Adaptations of three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham comprise this anthology film in which the celebrated author introduces each segment of the film in front of the camera.

The film is made from three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham. The first, "The Ant and the Grasshopper" concerns the trials and tribulations that ne'er-do-well Tom Ramsey puts his prim-and-proper businessman brother George Ramsey through. The escapades that drive George to absolute distraction eventually wins the hand of the world's third-richest girl, Margaret Vyne, for shiftless Tom; "Winter Cruise" finds the crew of a cargo boat becoming unglued by the endless chatter of a spinster passenger named Miss Reid. In a desperate attempt to silence the prattling busybody, the ship's officers browbeat a French steward, Pierre into making love to her. The results provide some astounding surprises for the officers, Pierre, and, for certain, Miss Reid; In "The Gigolo and the Gigolette" segment, beautiful daredevil Stella Cotman, who entertains the jaded guests of a resort hotel by diving nightly from an eighty-foot platform into a flaming tank, is losing her nerve.—Les Adams <[email protected]>