Quartet (1948)

Directors:

Ken Annakin
Arthur Crabtree
(more)

Writers:

W. Somerset Maugham (stories)
R.C. Sherriff (writer)

Release Date:

26 October 1948 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Four of Somerset Maugham's short stories are brought to the screen with each introduced by the author himself...

Plot Keywords:

Author | Kite | Hobby | Colonel | Tennis

Awards:

1 win

Cast

W. Somerset Maugham	...	Himself - Host
Basil Radford	...	Henry Garnet (segment "The Facts of Life")
Naunton Wayne	...	Leslie (segment "The Facts of Life")
Ian Fleming	...	Ralph (segment "The Facts of Life")
Jack Raine	...	Thomas (segment "The Facts of Life")
Angela Baddeley	...	Mrs. Garnet (segment "The Facts of Life")
James Robertson Justice	...	Branksome (segment "The Facts of Life")
Jack Watling	...	Nicky (segment "The Facts of Life")
Nigel Buchanan	...	John (segment "The Facts of Life")
Mai Zetterling	...	Jeanne (segment "The Facts of Life")
Dirk Bogarde	...	George Bland (segment "The Alien Corn")
Raymond Lovell	...	Sir Frederick Bland (segment "The Alien Corn")
Irene Browne	...	Lady Bland (segment "The Alien Corn")
Honor Blackman	...	Paula (segment "The Alien Corn")
George Thorpe	...	Uncle John (segment "The Alien Corn")
Mary Hinton	...	Aunt Maud (segment "The Alien Corn")
Françoise Rosay	...	Lea Makart (segment "The Alien Corn")
Bernard Lee	...	Prison Visitor (segment "The Kite")
Frederick Leister	...	Governor (segment "The Kite")
George Merritt	...	Prison Officer
George Cole	...	Herbert Sunbury (segment "The Kite")
David Cole	...	Herbert as a Boy (segment "The Kite")
Hermione Baddeley	...	Beatrice Sunbury (segment "The Kite")
Mervyn Johns	...	Samuel Sunbury (segment "The Kite")
Susan Shaw	...	Betty (segment "The Kite")
Cyril Chamberlain	...	Reporter (segment "The Kite")
Cecil Parker	...	Colonel Peregrine (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Nora Swinburne	...	Mrs. Peregrine (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
J.H. Roberts	...	West (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Claud Allister	...	Clubman (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Clubman (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Ernest Thesiger	...	Henry Dashwood (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Henry Edwards	...	Duke of Heverel (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Linden Travers	...	Daphne (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Felix Aylmer	...	Martin (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
John Salew	...	John Coleman (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Lyn Evans	...	Bannock (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Cyril Raymond	...	Railway Passenger (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Clive Morton	...	Henry Blane (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
Margaret Withers	...	Gushing Woman (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Johnny Briggs	...	Boy on Common (segment "The Kite") (uncredited)
Ernest Butcher	...	Blanes Angestellter (segment "The Colonel's Lady") (uncredited)
Jean Cavall	...	Singer (segment "The Facts of Life") (uncredited)
Maurice Denham	...	Vorsitzender der Untersuchungskommission (segment "The Alien Corn") (uncredited)
Arthur Denton	...	Man on Common (segment "The Kite") (uncredited)
James Hayter	...	Sprecher der Schöffen (segment "The Alien Corn") (uncredited)
Hal Osmond	...	Verkäuferin im Buchladen (segment "The Colonel's Lady") (uncredited)
Yvonne Owen	...	1. Klatschbase (segment "The Colonel's Lady") (uncredited)
Marcel Poncin	...	Frenchman (segment "The Alien Corn") (uncredited)
Margaret Thorburn	...	2.Klatschbase (segment "The Colonel's Lady") (uncredited)

Directed by
Ken Annakin		(segment "Colonel's Lady, The")
Arthur Crabtree		(segment "Kite, The")
Harold French		(segment "Alien Corn, The")
Ralph Smart		(segment "Facts of Life, The")

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
W. Somerset Maugham		stories The Alien Corn, The Colonel's Lady, The Facts of Life, The Kite
R.C. Sherriff		writer

Produced by
Sydney Box	....	executive producer
Antony Darnborough	....	producer

Original Music by
John Greenwood

Cinematography by
Ray Elton
Reginald H. Wyer		(segment "The Colonel's Lady")

Film Editing by
Jean Barker
A. Charles Knott

Casting by
Weston Drury Jr.		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Norman G. Arnold		(segment 4)
Cedric Dawe
George Provis

Costume Design by
Julie Harris

Makeup Department
W.T. Partleton	....	makeup artist
Elsie Alder	....	hairdresser: segments 1-3 (uncredited)
Gene Beck	....	assistant makeup: segment 4 (uncredited)
Ivy Emmerton	....	hair stylist (fourth segment) (uncredited)
Len Garde	....	makeup artist: segment 4 (uncredited)

Production Management
William N. Boyle	....	production manager (as William Boyle)
Fred Gunn	....	production manager (fourth segment) (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hugh Attwooll	....	assistant director (as Hugh Attwool)
Bert Batt	....	third assistant director (fourth segment) (uncredited)
Peter Manley	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Gerry O'Hara	....	first assistant director (segment 4) (uncredited)

Art Department
Ernest Archer	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
John Clements	....	draughtsman (segments 1, 2 and 3) (uncredited)
Lionel Couch	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
John Jarvis	....	set dresser (uncredited)
Frederick Knapman	....	draughtsman (segment 4) (uncredited)
Maurice Pelling	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
Michael Stringer	....	draughtsman: fourth segment (uncredited)
Frank White	....	draughtsman (uncredited)

Sound Department
Leslie Hammond	....	sound recordist
Bill Salter	....	sound recordist (as W. Salter)
B.C. Sewell	....	sound director
Claude Hitchcock	....	boom operator (uncredited)
M. Hobbs	....	sound recordist (fourth segment) (uncredited)
Leslie Hodgson	....	assistant dubbing editor (uncredited)
Eric Reed	....	boom operator: fourth segment (uncredited)
Kitty Spreckley	....	dubbing editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Philippo Guidobaldi	....	special effects (as P. Guidobaldi)
Albert Whitlock	....	additional special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bernard Lewis	....	camera operator
Douglas Adamsson	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Frank Bellingham	....	still photographer (segment 4) (uncredited)
Alan Gatward	....	clapper loader: segment 4 (uncredited)
John Jay	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Cyril Stanborough	....	still photographer (segment 4) (uncredited)
Manny Yospa	....	focus puller (uncredited) (fourth segment)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Dolly Smith	....	wardrobe mistress: segments 1, 2 & 3 ) (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Stanley Willis	....	second assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Muir Mathieson	....	musical director
Temple Abady	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Hans May	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Helen Littledale	....	continuity: segment 4
June Randall	....	continuity (uncredited) (fourth segment)
Phyllis Ross	....	continuity (uncredited) (third segment)

Production Companies

• Gainsborough Pictures

Distributors

• General Film Distributors (GFD) (1948) (UK) (theatrical)
• Eagle-Lion Films (1949) (USA) (theatrical)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1976) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• J. Arthur Rank Film (1949) (West Germany) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Gainsborough Studios, Islington, London, England, UK

Company:

Gainsborough Pictures

Trivia:

In an unusual coincidence, Quartet has two actors who would both have eternal associations with the James Bond series. Bernard Lee, who would later play M, and Honor Blackman, who would play one of the most famous Bond girls in Goldfinger (1964), Pussy Galore. Despite the name Ian Fleming on the credits, he is not the same man who wrote the Bond novels.

Quotes:

Himself, Host:In my twenties, the critics said I was brutal. In my thirties, they said I was flippant; in my forties, they said I was cynical; in my fifties they said I was competent - and then, in my sixties, they said I was superficial.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Raiders of the Lost Archive: Episode #1.3" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Impromptu

Four shorties introduced by S Maugham himself

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.