Burstall's films featured early appearances by many legendary Australian actors including Jack Thompson, Bruce Spence, Jacki Weaver, Alvin star Graeme Blundell, John Waters and Judy Davis.
[4][5] In February 2012 sections of Burstall's personal journals from 1953–1955 were published by Melbourne University Press, under the title Memoirs of a Young Bastard.
Working with David Bilcock, Dusan Marek, Giorgio Mangiamele, Gérard Vandenburg, Alan Harkness and composer George Dreyfus, Eltham Films made many short subjects, including acclaimed documentaries on Australian art, and early children's puppet series Sebastian the Fox.
He studied scriptwriting with Paddy Chayefsky, directing with Martin Ritt, and acting with Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio in New York.
[1] One of the results of the trip was the founding by Burstall's wife, Betty, of La Mama Theatre, in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton.
The film's failure also influenced Bruce Beresford and Phillip Adams to move in a more populist direction when they came to make early Australian hit The Adventures of Barry McKenzie in 1972.
Stork won multiple Australian Film Institute awards, including best narrative feature, best director and best actor.
After the breakout success of Alvin Purple, Burstall would later return to work with Williamson on three further films: social drama Petersen (1974), which was seen in England and the United States (for which Stanley Kubrick praised Burstall for his direction and Jack Thompson for his acting),[1] big-budget romp Eliza Fraser (1976)[1] and Duet for Four (1982), the tale of a mid-life crisis.
After forming Hexagon Productions, Burstall directed, produced and co-wrote (with Alan Hopgood) his next feature, sex comedy Alvin Purple (1973).
Burstall directed episodes of series including Special Squad, Return to Eden II, The Man from Snowy River and Water Rats.