this be the second british rank film to adapt the story of sommerset maugham to film . all but one story from quartet do not travel well into the contempory era while and the actor speech be decidedly clipped and a only british pre 1950 actor delivery can be . in anycase trio seem tight and more filmic than the first film adaptation . one of the problem these two film can not overcome be that their source material be write 25 30 year prior to the film . consequently and by the 1950 maughm ( pre war ) popularist small morality storyteling seem rather quaint and if not downright coy .