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Tim Burstall is a Director, Scriptwriter, Producer, Second Unit First Assistant Director and Additional Writing born on 20 april 1927 at Stockton-on-Tees (United-kingdom)

Tim Burstall

Tim Burstall
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Birth 20 april 1927 at Stockton-on-Tees (United-kingdom)
Death 19 april 2004 (at 76 years) at Melbourne (Australie)

Tim Burstall AM (20 April 1927 – 19 April 2004) was an English Australian film director, writer and producer, best known for the motion picture Alvin Purple.

Burstall was a key figure in Australian postwar cinema and was instrumental in rebuilding the Australian film industry at a time when it had been effectively dead for years. He created groundbreaking Australian films including Stork, Alvin Purple, End Play, Eliza Fraser, The Last of the Knucklemen and the 1986 adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novel Kangaroo.

Burstall also launched the film careers of many well-known actors including Bruce Spence, Jacki Weaver, Graeme Blundell, Jack Thompson, John Waters and Judy Davis. His wife, Betty Burstall, an important figure in her own right, founded the pioneering La Mama Theatre in Melbourne in the late 1960s. Many leading Australian 'new wave' playwrights including David Williamson had their first successes there, and Burstall was an integral part of the fertile creative scene that centred on the theatre.

Speaking just after Burstall's death, Williamson said that Burstall "couldn't stomach" Australia's lack of a film industry. "He was determined to do something about it and he had the energy and spirit to do it. (He) was a very important cultural figure: highly intelligent, widely read, with a succinct and often highly controversial opinion on everything."

Usually with

Abigail
Abigail
(3 films)
Bruce Smeaton
Bruce Smeaton
(4 films)
Bud Tingwell
Bud Tingwell
(3 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Tim Burstall (20 films)

Display filmography as list

Director

Nightmare at Bittercreek, 1h40
Directed by Tim Burstall
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Action
Actors Lindsay Wagner, Tom Skerritt, Constance McCashin, Joanna Cassidy, Janne Mortil, Andrew Kavadas
Rating50% 2.5249352.5249352.5249352.5249352.524935
Quatre femmes jouent à un jeu terrifiant du chat et de la souris lorsqu'elles découvrent une cachette néo-nazie en faisant un voyage à travers les montagnes de la Sierra.
Great Expectations: The Untold Story, 1h42
Directed by Tim Burstall
Genres Drama
Themes Films about children
Actors Sigrid Thornton, Anne-Louise Lambert, John Stanton, Robert Coleby, Todd Boyce, Ron Haddrick
Rating64% 3.2490753.2490753.2490753.2490753.249075
Magwitch is sentenced to life in New South Wales. He is put on a chain gang run by Solomon Tooth and eventually amasses a fortune.
Kangaroo
Kangaroo (1986)
, 1h50
Directed by Tim Burstall
Genres Drama
Actors Colin Friels, Judy Davis, John Walton, Julie Nihill, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Peter Hehir
Rating61% 3.097473.097473.097473.097473.09747
In 1922, an English writer (Colin Friels) migrates to Australia with his wife (Judy Davis). There he resists joining both a paramilitary group and a socialist group, is caught in a riot, sees a death and loses love and friendship.
Attack Force Z, 1h33
Directed by Tim Burstall
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, War, Action
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Political films
Actors Mel Gibson, Sam Neill, John Phillip Law, John Waters, Chris Haywood, Sylvia Chang
Rating54% 2.7084052.7084052.7084052.7084052.708405
In the Straits of Sembaleng, five men are dispatched by submarine in Klepper canoes to rescue survivors of a shot-down plane on a nearby island which is occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army. Led by Paul Kelly (Gibson), an inexperienced commando officer, the team secretly lands on the island and hides their kayaks. As they venture in land, Ted 'Kingo' King is hit by fire from an unseen machine gun post, the team quickly eliminates the Japanese defenders and return to their wounded comrade. King has been hit on the leg, the bullet smashing his kneecap. King cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands and compromise the mission under interrogation, and after sharing a cigarette with him, Costello shoots him. The four remaining men return to their search, coming across a rice farmer they learn of the area in which the plane crashed. The rice farmer is also killed in order to preserve secrecy.
Duet for Four, 1h37
Directed by Tim Burstall
Actors Michael Pate, Wendy Hughes, Michael Preston, Diane Cilento, Sigrid Thornton, Arthur Dignam
Rating59% 2.961732.961732.961732.961732.96173
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.
The Last of the Knucklemen, 1h33
Directed by Tim Burstall
Genres Drama
Actors Gerard Kennedy, Michael Preston, Peter Hehir, Dennis Miller, Michael Caton, Steve Bisley
Rating68% 3.4147153.4147153.4147153.4147153.414715
The story involves a gang of rough miners. Tom (Peter Hehir) turns up at the mine looking for a place to hide. He allies himself with the mining foreman Tarzan (Gerard Kennedy) before the big fight.
End Play
End Play (1976)
, 1h54
Directed by Tim Burstall
Genres Thriller
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors George Mallaby, John Waters, Delvene Delaney, Bud Tingwell, Belinda Giblin, Sheila Florance
Rating63% 3.1914753.1914753.1914753.1914753.191475
Hitchhiker Janine Talbort is picked up and murdered by an unseen assailant. Mark Gifford, a merchant sailor on leave, then disposes of the body, attracting the suspicion of his wheelchair bound brother Robert. The police become suspicious of both brothers, who are rivals over their half-cousin, Margaret.
The Adventures of Eliza Fraser, 2h10
Directed by Tim Burstall
Genres Drama, Comedy, Adventure
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors Susannah York, Trevor Howard, John Castle, John Waters, Abigail, Gerard Kennedy
Rating58% 2.9051052.9051052.9051052.9051052.905105
In 1836, Captain James Fraser, and his young wife, Eliza Fraser, sail from Sydney on the Stirling Castle. Captain Rory McBryde, the most notorious rake in New South Wales, manages to get on board and tries to seduce Eliza. Captain Fraser stops off at the penal colony of Moreton Bay which is run by Captain Fyans, who tries to seduce convict Bracefell. Bracefell escapes and hides in Eliza's room; Eliza sleeps with him, thinking he is McBryde, but is not unhappy when she sees who it is. She helps Bracefell escape.
Jock Petersen, 1h47
Directed by Tim Burstall
Genres Drama
Actors Jack Thompson, Jacki Weaver, Wendy Hughes, Belinda Giblin, Arthur Dignam, Bud Tingwell
Rating64% 3.2337453.2337453.2337453.2337453.233745
Tony Petersen is an electrical tradesman and former football star who is studying arts at the University of Melbourne, and majoring in English. Despite being married to adoring wife Susie, he is having an affair with his lecturer, Trish Kent, and has a fling with student Moira as part of a protest. Trish's husband Charles fails Petersen in his exams and Trish leaves for Oxford. Petersen rapes Trish and returns to his old life.
Libido
Libido (1973)
, 1h58
Directed by Tim Burstall, Fred Schepisi
Genres Drama
Actors Judy Morris, Jack Thompson, Arthur Dignam, Robyn Nevin, John Williams, Penne Hackforth-Jones
Rating59% 2.9507052.9507052.9507052.9507052.950705
The four segments of the film average about 30 minutes in length and are presented in the following order.
Stork
Stork (1971)
, 1h25
Directed by Tim Burstall
Genres Comedy
Themes Films based on plays
Actors Bruce Spence, Jacki Weaver, Graeme Blundell, Helmut Bakaitis, Madeleine Orr, Dennis Miller
Rating57% 2.8636352.8636352.8636352.8636352.863635
Stork is a 6-foot 7 hypochondriac who dreams of revolution and works at General Motors Holden. He is sacked from his job after doing a strip tease at work and goes to live in a share house in Carlton with his friend Westy and two trendy young men, Tony and Clyde, who share the same girlfriend, Anna. Stork loses his virginity to Anna and falls in love with her.
Two Thousand Weeks, 1h30
Directed by Tim Burstall
Genres Drama
Actors Mark McManus, Jeanie Drynan, Anne Charleston, Graeme Blundell
Rating60% 3.012333.012333.012333.012333.01233
Will, a writer in his thirties, faces a crisis in his life when he has to choose between his wife and mistress. He is also on the fence about choices in his professional life, something that is accentuated when he meets a childhood friend who has become a successful TV producer in England. He calculates he has two thousand weeks left in his life to achieve success.