Balance 1950 1951

6.0 / 10   1 vote(s)
Animation

A visual précis of the annual report of chemicals giant ICI

Top Billed Cast

Release Date 1951-01-01
Runtime 8m
Directors Peter Sachs, T.R. Thumwood
Producer William Larkins
Writer Roger MacDougall

This is quite a quirky animation that uses arithmetical symbols and balance sheet lines to augment a narrative that demonstrate just how the £226,000,000 revenue of industrial giant ICI was arrived at. Then it takes us on a little executive summary, if you like, of it's expenses: £135,000,000 spent on raw materials, transportation, fuel, logistics, Then there's the staff - "a fiver for the driver" amounting to another £47,000,000! Then we see another £4,000,000 allocated to accommodate the leisurely pensioners astride their hammocks in the sunshine. £9,000,000 then goes on things that will need to be replaced - wear and tear, spiralling inflation etc. Next, £13,500,000 invested in the business to keep it robust - the seeding of new business for harvesting later. £12,500,000 goes into the public kitty via taxation and then we have £5,000,000 for dividends - odd how it all tallies up exactly! This is quite a fun look at how money lubricates a business and also just how quickly it can be spent. The score is lively and accompanies well the lightly-comedic narrative that uses an enjoyable series of rhymes and a basic, but effective, animated style to tell a story of just how this business spent ¼ billion pounds in 1950!

CinemaSerf