Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows efficiency expert Mr Wallace (Anthony Hopkins) insisting that Mr Ball (Alwyn Kurts) sack 60 per cent of the staff at his moccasin factory in Spotswood in Melbourne, Victoria. Ball argues that his staff members deserve dignity and respect but Wallace retorts that only swift action will prevent the collapse of Ball’s business. Ball resigns himself to, but delays, the inevitable.

Educational value points

• This key scene from the film Spotswood presents efficiency expert Wallace and factory owner Ball in a verbal duel that exposes their opposing attitudes to workers and productivity. Wallace’s cool and smart delivery of his economic analysis, which forecasts the looming demise of the factory and the retrenchment of its workers, is contrasted with Ball’s arguments, which appear to represent a humane counterpoint.

• The dialogue between Wallace and Ball in this clip points to some of the local impacts of the decline in Australian manufacturing that took place when the economy was opened up to international competition. Australian manufacturing declined by more than 10 per cent from the 1960s to 1992, and from the mid-1960s to 1999 the manufacturing workforce decreased from 25 per cent to 12 per cent of the total Australian workforce.

• The factory around which this film revolves is located in Spotswood, a suburb in Melbourne’s west where in the mid-1960s, when the film is set, the working-class ethos was strong. The introduction of the efficiency principles designed to improve the factory’s financial position appears to be in stark contrast to this ethos, which extends to the factory’s owner, Mr Ball, who holds concerns about the local economy and about his workers, who are also the local consumers.

• This scene reveals the ‘scientific management’ principles that Mr Wallace argues must be introduced to save the moccasin factory from closing. Some of these principles resemble features introduced under economic rationalism, which took hold in Australia in the 1980s. Wallace’s efficiency measures include treating workers simply as inputs to production, reducing labour costs by retrenching some of the workers, and introducing new machinery and automated work practices.

• The sight and sound of rain pouring down outside the factory, the strong contrasts produced by the lighting, and the actors’ opposing positions on the screen contribute to the feeling of doom in this scene. Darkness heightens the feeling that the moccasin factory and its owner are outdated, and that the conversation is serious as well as confidential.

• This scene showcases veteran Australian actor Alwyn Kurts (1915–2000). Kurts is well known for his many television and feature film roles, including Inspector Fox in Homicide (1964–76) and Ted Cook in The Last of the Australians series (1975–76). Kurts won an Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the film Tim (1979) and in 1992 he received an AFI nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Spotswood.

• Sir Anthony Hopkins CBE (1937–) is an internationally acclaimed film, stage and television actor who has won distinguished awards, including the 1991 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Shadowlands (1993).

• The film Spotswood won three AFI Best Achievement awards in 1991, for its cinematographer, Ellery Ryan, its costume designer, Tess Schofield, and its production designer, Chris Kennedy. It also received six other AFI award nominations for members of the cast and crew, including Ben Mendelsohn, Alwyn Kurts, and writers Max Dann and Andrew Knight (for Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted).

Mr Wallace and Mr Ball sit opposite each other, having a heavy conversation about the future of the business.
Mr Ball Gordon. They’d have to go too. I’d be losing 60% of my people.
Mr Wallace The Asians can do it for half the price. Importing is the future. You simply cannot afford to be in manufacturing.
Mr Ball But we must. People need to make things. We can’t just import everything.
Mr Wallace You’ve been a very kind employer, Mr Ball, but I’m afraid your people have let you down. They haven’t paid you back in kind.
Mr Ball No. You are wrong. You don’t understand. You never could – with respect, Mr Wallace. They paid me back double, treble. If you’d been here when the place was busy, you’d have seen them working day and night. No overtime. They did it because they believed in the place, and they trusted me. It’s not their fault. I won’t have that.
Mr Wallace No, it’s your fault. You haven’t helped these people, letting them live in a fool’s paradise. And what did you think was going to happen in 18 months time when you … when you run out of money?
Mr Ball You can’t see past the dollars and cents, can you? Work isn’t just about money, Mr Wallace. It’s about dignity. It’s about treating people with respect.
Mr Wallace Mr Ball, if you want to save any part of this operation, I advise you to act immediately. I’m very sorry.
Mr Ball I might wait for a week or so.