The Final Test: Aging cricketer ponders his future.

By Albert Ohayon

The Final Test (1953 United Kingdom, Anthony Asquith)

Synopsis: A cricketer, who is well past his prime, plays his final test match for England while his teenage son considers skipping the games so that he can sell a poem to a celebrated writer.

I have to admit that I know nothing about cricket but I found this post-war British comedy to be absolutely delightful. It doesn’t matter if you know cricket or not as the story is pretty universal. Our “hero” is the legendary cricketer Sam Palmer (a widower who looks to be about 60) who is about to play his final test match for England. That is fine and dandy but his teenage son isn’t interested in seeing his father play one last time. He is more concerned about meeting the celebrated writer Alexander Whitehead to sell him a poem. And so, the film is set into motion.

The conflict between the father and son is very well played and you know that it will be resolved and everyone will move forward with their lives. Then there is the matter of the possible romance between Sam and the local barmaid, who is young enough to be his daughter, but who loves him unconditionally.

Will Sam play well in his final game? Will he start a relationship with the barmaid? Will his son make it to the match? What will Sam do with the rest of his life? Will the son make an impression on the writer? All these questions are answered quite satisfactorily by the time the film has run its course.

The filmmakers were very smart in including the character of an American visitor who attends the games. He asks questions to the spectators at the game about the basic rules of cricket and thus these are explained to us watching the movie.

This is a very easy film to like. Jack Warner as Sam is quite good (although, at around 60 years old, I have a hard time believing he would still get an invitation to play for his national team). The best part of the film is how he tries to connect with his son. At one point, the family (Sam’s sister lives with them) sit down to watch one of Whitehead’s plays on television. Sam and his sister have no idea what it is about (it is quite ridiculously funny) but they don’t quash the young man’s enthusiasm by denigrating it. In the end, it turns out that Whitehead (a hilarious performance from Robert Morley) is a huge fan of cricket and of Sam Palmer in particular so the story lines eventually meet.

I have to mention the subtle performance from Adrianne Allen who plays Sam’s sister. She lives with two very stubborn men who don’t know what they want, don’t know what to do and how to communicate so she carefully guides them to resolve their differences. As previously mentioned, Robert Morley is simply a hoot in this. His first meeting with Sam’s son is quite funny as he is very hungover. When the son tells him that he finds cricket dull, Morley’s reaction is priceless.

 I didn’t find the romance part of the story to be very good. Sam has archaic views on how women should behave (talk about double standards, but this was made in 1953 after all). Still, that is a minor quibble as the rest of the film is quite good.

This is another great example of the type of small British film made in the 1950s that put the emphasis on realistic stories and characters.

I give this film 4 cricket bats out of 5. The film is about turning the page on a part of your life and moving on. As such, it succeeds quite well.

(at the time this review was published, the film was available to stream on Youtube and on the Internet Archive)