Based on W. Somerset Maugham

In 1948, Gainsborough Pictures—best known for its enormously popular gothic melodramas—embarked on a rare prestige project: an anthology-film adaptation of four short stories by W. Somerset Maugham titled QUARTER, soon followed by two similarly structured follow-ups, TRIO and ENCORE. Featuring British acting legends like Dirk Bogarde, Jean Simmons, and Glynis Johns, these exquisitely crafted miniatures represent literary adaptation at its most elegant, drawing on Maugham’s famously keen insights into human nature to tell stories of misguided passions, creative obsession, social ambition, and unexpected reversals of fortune.