Encore

As the title implies, this follows "Quartet" and "Trio," the first two collections of Maugham stories. This one has three stories. The first story, "The Ant and the Grasshopper," has Patrick as a ne'er-do-well who mooches off his responsible brother. The second, "Winter Cruise," is the amusing tale of a few men caught on a long cruise with a Chatty Kathy (Walsh) who drives them crazy with her non-stop yapping. The final episode, "Gigolo and Gigolette," stars Johns as a performer whose act consists of jumping 80 feet into a pool of burning water, but she starts to lose her nerves; it is the longest and, for the most part, the least interesting of the three, although the ending is compelling.

Have always appreciated W Somerset Maugham's writing, it has been criticised for not holding up well but really like the sharpness of the prose, the insight, the irony and charm. He is not adapted enough on film, but when he is it makes for interesting results. Something that is evident in the portmanteau trilogy 'The Aesop's Fables Maugham Concerto Trilogy', consisting of 'Quartet' (1948), 'Trio' (1950) and 'Encore' (1951).

Like 'Quartet' the best marginally, due to "The Colonel's Lady" being my favourite of all the segments of the entire trilogy, while equally liking 'Trio'. Of the three, my least favourite is 'Encore', which is still worthwhile and not because it's bad, just that the other two's segments were more consistent and higher individually in quality. It's uneven but as was said with 'Quartet' and 'Trio' that was not unexpected, considering the usual standard of anthologies (am not meaning this in a derogatory manner). Like 'Trio', 'Encore' is made up of three segments, starting with "The Ant and the Grasshopper" and finishing with "Gigolo and Gigolette" with "Winter Cruise" sandwiched in between.

Unlike 'Quartet' and 'Trio', there are moments of pedestrian direction, apparent in some of "The Ant and the Grasshopper" and on occasions, but only fleetingly in, "The Gigolo and the Gigolette". Found myself not the biggest fan of "The Ant and the Grasshopper", which was admittedly amusing and had great comic timing from especially Nigel Patrick in one of the film's standout performances.

The pacing did need more kick though, while the characters are rather too cynical, while not being as interesting as the rich characterisation in particularly the "Sanitorium" segment in 'Trio', and the ending is on the absurd side.

On the other hand, "Winter Cruise" is very entertaining, lifted by the delightful (if not working for everyone) turn of Kay Walsh having a ball, and with a touch of pathos. The longest segment "The Gigolo and the Gigolette" is not loved by all, though it has been considered the best of the three (my favourite actually is "Winter Cruise", but mostly the pace is fine, it is the most unpredictable of the three with an ending that one does not expect and one is treated to a good deal of emotion and especially tension before getting there.

Have no issues with the performances really and Maugham's writing shines just as much as it did in 'Quartet' and 'Trio', the insight, irony and charm frequently present though the lightness was more apparent in those two films. He again introduces and bookends the film and each segment and he delivers it with the same qualities he brought to 'Quartet' and 'Trio'. Like the previous two films, 'Encore' is pleasing visually and appropriately scored.

In conclusion, worthwhile end to a very interesting and well done trilogy of portmanteaus. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Another Somerset Maugham short story anthology, getting off to a bad start with the first story THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER not exactly first rate but amusing, due to the performances of n'er-do-well NIGEL PATRICK as the philandering brother who ends up marrying the third richest girl in the world much to the annoyance of his stuffy but reliable brother ROLAND CULVER; a cruise ship story about a woman who never stops talking and driving everyone in sight (including the audience) a bit crazy, well played by KAY WALSH; and finally, a story about a young couple who are part of a diving act from an 80 ft. platform but facing fears about the life and death feat designed to entertain some jaded tourist trade at a fancy hotel.

The third and longest segment is the most interesting, with GLYNIS JOHNS as the diver losing her nerve and TERENCE MORGAN as her worried husband. There's no telling which way the ending will go until the last moment and it keeps you glued to the story's finish.

Summing up: With introductions by the famous author himself, it's a fun way to spend an hour and a half.

Encore (1951)

A set of three half hour movies, each based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham, who also comes on screen to introduce them to us (like Hitchcock did in his 1950s television work). You have to accept the idea that these are short films, without connection, and enjoy them one by one. They don't have time to develop like a full movie, but they make a smaller statement quickly. And each is directed, acted, filmed, etc. etc. by a separate crew and cast. Follow along:

The Ant and the Grasshopper

This has the potential for the most complex and rich of the three shorts, involving two brothers, one who works steadily and honorably at his job (the ant, I suppose) and the other who is a cad and a scoundrel of some innocent sort, but who gets ahead by the end through some leap of daring (the grasshopper, surely). It's a mischievous and clever story, a bit too clever by half, but really well acted. The plot reminds me of the O'Henry kind of storytelling where there is a small kernel of observation and cleverness, but in a lighthearted way (nothing too Chekov or Raymond Carver going on here). But well done, well done.

Winter Cruise

This was for me the best of the three. At first it's a silly tale about a woman who talks so much on a cruise she drives everyone batty, but then, when the ship stops at port and the cast gets reduced to just a half dozen people, we get a tight ensemble playing out of issues of loneliness, love, kindness, and the power of implication. By that I mean, what this segment doesn't say is what it's all about. The writer, Maugham, and the screenwriter, Arthur Macrae, both are in top form.

The tone is great--utterly chipper in its clever humor--and it's filmed in a smilier way, with some playful expressionist filming. And it's nicely contained, a film on a small ship on a voyage. And of course, the men who seem to prefer silence can get none of it on this little vessel, from which there's no escape.

"We'll just ignore her," says one man.

"Well, you can't ignore Niagara," says another.

You have to pay attention, because the quips and one-liners are fast and fluid. For example, when the poor young Frenchman, the steward, is commanded to have a romance with the woman, another officer whispers in his ear that he'll get "danger money" for the duty, a reference to high risk jobs in the war getting higher pay. And there are digs about the English and the French, and so on. Great stuff, increasingly complex, and a touching ambiguous (perfectly ambiguous) ending.

Gigolo and Gigolette

There are two themes to this one. The first echoes Maugham's comments at the start, that some people are drawn to do senselessly dangerous work because the money is there, even if they eventually get hurt or die because of it. This time it is a high dive act (eighty feet up, into a pool of water five feet deep). Which brings us to the second theme: love or money. The diver is a woman, and her boyfriend is deeply in love with her. But he loves money, too, and he begins to push her to dive twice a night even if she isn't quite up to it, because the money is there.

It's well done, if a bit simpler. What really works in this tale is the actual fear you have for the diver. Well filmed, tightly edited.

This movie was constructed from three short stories by Somerset Maugham and he also appears to introduce each of them. The third story "Gigolo and Gigolette" is by far the best as you are never quite sure what direction it is going in. Terrific tension. The middle story also has a neat twist at the end but it takes far too long to get there and its main protagonist (played by Kay Walsh) starts to irritate. The first story features a bunch of quite unlikable, selfish characters and I found it did not engage me at all. 4 out of 10 for the first, 6 out of 10 for the second and 8 out of 10 for the third for an average of 6 out of 10 for the whole effort.