Trio (1950)
Directed by Ken Annakin, Harold French

Film Review

The immense success of Quartet (1948) ensured that a similar anthology of films based on William Somerset Maugham's short stories would not be long in the offing.  Trio serves up a similar banquet of astute and ironic character studies, each performed with brio by a talented cast that includes some fine character actors and one big name star (Jean Simmons).  On this occasion, there is no common theme to the segments making up the anthology, a mixed bag that begins with two amusing comedy vignettes and concludes with a somewhat drawn-out melodrama.  As in the previous film, Maugham appears 'in the flesh' to present this respectful tribute to his work, which takes slightly fewer liberties with his original stories than Quartet did.

Most enjoyable is the second and shortest story in the compendium, Mr Know-All, which stands apart mostly through Nigel Patrick's unceasingly funny turn as the grinding social irritant Max Kelada, who can best be described as a boil in human form.  Naunton Wayne and Wilfred Hyde-White both look like men with murder on their mind as Patrick's uncalled for affability chisels away at their phoney civility to reveal the nastiness that lies beneath.  Almost as entertaining is the opening segment, The Verger, in which James Hayter, the future voice of Mr Kipling's cakes, delivers an exceedingly good punch-line.

The only thing going for the third (and too long by far) segment Sanitorium is the subplot of murderous rivalry between Finlay Currie and John Laurie (better known as Private Frazer in the TV sitcom Dad's Army); the rest is plodding melodrama that outstays its welcome by at least ten minutes.  The principal characters in this segment (which feels more like a short feature) are Michael Rennie and Jean Simmons, the former an actor whose career never really took off - he is best known for playing the visiting extra-terrestrial in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Whilst nowhere near as entertaining as Quartet, Trio did sufficiently well at the box office to justify a third batch of Somerset Maugham short stories, Encore (1951).

Film Synopsis

The celebrated British author Somerset Maugham presents three more adaptations of his short stories.  In The Verger, Albert Foreman is dismissed from his post of verger when it is discovered that he cannot read and write.  He opens a tobacconist and sweet shop with his life savings and within no time he is running a successful business.  By opening more shops Albert has soon amassed more money than he knows what to do with, such is the price of illiteracy.  In Mr Know-All, the well-to-do passengers on an ocean liner soon have their fill of a sociable but intrusive jewel dealer named Max Kelada.  Immodest to a fault, Kelada gatecrashes social gatherings and makes a point that he is an expert on just about every subject, but even he has the good grace to shut up when a woman's honour is at stake.  In Sanatorium, vicious tongues start wagging when George Templeton, a major with a dubious reputation, takes up residence in a rest home in Scotland and attracts the attention of one of the younger patients, Evie Bishop.  Although they are both afflicted with life-threatening medical conditions, George and Evie decide to marry, against the advice of their doctors...