British Pathe

Reel 1. New Era Films Ltd presentation. Produced by Charles Barnett. An U.I.C. production.

Film begins with a typed letter from Jack Hobbs detailing his agreement that U.I.C. can produce a film dealing with incidents in his life and show his technique in slow motion. He states that this is...

Reel 1. New Era Films Ltd presentation. Produced by Charles Barnett. An U.I.C. production.

Film begins with a typed letter from Jack Hobbs detailing his agreement that U.I.C. can produce a film dealing with incidents in his life and show his technique in slow motion. He states that this is the "only authentic film" of his career. Crowds entering cricket ground. C/U of Jack Berry Hobbs - "the world's greatest batsman". Parker's Piece in Cambridge - cricket match in progress. Shots of Jesus College where Jack's father had charge of the cricket ground. Fenner's - Cambridgeshire County Ground. Kennington Oval - high shot of the ground, match in progress. Jack shakes hands with Andrew Sandham and Tom Hayward. C/Us of Sandham and Hayward. Hobbs, Sandham, Tom Hayward, Strudwick and "Bill" Hitch pose in a group and fool around with the stumps. Hobbs practices his strokes and we see them in slow motion. C/U of his grip on the bat. Shots of Hobbs fielding.

The famous Hobbs-Strudwick combination - Hobbs fields the ball, throws it to Strudwick who stumps someone out in slow motion. Illustration of the dressing room superstition that the right pad always goes on first. 1924-5 Test Match in Adelaide, Australia. Hobbs and Sutcliffe walk out on to the pitch. Through means of a graphic scoreboard, the centuries scored by Hobbs are presented on screen. Facts and figures about Jack's score record are given in inter titles. Mrs Hobbs is held up as the reason for Jack's success and consistency. We see the husband and wife in their garden smiling and laughing. Jack sits at a table in the garden. We see Jack's shop: Jack Hobbs Ltd. Surrey X1. Jack and another man talk outside. Hobbs smokes a pipe as he looks at newspaper cartoons featuring himself - he laughs.

(Original film has orange tint - transferred to tape as black and white.)

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