Andrew Crawford (uncredited) played the coachman who talked to Ashenden about Scotland as he drove the latter from the railway-station to the sanatorium at the beginning of the last part of the picture.
The two shorter components of 'Trio' were remade as episodes of the iconic UK television series 'Tales of the Unexpected'. 'The Verger' starred Richard Briers and 'Mr Know-All' had Topol in the title role. Both episodes were first shown in 1988.
Last film released under the name of Gainsborough Pictures.
The first book Ashenden is depicted as reading is "Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) first published in book format in 1839. The second book is "Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London from 1800 to 1830 inclusive", Volume 1: 1800 to 1814. The third book is "Vivian Grey" by Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881). The fourth book is on meteorology with the pages open to a chapter on measuring temperature.
There is a brief quip that would have had audiences of the day laughing, but modern audiences are unlikely to know what it means.
In the "Mr. Know-All" segment, when Max Kelada (played by Nigel Patrick) first meets Mr. Gray (played by Wilfrid Hyde-White ), he asks "What did you say your racket was?"
Gray replies "I didn't say, but if you particularly want to know, I'm in the civil service."
The question in Kelada's reply, "Groundnuts?" was a dig at the politicians and the civil service over a grand plan to grow peanuts in Tanganyika in Africa. It was a total failure and a huge scandal of the day because it was something that would never have worked and it wasted a vast amount of British taxpayers' money.
Other films of the era also drop in the mention of groundnuts to amuse audiences, two examples being The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) and Crooks in Cloisters (1964).
In the "Mr. Know-All" segment, when Max Kelada (played by Nigel Patrick) first meets Mr. Gray (played by Wilfrid Hyde-White ), he asks "What did you say your racket was?"
Gray replies "I didn't say, but if you particularly want to know, I'm in the civil service."
The question in Kelada's reply, "Groundnuts?" was a dig at the politicians and the civil service over a grand plan to grow peanuts in Tanganyika in Africa. It was a total failure and a huge scandal of the day because it was something that would never have worked and it wasted a vast amount of British taxpayers' money.
Other films of the era also drop in the mention of groundnuts to amuse audiences, two examples being The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) and Crooks in Cloisters (1964).