W. Somerset Maugham's short stories are most often trick tales which surprise in conclusion, most often they characterize acutely, and inevitably they are amusing. In Maugham's "Trio," the audience is treated to these three Maugham standards, but that is not all, as if more is necessary. The third story, "Sanatorium" has not only the Maugham requisites but it is also sentimental, as is "The Kites" in "Quartet." Sentimentality is inconsistent with either Maugham's wit or characterization.

Characterization and wit set an audience apart from the players; it can afford to look at the players objectively, since their idyosyncrasies are to be laughed at, not pitied, and their conscious humor to be enjoyed. For the audience, there is no possible emotional involvement with Maugham characters; they are on display only. Thus, when Maugham introduces a sentimental romance between TB victims in "Sanatorium," the audience is uncomfortable, as all along it has been concerned with characters and not with tormented souls. An audience must be in a sentimental mood before tears can be shed.

The first film, "The Verger" has sentiment, which is something quite different from sentimentality. For the sentiment does not involve the audience, which, though on the verger's side, is more concerned with an amusing situation. To laugh at, while enjoying, his triumph, as an audience is bound to do, is an objective rather than a subjective approach to a film.

In the second story, "Mr. Knowall," Maugham is at his best. The characterization of Mr. Kelada is superb, as is that of the two civil servants, Ramsay and Grey: the ending is tricky and surprising; and the situation and the characters are amusing. Maugham's forte is obviously characterization and resulting humor. The trick ending is a necessity, to give his characterization the substance of plot.

All three films are enjoyable. To excellent acting by a cast which includes some of England's best--James Hayter, Naunton Wayne, Wilfred Hyde-White, and Roland Culver--has been added good and often brilliant photography, and to both, Maugham's ingenuity which surpasseth all frailty.