, a married electrician and ex-footballer, goes to university to study English. Petersen is odd man out at the uni. He receives extracurricular help from his stuffy professor's beautiful lecturer wife in her office. Their get-togethers there are quite rootine. The professor is also seeing one of his students after class. Petersen and the professor's wife talk about having a baby. But then she accepts an appointment to Oxford, provoking a rage in Petersen...

Petersen

1974

Stork poster
5.6

Stork is a gangly young man, a virgin with an overactive imagination who thinks he’s a revolutionary. Bored with a design job at General Motors Holden in Melbourne, he drops out and moves into a share house with his mate Westy. He daydreams his way through life, bungling job interviews, upsetting ‘respectable’ people, and getting drunk. The only girl in the house, Anna resists Stork’s advances, because she’s already involved with the other two resident males, Tony and Clyde. But when she becomes pregnant and Clyde and Anna decide to marry, Stork, Tony, Clyde and Westy are shocked when they realize that either one of the foursome could be the father. Then the fun begins....

Stork

1971

Stork poster
5.6

Stork is a gangly young man, a virgin with an overactive imagination who thinks he’s a revolutionary. Bored with a design job at General Motors Holden in Melbourne, he drops out and moves into a share house with his mate Westy. He daydreams his way through life, bungling job interviews, upsetting ‘respectable’ people, and getting drunk. The only girl in the house, Anna resists Stork’s advances, because she’s already involved with the other two resident males, Tony and Clyde. But when she becomes pregnant and Clyde and Anna decide to marry, Stork, Tony, Clyde and Westy are shocked when they realize that either one of the foursome could be the father. Then the fun begins....

Stork

1971

Two Thousand Weeks poster
3.0

A subjective view of a crisis in the life of a writer who calculates he has 2,000 weeks left in his life to fulfill himself.

Two Thousand Weeks

1969

Two Thousand Weeks poster
3.0

A subjective view of a crisis in the life of a writer who calculates he has 2,000 weeks left in his life to fulfill himself.

Two Thousand Weeks

1969

Nullarbor Hideout poster
NR

Bored during the summer holidays and escaping the heat, a group of kids (and their joey!) from Cook, on the Nullarbor Plain, discover a limestone cave with a huge underground lake. Meanwhile in town, a detective is called in from Port Augusta to investigate a stolen car and some sinister kangaroo shooters. When the kids discover their tucker and canoe have disappeared, they decide to do some investigating of their own. An Australian black and white short film written and directed by Tim Burstall (Alvin Purple).

Nullarbor Hideout

1963

Libido poster
4.7

Scripted by four of Australia’s greatest authors (David Williamson, Thomas Keneally, Hal Porter and Craig McGregor), this quartet of carnal desires explores adultery and jealous fantasies, the end of innocence, the moral and spiritual conflicts of a priest and a nun in love. The stories define the exploration of women and the cultural upheaval of the early 70s.

Libido

1973

End Play poster
6.4

And just when you believe there is nothing more to fear, you will begin to experience the ultimate terror of the END PLAY.

End Play

1976

End Play poster
6.4

And just when you believe there is nothing more to fear, you will begin to experience the ultimate terror of the END PLAY.

End Play

1976

End Play poster
6.4

And just when you believe there is nothing more to fear, you will begin to experience the ultimate terror of the END PLAY.

End Play

1976

No artwork available
NR

A dramatic encounter on St Kilda Pier between two derelicts and a would-be suicide.

The Hot Centre Of The World

1971

No artwork available
NR

Camera movement and film editing are combined to animate the ceramic figurines of John Perceval. He created his angels "more or less as symbols of the world's survival." An intangible element common to all Perceval's angels is their spirit of humanity. These ceramic sculptures are disting- uished by their beautiful modelling, and their lustrous red copper glaze with its uncanny depth and beauty. Perceval does not devote himself exclusively to ceramic sculpture; he gives equal time to painting and has won the McCaughey and Vizard-Whollohan Prizes, and shared the Wynne Prize in 1961. Photography by Gerard Vanderberg; music by Dorian Le Gallienne.

The Dance of the Angels: Ceramic Sculptures of John Perceval

1962

No artwork available
NR

Australian sculptors discuss their attitudes towards modern sculpture. In sculpture, as in the other arts, Australia has achieved a world reputation in recent years. In this film, Tim Burstall examines the Australian sculptors working in Australia and overseas, analyses their attitudes and asks them to sum up their views about modern sculpture.

Sculpture Australia 69

1969