Cuatro historias

Master storyteller W. Somerset Maugham introduces four of his own short stories in this beautifully presented film. Each story has its own intriguing charm, and the superior cast, headed by Dirk Bogarde, Mai Zetterling and Cecil Parker, elevates these stories to a level of moving drama. All aspects of the production, with each segment handled by a different director, is outstanding. John Greenood's aristocratic score wraps up the film with its own unique style. A very fine English film with moving and memorable episodes.

Somerset Maugham, who wrote tons of plays and stories, introduces his set of four shorts, while telling us a little bit about himself. In Facts of Life, Nicky (Jack Watling) learns a lesson, although we're not sure just what lesson he has learned. In Alien Corn, a young Dirk Bogarde is George Bland, a pianist who is determined to know how good he is, so he brings in an expert to evaluate. (LOVE her HAT!) In The Kite, Herbert Sunbury (George Cole) is in jail for abandoning his wife. We flash back to see what led up to it; his wife Betty (played by Susan Shaw, who was really born Patsy Sloots!) hadn't been very nice to him... In Colonel's Lady, the Colonel's wife has written a book, and EVERYONE is talking about it, much to his dismay.

Note that Hermione Baddeley (plays Beatrice Sunbury) will go on to be Mrs. Naugatuck on TV show Maude, while her sister Angela Baddeley will do mostly British TV series, most notably Upstairs, Downstairs. Probably the biggest star in this group was Dirk Bogarde, who had mixed success in both the British and Hollywood film industry. Playing his part in "Victim" may have altered his later career success. Quite an interesting bio on IMDb, worth the read. Viewers will also recognize Cecil Parker (plays Colonel Peregrine, in Colonel's Lady) from Indiscreet, with Cary Grant. Quartet is an entertaining set of Maugham stories, some have happy endings, some do not.

Somerset Maugham is one of my favorite writers; I have read all his works, and particularly like his colonial pieces in far-off lands. But these four stories are purely domestic England, but that does not diminish their impact. The first story "The Facts of Life" is a cute irony that portrays a clueless young man from a rich family. The outcome, though highly unlikely, is entertaining.

The second story, starring Dirk Bogarde, is also a bit unbelievable, and also a bit tragic. How tragic is it to not be good at the thing you love? After two stories about wealthy sons, Maugham writies "The Kite". in which he tries to aim for the Middle Class and the usual mother-in-law-wife tug of war. The story is a bit banal, but because of the author, we view it with greater meaning.

The best, however, is last. "The Colonel's Lady" is not about his mistress; it is about his wife. This short story is the type of writing that only Maugham and very few others are capable of creating. It is touching, incisive, and heartfelt. To be able to accomplish so much in such a short time is truly amazing. These stories, and particularly the last one, are not to be missed.

QUARTET is a subtle, understated anthology of stories by Somerset Maugham--entertaining but decidedly uneven in presentation. Nevertheless, as a study of various British personalities among the upper classes it does manage to evoke interest without furnishing any big surprises--which is what one usually expects from short stories.

What it does do, brilliantly, is show us Maugham's keen observations on human nature. MAI ZETTERLING and IAN FLEMING star in a story about a young man who fails to follow his father's advice and almost suffers the consequences; DIRK BOGARDE and HONOR BLACKMAN are the leads in a story about a man whose sole passion in life is to become a professional top-flight pianist but is told by FRANCOISE ROSAY that he has no such chance; the third story is a rather dated and foolish morality tale about a kite that just didn't make much sense to me; and the final story--probably the best--is about a man whose wife secretly writes a novel about her great love (a la "Lady Chatterly's Lover") and is confronted by her husband who demands to know who "the man" in the story really is. CECIL PARKER and NORA SWINBURNE play the couple and they're wonderful.

Nicely performed, well scripted and directed, QUARTET has an introduction by Maugham himself which manages to be self-effacing and informative.

Anthologies whether on stage, page or screen, are among the hardest of pieces to successfully bring off because it is so difficult to find collections of stories which complement each other with similar tone and style - and sufficiently varied to hold audience interest. With the death of the stage revue form, with interspersed songs and sketches but no thru-plot line, we have failed to develop a popular palate for the possibilities and even the outlets for short stories, the traditional training ground for great writers seem to have fewer outlets these days.

W. Somerset Maugham was one of Great Britain's last great, subtle story tellers, a master of the ironic and quiet wisdom. Late in a long career he had substantial success with three films tied to successful books of his classic short stories - of which QUARTET was the first. In it, Maugham provided an introduction to the collection and a brief exegesis or afterward. In the subsequent films, TRIO (1950) and ENCORE (1951), the film makers improved the experience by having Maugham provide a brief introduction to each of the three stories - reduced from QUARTET's four.

The four works dramatized in QUARTET are given perfect, polished productions with appropriate stars of the British stage and screen, only a few of which will be familiar to American eyes - most notably Dirk Bogarde as the hopeful pianist in the strangely undercut (by the screenwriter's removing Maugham's ethnic subtext) "Alien Corn," the movie's second act, and Honor Blackman as his girlfriend. The stories themselves are quiet, literate and well worthwhile, but hardly the sort of thing to set the pulse racing. More the sort of thing to set the MIND racing. They well reflect the sort of sensibility, such as which Maugham brought to his best plays like THE CONSTANT WIFE, THE CIRCLE or THE LETTER.

Maugham's three anthologies were successful enough that a decade later his works were again tapped for a successful three year run of an hour long television anthology ("The Somerset Maugham Hour") in which all four of these stories would be recycled along with several of those from the film sequels.

Hard to find at present in the U.S. aside from occasional screenings on cable services like Turner Classic Movies, the films have been reissued on British DVDs and are well worth seeking out for good, literate viewing. Some of these four (the concluding "Colonel's Lady" in which a Col. Blimp-type, startled to find his wife of many years has written a best selling book of poetry recalling a great love affair is consumed with jealousy for the unknown lover) are legitimate classics, some ("Alien Corn" in which 'reasonable' solutions to personal passion are found wanting or "The Kite" in which a young wife nearly destroys her marriage through a conventional concern with her own image and refusal to understand her husband's passion) have been copied so frequently they risk feeling almost trite and some ("The Facts of Life" in which a young man finds his father's advice not infallible) are so quietly humorous that it is easy to miss Maugham's more serious point, but all are quiet gems, polished to a nice soft glow.

The Entire Maugham trilogy (QUARTET, TRIO and ENCORE) is well worth your time if you don't need car chases and explosions to hold your interest.