Every now and then omnibus films are really popular - this kicked off a vogue in the late 40s, there was another one in the late 60s with Amicus horror tales. These four stories here come from Somerset Maugham, and are very sensible dramas sensibly adapted by R. C. Sherriff. That's kind of a back-handed compliment but this is an extremely competently made movie. It does feel like TV at times, but the quality of acting is very high and the stories are quite good.
The first one has Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne briefly reunited in a story of Radford worrying about his son going off the rails; then Dirk Bogarde plays perhaps the first in what would be a long, long line of men not particularly interested in women, a rich man's son determined to play the piano; following that is George Cole as a man who marries a woman way too hot for him (Susan Shaw) (not that this is the point of the story - that's to do with her not wanting him to fly a kite); then Cecil Parker worries about his wife writing a racy novel.
Noel Coward once observed Maugham always looked on the human heart as a necessary organ rather than something to be listened to (I could be paraphrasing) - emotions are dealt with in a matter of fact way. Mai Zetterling and Honor Blackman are achingly young and gorgeous, Bogarde was effective already, it's crisply directed. Civilised entertainment all round.
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