The Final Test starring Hutton, Bedser and Compton.

Had no idea this film existed! Link.

Has anyone seen it? Bet it'll be difficult to get hold of. The only other cricket film I've seen is the 25356352521 hour long Lagaan.

rent it from lovefilm
http://www.lovefilm.com/search/overview.html?search_keywords=the+final+test&x=0&y=0

Don't cancel anything meaningful like sticking needles in your eyes, or sawing off your gonads to see this film - it's shoite! The only redeeming feature is the sight of England's finest at the time.

I think it might have surfaced on C4 some years ago - that's where I remember seeing it.

An average film that fails to deliver sports, characters, a script or any sense of emotional involvement

And that's an average film? 'Normal', yes, but 'average'? Wouldn't mediocre, diabolical, pointless, absolute waste of time, saw off your gonads instead (sorry, I think someone else has already said that), be more appropriate words?

IIRC the acting had more wood in it than in Punter's bat: Jack Warner played a batsman playing his last test (hence the title!) - no "live" action whatsoever. It was clear that Warner had never seen a cricket bat in his life, never mind picked one up. They relied on newsreel when they needed to tell the story of the match.

Basil wrote:IIRC the acting had more wood in it than in Punter's bat head:

fixed.

Good Lord, taily's gone mad. She's sledging her beloved Ricky.

*snigger*
Just testing . . .

I'm paying attention tails. There ain't much else happening in here.

The weekend's cricket is all over and everyone's licking their wounds. Or nursing their hangovers. Or hanging over their nurses. Or something like that.
Never thought I'd say this, but the place is a bit . . . quiet . . . without VoR.

Saw a bit of it on TV once. It was directed by Anthony Asquith of "Winslow Boy" "Browning Version" and "Yellow Rolls Royce" fame with a screenplay by Terence Rattigan but it was hardly one of their best oeuvres. Had Jack Warner, later of "Dixon of Dock Green" fame on BBC-TV, played cricket for England in reality he would have easily beaten Wilfred Rhodes` record for the oldest ever Test player as he was 58 at the time (he fictionally joined the Metropolitan Police in 1955 at the official retiring age of 60). However he did have a sporting background as he raced cars at the old Brooklands race track before WWII and was quite a competent amateur driver by all accounts.

The film footage is however taken from the Ashes-winning Test at The Oval in 1953. Denis C & Godfrey Evans give quite lively performances as might be expected whilst Alec B and Jim Laker were obviously better sticking to their day jobs. In my local public library in Derbyshire in the 1960s I saw a illustrated book that accompanied the film with lots of behind-the-scenes photographs including the England players and THe Oval dressing room. Don`t know if you can still get hold of it. Must be worth quite a bit by now.