CONTEMPORARY ARTS
CINEMA
"Trio." (Leicester Square.) Trio is a further instalment of Mr. Somerset Maugham's short stories transferred to the screen, and, like its predecessor Quartet. it is as light as a feather off a humming bird's tail, and just about as glossy. The three stories chosen, presumably by Mr. Maugham, are The Verger, Mr. Knowall and Sanatoriuni; two gay and one sad, two ending with laughable twists, one with sentimental tears. As a story-teller Mr. Maugham is second to none and as a del;neator of character he has no master, but it seems that when his master- pieces are turned into films they take on a strangely unlifelike and artificial quality. The tales themselves are highly probable, indeed they are based on fact, but then life as we know it and even life as we read about it is never recognisable on the screen—if it were we would not go to the cinema—and the realism we applaud so vociferously is not, in truth, in the least realistic.
If Trio leaves one with a flat feeling it does, nevertheless, give one the opportunity of appreciating a lot of very pleasant acting by a distinguished and intelligent company. Mr. James Hayter as the verger who Is sacked by the new Vicar because he cannot read or write, and ends up by owning a chain of tobacco stores, glows with a lovable radiance amid the quieter effulgence projected by Miss Kathleen Harrison. Mr. Felix Aylmer and Mr. Michael Hordern. Mr. Nigel Patrick surpasses himself as Mr. Knowall, the irrepressible bumptious unsnubbable man on a liner. His very teeth seem to be composed of bouncing rubber, and the only trouble is that he is so good he wearies one as much as he wearies Mr. Naunton Wayne and Miss Anne Crawford. Over the Scottish sanatorium where Miss Jean Simmons and Mr. Michael Rennie fall in love, Miss Marjorie Fielding and Miss Mary Merrall gossip, Mr. John Laurie and Mr. Finlay Currie quarrel, Miss Betty Ann Davies and Mr. Raymond Huntley wound one another's feelings and Mr. Roland Culver observes there still hangs an aura of unreality, perhaps because the majority of the cast look so extra- ordinarily well, having to disguise their patent fitness in tartan rugs. Nevertheless there'are moments here when the heart is moved, notably by Miss Davies, who is really excellent, 2nd by Miss Simmons' profile—a very touching piece of architecture at all times.
Mr. Ken Annakin and Mr. Harold French are the directors, and they can, I think, be praised for making the best of a difficult job, for, at any rate, making the feathers shine. VIRGINIA GRAHAM.
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