DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
sat watching 'smiley's people', and noticed that 'the constant gardener' is in post-production.
so - how about a le carré poll? tv mini-series and tv movies, and feature films too, i count ten so far. not all are smiley ones, neither.
here's the options:
the spy who came in from the cold (1965)
martin 'molly maguires' ritt directs a convincing richard burton as alex leamas, a washed-up british spook who defects to east germany... or does he? good support from oskar werner and others, gritty b&w photography.
the deadly affair (1966)
sidney lumet's foggy reinterpretation of 'call for the dead', with james mason in the smiley role (though renamed). excellently photographed in fuggy mist, with grimey london locations.
the looking glass war (1969)
christopher jones and anthony hopkins are amongst the cast in this tale of a polish defector infiltrated into east germany, directed by frank pierson, who delivered the excellent hbo tvm 'citizen cohn'. not seen this, though, but imdb & halliwell's reviews are positive
tinker, tailor, soldier, spy (tvms) (1979)
alec guinness delivers what many consider to be the definitive performance of george smiley, consummate but reluctant spook, drafted in to hunt out a mole at the heart of british intelligence. great support, plodding pace, and some heart-stopping moments. journeymen directors frances alcock and john irvin do wonders with lighting, long set-ups and tension shots. excellent adaptation by arthur hopcraft.
smiley's people (tvms) (1982)
tv hack simon langton fails to tie things together as tightly as his predecessors in ttss, but some good performances (a slightly more distracted, older guinness, beryl reid magnificent as connie sachs) salvage things. john hopkins script flabbier than hopcraft's, confusing many plot details and dragging out scenes too long.
the little drummer girl (1984)
redgrave-ish actress (well, in the book - in the film she's more fonda-esque) is recruited to the great game, with a charismatic palestinian guerrilla leader the target. diane keaton stars, george roy 'butch & sundance' hill directs.
a perfect spy (tvms) (1987)
le carré's sort-of autobiographical tale of a father's propensity for lies passed down to his spy son, with peter 'ever decreasing circles' and ray mcanally. arthur hopcraft returns to scripting duties, televisionist peter smith directs.
the russia house (1990)
sean connery does pretty well as a british publisher recruited to spy on his business trips to russia. michelle pfeiffer, roy scheider, david threlfall and martin clunes(!) are amongst the decent cast. stagey fred schepisi directs with patience, which is lucky, becausethe writer is tom stoppard, who is never in a hurry to get anywhere quick.
a murder of quality (tvm) (1991)
smiley (here denholm elliott) investigates murky goings-on at a school in order to help a friend in need. not seen it, but imdb reviews are positive. director is telly man gavin millar, script seemingly by le carré himself.
the tailor of panama (2001)
le carré again scripts, along with classy adapter andrew davies ('house of cards', 'middlemarch', 'anglo-saxon attitudes' etc) and director john 'excalibur' boorman. like the book, a fine riff on graham greene's 'our man in havana', with pierce brosnan a disgraced, sleazy spook sent to serve out his time in panama... geoffrey rush is the expat-with-a-past he chooses to be his ticket out of the pigpen. damn fine acting, photography and pace.
****************************************************
so there you have it, let's have yer votes & comments...
i have to say, i was disappointed at 'smiley's people'; whereas 'tinker, tailor' managed to incoprporate the tradecaft so well, many aspects of this in 'smiley's people' just don't make sense, and you don't have a clue why a character is doing such-and-such. script/editing-wise, you also find yourself wondering how we got to a certain character, it's almost arbitrary. that and the fact that the bbc - for cost reasons - omitted to make 'honourable schoolboy' (all those hong kong sets and all), much of the exposition from that is either crammed into this series, or else omitted entirely. whereas the smiley vs karla books have a delicate but defined arc, building to a crescendo, the subtlety of the 'tinker, tailor' mini-series gives way to thundering, crashing plot detonations in 'sp'. it's a shame, because there are some great moments - beryl reid as connie, being spiteful to ann; the general's dog being left in the flat, and not being seen again until george discovers him; oliver lacon being more rounded and human - and george becoming more cantakerous as he must adopt karla's ways to ensnare him, just as karla is adopting george's for the sake of... (well, if you know what i mean you know what i mean); the osti hippies/outcasts on the river...
definitely a shame the actor playing guillam changed. the character seemed to change as well, and in 'sp' the tradecraft of guillam is highly sloppy in comparison with the guillam of 'ttss'.
rambling, sorry.
vote, dammit!
so - how about a le carré poll? tv mini-series and tv movies, and feature films too, i count ten so far. not all are smiley ones, neither.
here's the options:
the spy who came in from the cold (1965)
martin 'molly maguires' ritt directs a convincing richard burton as alex leamas, a washed-up british spook who defects to east germany... or does he? good support from oskar werner and others, gritty b&w photography.
the deadly affair (1966)
sidney lumet's foggy reinterpretation of 'call for the dead', with james mason in the smiley role (though renamed). excellently photographed in fuggy mist, with grimey london locations.
the looking glass war (1969)
christopher jones and anthony hopkins are amongst the cast in this tale of a polish defector infiltrated into east germany, directed by frank pierson, who delivered the excellent hbo tvm 'citizen cohn'. not seen this, though, but imdb & halliwell's reviews are positive
tinker, tailor, soldier, spy (tvms) (1979)
alec guinness delivers what many consider to be the definitive performance of george smiley, consummate but reluctant spook, drafted in to hunt out a mole at the heart of british intelligence. great support, plodding pace, and some heart-stopping moments. journeymen directors frances alcock and john irvin do wonders with lighting, long set-ups and tension shots. excellent adaptation by arthur hopcraft.
smiley's people (tvms) (1982)
tv hack simon langton fails to tie things together as tightly as his predecessors in ttss, but some good performances (a slightly more distracted, older guinness, beryl reid magnificent as connie sachs) salvage things. john hopkins script flabbier than hopcraft's, confusing many plot details and dragging out scenes too long.
the little drummer girl (1984)
redgrave-ish actress (well, in the book - in the film she's more fonda-esque) is recruited to the great game, with a charismatic palestinian guerrilla leader the target. diane keaton stars, george roy 'butch & sundance' hill directs.
a perfect spy (tvms) (1987)
le carré's sort-of autobiographical tale of a father's propensity for lies passed down to his spy son, with peter 'ever decreasing circles' and ray mcanally. arthur hopcraft returns to scripting duties, televisionist peter smith directs.
the russia house (1990)
sean connery does pretty well as a british publisher recruited to spy on his business trips to russia. michelle pfeiffer, roy scheider, david threlfall and martin clunes(!) are amongst the decent cast. stagey fred schepisi directs with patience, which is lucky, becausethe writer is tom stoppard, who is never in a hurry to get anywhere quick.
a murder of quality (tvm) (1991)
smiley (here denholm elliott) investigates murky goings-on at a school in order to help a friend in need. not seen it, but imdb reviews are positive. director is telly man gavin millar, script seemingly by le carré himself.
the tailor of panama (2001)
le carré again scripts, along with classy adapter andrew davies ('house of cards', 'middlemarch', 'anglo-saxon attitudes' etc) and director john 'excalibur' boorman. like the book, a fine riff on graham greene's 'our man in havana', with pierce brosnan a disgraced, sleazy spook sent to serve out his time in panama... geoffrey rush is the expat-with-a-past he chooses to be his ticket out of the pigpen. damn fine acting, photography and pace.
****************************************************
so there you have it, let's have yer votes & comments...
i have to say, i was disappointed at 'smiley's people'; whereas 'tinker, tailor' managed to incoprporate the tradecaft so well, many aspects of this in 'smiley's people' just don't make sense, and you don't have a clue why a character is doing such-and-such. script/editing-wise, you also find yourself wondering how we got to a certain character, it's almost arbitrary. that and the fact that the bbc - for cost reasons - omitted to make 'honourable schoolboy' (all those hong kong sets and all), much of the exposition from that is either crammed into this series, or else omitted entirely. whereas the smiley vs karla books have a delicate but defined arc, building to a crescendo, the subtlety of the 'tinker, tailor' mini-series gives way to thundering, crashing plot detonations in 'sp'. it's a shame, because there are some great moments - beryl reid as connie, being spiteful to ann; the general's dog being left in the flat, and not being seen again until george discovers him; oliver lacon being more rounded and human - and george becoming more cantakerous as he must adopt karla's ways to ensnare him, just as karla is adopting george's for the sake of... (well, if you know what i mean you know what i mean); the osti hippies/outcasts on the river...
definitely a shame the actor playing guillam changed. the character seemed to change as well, and in 'sp' the tradecraft of guillam is highly sloppy in comparison with the guillam of 'ttss'.
rambling, sorry.
vote, dammit!
), the whole circus atmosphere is well-imagined (dusty, grimy, bureaucratic - very british), and the climax is slyly edited together.
