The Great Game is a 1953 British sports comedy-drama directed by Maurice Elvey

Maurice Elvey

Maurice Elvey was the most prolific film director in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year....

 and starring James Hayter, Thora Hird

Thora Hird

Dame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...

 and Diana Dors

Diana Dors

Diana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in ­Swindon,...

. It was based on a play by Basil Thomas. Many of the scenes were shot at Griffin Park

Griffin Park

Griffin Park is a football ground situated in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It has been the home ground of League One side Brentford since it was built in 1904. It is known for being the only English league football ground to have a pub on each corner, and is situated in a...

 the home of Brentford F.C.

Brentford F.C.

Brentford Football Club are a professional English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League One....

. Several professional football players made appearances in the film including Tommy Lawton

Tommy Lawton

Thomas "Tommy" Lawton was an English association footballer who rose to fame a short time before the outbreak of the Second World War and enjoyed a successful career which lasted until well into the 1950s....

.

Plot

The chairman of a top-flight English football club makes an illegal approach to a rising star of a rival club. This is discovered by the football authorities and the Chairman is ultimately suspended from the game following the ensuing scandal.

Cast

• James Hayter - Joe Lawson
• Thora Hird
  Thora Hird
  Dame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...
  
   - Miss Rawlings
• Diana Dors
  Diana Dors
  Diana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in ­Swindon,...
  
   - Lulu Smith
• John Laurie
  John Laurie
  John Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
  
   - 'Mac' Wells
• Meredith Edwards
  Meredith Edwards (actor)
  Gwilym Meredith Edwards was a Welsh character actor and writer.He was born in Rhosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales, the son of a collier. He became an actor in 1938, first with the Welsh National Theatre Company, then the Liverpool Playhouse...
  
  - Skid Evans
• Jack Lambert
  Jack Lambert (British actor)
  Jack Lambert was a British film and television actor.-Selected filmography:* Red Ensign * The Ghost Goes West * Premiere * Nine Men * Floodtide * The Lost Hours...
  
   - Ralph Blake
• Glyn Houston
  Glyn Houston
  Glyn Houston , is an actor best known for his television work. He is the brother of the late film actor Donald Houston.-Early life:...
  
   - Ned Rutter
• Geoffrey Toone
  Geoffrey Toone
  Geoffrey Toone was an Irish-born character actor.Most of Toone's film roles after the 1930s were in supporting parts, usually as authority figures, though he did play the lead character in the Hammer Films production The Terror of the Tongs in 1961Toone was born in Dublin, Ireland to English...
  
   - Jack Bannerman
• Alexander Gauge
  Alexander Gauge
  Alexander Gauge was a British actor best known for playing Friar Tuck in The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1955 to 1960....
  
   - Ben Woodhall
• Frank Pettingell
  Frank Pettingell
  Frank Pettingell was an English actor.Pettingell was born in Liverpool, and educated at Manchester University...
  
   - Sir Julius
• Tommy Lawton
  Tommy Lawton
  Thomas "Tommy" Lawton was an English association footballer who rose to fame a short time before the outbreak of the Second World War and enjoyed a successful career which lasted until well into the 1950s....
  
   - Cameo
• Sheila Shand Gibbs - Mavis Pink