The Final Test

The Final Test is a 1953 British sports film written by Terence Rattigan, directed by Anthony Asquith, and starring Jack Warner, Robert Morley, George Relph and Ray Jackson.

[3] The film is a light drama, set around elderly leading cricketer Sam Palmer's last appearance for England.

Action jumps between various elements: an Englishman explaining to an American the rules and terminologies of the game from the audience; Sam's home life; the pub listening to cricket on the radio; Sam's interactions with players and family; and Reggie's attempts to meet his theatrical hero Alexander Whitehead.

The England cricketers Len Hutton, Denis Compton, Alec Bedser, Godfrey Evans, Jim Laker and Cyril Washbrook appear as themselves with John Arlott providing the match commentary.

In The Spectator, Virginia Graham wrote, "Often witty, always undeviatingly amiable, this is a delightful film, a simple friendly film full of national jokes which, as no other country could possibly share them, give one the comfortable relaxed feeling of being at home and liking it there";[8] Sky Cinema wrote, "It's difficult to imagine that this little film packed London's huge Odeon, Leicester Square, in its day, but it did";[9] Leonard Maltin called it a "Droll, minor comedy";[10] The New York Times wrote, "Perhaps the cognoscenti will not call "The Final Test" cricket, but it definitely adds up to fun";[11] and more recently, The Guardian called it "Britain's only significant cricket picture.