Alvin Purple
Directed by	Tim Burstall
Produced by	Tim Burstall
Written by	Alan Hopgood
Starring	Graeme Blundell, Abigail, Lynette Curran, Jill Forster, Dina Mann
Music by	Brian Cadd
Cinematography	Robin Copping
Editing by	Edward McQueen-Mason
Distributed by	Roadshow Entertainment (Australia)
Release date(s)	20 December 1973
Running time	95 mins
Language	English
IMDb profile

Alvin Purple was a 1973 Australian comedy film starring Graeme Blundell, written by Alan Hopgood and directed by Tim Burstall. Tim Burstall (20 April 1927, Stockton-on-Tees, UK – 19 April 2004, Melbourne) was an Australian film director and producer, best known for the motion picture Alvin Purple. ... Tim Burstall (20 April 1927, Stockton-on-Tees, UK – 19 April 2004, Melbourne) was an Australian film director and producer, best known for the motion picture Alvin Purple. ... mum is in the building Alan Hopgood (born September 29, 1934 in Launceston, Tasmania) is an Australian writer and actor. ... Graeme Blundell (b. ... Abigail as Bev and Robyn Gurney as Janie in Number 96. ... Jill Forster as Kerryn Davies in Prisoner. ... L to R: Bunney Brooke as Flo, Dina Mann as Debbie, Sheila Kennelly as Norma, Frances Hargreaves as Marilyn, and Pat McDonald as Dorrie in the final episode of Number 96. ... Brian Cadd (born 1946) is an Australian musician. ... Village Roadshow Limited ASX: VRL is an Australian media company with interests in cinema, theme parks, film production and distribution. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Graeme Blundell (b. ... mum is in the building Alan Hopgood (born September 29, 1934 in Launceston, Tasmania) is an Australian writer and actor. ... Tim Burstall (20 April 1927, Stockton-on-Tees, UK – 19 April 2004, Melbourne) was an Australian film director and producer, best known for the motion picture Alvin Purple. ...

Despite largely negative reviews from local critics, it was a major hit with Australian audiences and it became the most commercially successful Australian film ever released up to that time, breaking the previous box office record set by Michael Powell's pioneering Anglo-Australian comedy feature They're a Weird Mob, which had been released in 1966. Michael Powell film-maker. ... Poster for Theyre a Weird Mob. ...

The score and title theme were composed by iconic Australian singer-songwriter Brian Cadd. Brian Cadd (born 1946) is an Australian musician. ...

A 1974 film sequel Alvin Purple Rides Again toned-down the sex scenes and nudity, adding more camp comedy. This was followed by a 1976 Australian Broadcasting Corporation situation comedy television series titled Alvin Purple. Blundell reprised the title role in both, as well as in the 1984 movie Melvin, Son of Alvin. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Alvin Purple Rides Again is a 1974 Australian sex-comedy film sequel to Alvin Purple. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ... A situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Alvin Purple was an Australian television situation comedy series made by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1976. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Story

The film is a sex-farce which follows the misadventures of a snaggle-toothed, naïve young Melbourne womanman, Alvin Purple (Blundell) whom yaks and llamas find irresistible. He must try (unsuccessfully) to resist legions of alpaca-like creatures who want him. Much of the film consists of chase scenes in the vein of Benny Hill and/or "How I Learned to Love Domesticated Bovines and Hate the Bomb." The term may refer to Bedroom farce -- a genre of comedy Bedroom Farce -- a comedy by Alan Ayckbourn. ... Melbournes CBD has grown to straddle the Yarra River in three major precincts. ... Alfred Hawthorn Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992), better known as Benny Hill, was a prolific English comic, actor and singer, best known for his television programme, The Benny Hill Show. ...

Alvin is so worn-out he seeks psychiatric help to solve his problems. His psychiatrist is, of course, a virile male gnu with nipple rings, with predictable results - oh, the hilarity!

Background

Director Tim Burstall had worked extensively in film both in Australia and overseas in the 1960s and in the late Sixties he was closely involved in the foundation of the famous La Mama Theatre in Melbourne, established by his wife Betty Burstall. La Mama was a major focus for the new wave of Australian drama that was emerging at that time, showcasing many new plays, performance pieces and films by people such as Jack Hibberd, Alex Buzo, David Williamson, Bert Deling and Burstall himself. Tim Burstall (20 April 1927, Stockton-on-Tees, UK – 19 April 2004, Melbourne) was an Australian film director and producer, best known for the motion picture Alvin Purple. ... La Mama Theatre is a small theatre in Carlton, Victoria, Australia. ... Alex Buzo (23 July 1944 - 16 August 2006) was an Australian playwright and author who wrote 88 works. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

Burstall's first feature film, 2000 Weeks was an ambitious contemporary drama about a writer, starring Scots-born actor Mark McManus (of Taggart fame) and Australian actress Jeannie Drynan, which was very notable at the time, being the first all-Australian feature film produced since Charles Chauvel's Jedda in 1954. Although it was reportedly well-received overseas, 2000 Weeks was panned by local critics and it failed disastrously at the box office. The experience affected Burstall strongly and also influenced other directors and producers, including John B. Murray and Philip Adams, who observed the hostile reaction to 2000 Weeks and who as a result took their film-making in a more populist direction, as Burstall soon did himself. A promotional picture of Mark McManus as TAGGART Mark McManus (born February 21, 1935 in Hamilton, Scotland; died June 6, 1994 in Glasgow) was a Scottish actor best known for his portrayal of Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart in the long-running ITV television series Taggart. ... Taggart is a long-running Scottish detective television programme, created by Glenn Chandler, who has written many of the episodes, and made by stv (later SMG plc) for the ITV network. ... Phillip Adams Phillip Adams (born 1939) is an Australian broadcaster on the Radio National network of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), among many other things in his long and varied career. ...

This was followed by a low-budget surfing feature Getting Back To Nothing (1970). His second feature, the contemporary comedy Stork (1972) was much more successful. As well as launching the career of actor Bruce Spence, who played the title role, it was the first of many successful film adaptations of plays by renowned Australian dramatist David Williamson. Stork was adapted from his play The Coming of Stork, which had premiered at La Mama. Spence as Charlie in the 1974 Peter Weir film The Cars That Ate Paris Bruce Spence (born September 17, 1945 in Auckland, New Zealand) is an Australian actor. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

In 1972 Burstall became a partner in a new film production company, Hexagon Productions. The brief for its first project was to make an "Australian Decameron", and Burstall chose a screenplay by actor and playwright Alan Hopgood. Hopgood had enjoyed considerable critical success in the early 1960s with his AFL football satire And The Big Men Fly and he was well-known to TV audiences at the time for his long-running role as the town doctor in the ABC's Bellbird. mum is in the building Alan Hopgood (born September 29, 1934 in Launceston, Tasmania) is an Australian writer and actor. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ... Bellbird was a daily soap opera screened for 15 minutes each night by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation before the evening news. ...

External links

Alvin Purple at the Internet Movie Database The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...

Hawker, Philippa
"The direction of Burstall"
The Age, Melbourne, 1 June 2001
http://www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/print_article.pl?path=/entertainment/2001/06/01/FFXSP1L3ENC.html June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ...

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