Acting
Jean Simmons luminous in her sanatorium romance
Writing
Maugham's sardonic introductions steal every scene
Production
Three distinct visual moods, one cohesive bite
Director
Ken Annakin
Jean Simmons
Evie Bishop (segment Sanatorium)
James Hayter
Albert Foreman (segment "The Verger")
Michael Rennie
Major George Templeton (segment Sanatorium)
Roland Culver
Mr. Ashenden
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Mr. Gray (segment Mr. Know-It-All)
Kathleen Harrison
Emma Foreman (in segment The Verger)
Anne Crawford
Mrs. Ramsey (in segment Mr. Know-All)
Nigel Patrick
Max Kelada (in segment Mr. Know-All)
Felix Aylmer
Bank Manager
Lana Morris
Gladys
Michael Hordern
Vicar
Glyn Houston
Ted
Eliot Makeham
Sexton
Bill Travers
Fellowes (segment Mr. Know-It-All)
Henry Edwards
Church Warden
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was the second Maugham anthology after 1948's Quartet; the author personally selected which stories made the cut and filmed his introductions in his Riviera villa.
The sanatorium setting reflects real postwar British tuberculosis anxiety—romanticizing illness was briefly fashionable before antibiotics made it mundane.
GB
