Quartet (1948 film)

Quartet
Mai Zetterling from a promotional postcard for the film
Directed by	Ken Annakin Arthur Crabtree Harold French Ralph Smart
Produced by	Antony Darnborough
Written by	R. C. Sherriff W. Somerset Maugham (stories)
Starring	Cecil Parker Dirk Bogarde George Cole Honor Blackman Linden Travers Basil Radford Naunton Wayne Jack Watling Susan Shaw
Distributed by	Gainsborough Pictures
Release date	1948
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£168,000
Box office	£122,000 (by 1953)

Quartet is a 1948 British anthology film with four segments, each based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham. Each segment is introduced by the author. It was successful enough to produce two sequels Trio (1950) and Encore (1951), and popularised the compendium film format, leading to films such as O. Henry's Full House in 1952.

The screenplays for the stories were all written by R. C. Sherriff.

Based on "The Facts of Life", included in the 1940 collection of Maugham stories The Mixture as Before.

Despite their reservations, Mr. and Mrs. Garnet allow their promising tennis player son, nineteen-year-old Nicky Garnet, to travel by himself to Monte Carlo to compete in a tournament. Mr. Garnet gives him some advice: never gamble, never lend money, and don't have anything to do with women. On the last night of his stay, he disregards all three: he wins a large amount of money at roulette and meets a beautiful woman named Jeanne, who borrows from him before he can react. Later, she repays him, then takes him dancing at a nightclub.

It is so late, his hotel has closed for the night. She offers to let him sleep on her sofa. Later that night, he awakens to find her stealing his winnings. He pretends to be asleep and sees her hide the money in a vase. After she leaves, he retrieves the money. The next morning, on the plane returning home, he counts his money and finds there is more than there should be. A friend suggests that Jeanne had stored her own funds in the same hiding place.

Upon his return home, his father laments to his friends that his son ignored everything he had told him and profited from it!

On George Bland's twenty-first birthday, his father, of the landed gentry, asks him what he intends to do with his life. George's answer is incomprehensible to his entire family: he wants to become a concert pianist. His family, who want him to succeed to his father's place and title, try to talk him out of it. Finally, his cousin Paula (who is in love with him) comes up with a compromise: he will study in Paris for two years, after which an impartial expert will determine whether he has it in him to reach his goal.

The two years ended, Paula gets Lea Markart, a world-famous pianist, to do the judging. After listening to George's recital, Markart tells him that, while his technique is excellent, he lacks the talent and inspiration of a true artist and could never be more than a good amateur.