British Film Council

A short documentary about the work of the National Trust in Great Britain

Malcolm tries to keep his dual lives -- and two wives -- separate, but when both of his spouses want to attend the same concert, he runs into a big problem.

Through the pattern of this film a ‘Test’ at Lord’s runs like a thread and a broadcast commentary on the match is imposed on the background of cricket as a game, a craft, an interest of a people, a piece of history. The craftsmen are shown who make the ball and the bat–that ‘fourth straight stick’ with which the batsmen defend ‘the other three’. The craftsmen are shown who play the game, from W. G. Grace in the ‘nets’ to D. G. Bradman and Denis Compton in the thread of the ‘Test’. The history of the game is epitomized in the Long Room shots at Lord’s and from there the camera moves to the village green; to the London side- street where the urchins play on a ‘bumping pitch’; to South Africa, and India, where in the ‘blinding light’ there is often ‘an hour to play and the last man in.

The factories of Britain have a Trade Union to represent the workers who elect one of themselves as their shop steward to speak on their behalf in the workshop as well as round the National conference table. Mistakes or grievances in shop or department can, as a rule, speedily be righted by brief discussion between Management and the workers’ representative. The film shows a meeting of the Trade Union Congress which represents every kind of Trade Union in Great Britain.

In Egypt, an iconic archaeological painting by an Italian artist is stolen, and the abbots deliberately conceal the crime to avoid scandal. This incident reignites an old conflict between Father Maurice and Father Francis, stemming from their differing views on life.