The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

30 THE CINE-TECHNICIAN March-April, 1953 THE FINAL TEST by R. J. Minney, who produced it for A.C.T. Films THE Final Test is one of seven films that our trade union, the A.C.T., acting as a film producing company, has produced to date, but it is quite the most ambitious of our ventures. The story, for example, was by Terence Rattigan, who also wrote the script; the film was directed by our President, the Hon. Anthony Asquith, whose many films of fine sensitivity and distinction make him today Britain's outstanding director. Rattigan wrote it originally as a television play and this is, I understand, the first time that television, generally regarded as responsible for the fall in attendance at the cinemas, has made a direct contribution to the film industry. Rattigan, who is himself a member of A.C.T., most generously made a present to us of both the play and the script; but the Board of A.C.T. Films Limited rightly decided that a payment must be made; and, again generously, Rattigan accepted a sum considerably below the figure he would have received had he accepted one of the offers made him for this play by another film production company. As you know the purpose of A.C.T. Films is to keep film production going and to provide thereby employment for members of the union who are out of work. It has also been their rule to have a different unit for each film so that the work should go round and, while taking into account the length of time each one has been out of work, to engage, wherever possible, the best available man or woman for the job. Conforming strictly to this rule we assembled a unit that I have no hesitation in saying could not have been surpassed in either technical skill, eagerness and good comradeship if we had the whole world to pick from. They were all, without exception, admirable men and women and their work, which when you see it I feel confident you will agree, is of the highest standard. Asquith himself I have never worked with before, though I have served with him on many A.C.T. Committees. It was he who set the tone and created the atmosphere on the floor. In consequence we were a cheerful and happy unit, not only during the first week or so of the film, but throughout until the last shot was in the can and the cutting and dubbing completed. He has a gentleness and charm that I have never known before. He never gave an order but only made requests, with at least one " please " in every sentence. For the women he brought oranges every morning, buying them himself on the way to the studio and presenting each one, a little bashfully I thought, and even a little stealthily, by sneaking up and placing it (he hoped unobserved) by the side of the recipient. He was lavish with his cigarettes, though this should not, I feel, be said here because of the " No Smoking " rule. More than this, his car was used as a bus and picked up a number of technicians en route to the studio. He never attempted to hustle anyone, nor was he himself flurried at any time. Whenever there was a change of set-up he merely took himself to the piano (generally there was one available) and played — his head back, his eyes shut — some delightful melody by Schubert or Beethoven. The film, as the title indicates, is about cricket. It would be a mistake to expect to see a Test Match in progress. It is the story really of a conflict between a father and son during the concluding stage of a Test Match. The father (played superbly by Jack Warner) is a famous cricketer who has played for England for over twenty years. This is his last match, for he is getting a little past it. His son, a boy of seventeen (Ray Jackson, who played the same part on television, gives a most sensitive performance), is not in the least bit interested in cricket. He wants to be a poet and misses the first day's play because he is too absorbed in rewriting some verses which were praised in part by a playwright-poet named Alexander Whitehead (" England's greatest since Shakespeare "), played with admirable and erratic verve by Robert Morley. The boy is revising the last stanzas which Morley didn't think were quite right and he wants to finish them in time to reach the poet before he leaves for New York on Wednesday. Despite all the boy's efforts to cover up, Jack Warner finds out that he wasn't at the match on the first day. He is upset of course, but, as it happens, he didn't hat and the boy assures him with convincing emphasis that he certainly intends to go on the next day and see his father bat for the last time. But, as it turns out, the boy, phoning Morley, is told in an offhand way that if he comes down in the morning Morley will see him. It is too good a chance to miss and the boy decides to cut the