Dear Patrick again,
The only time ever I found a direct, palpable connection
between characters/cast, plot/eding, direction/writing,
atmosphere/mood/set lighting, point of view (angles/camera
positions/lens choice/camera movement such as
dolly-crane-zoom...)...etc...etc...etc...was in the two John
Le Carr頮oir adaptations called Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
and Smiley¹s People...shot with stupendous cast, direction,
art department.... by BBC in late 70¹s-early 80¹s... Read the
books or see the series first, it doesn¹t matter really....
TV series are available on Amazon, eBay, whatever you
fancy...this is an absolute must on the film side...if you
haven¹t read the books...don¹t get me wrong, they are a must
too... Sylvestre (Steve) Novak
Here¹s a review for your pleasure:
John Le Carr駳 1974 novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy sought to
dramatise the sense of loss and betrayal that accompanied
Britain's post-war disillusionment following the final
collapse of its empire. It did this by fictionally recreating
the revelations of the 1950s and '60s that exposed many of
its Intelligence officers, including Kim Philby, Guy Burgess
and Donald Maclean, as double agents in the employ of the
KGB, events that rocked the British establishment.
In Arthur Hopcraft's seven-part BBC adaptation, George Smiley
returns from his enforced 'retirement' to spearhead a mole
hunt that is loosely based on the circumstances surrounding
Kim Philby's identification as a KGB spy at the heart of the
British Secret Service. By coincidence, the miniseries' first
showing in 1979 coincided with the announcement that Anthony
Blunt, Keeper of the Queen's pictures, had also spied with
Burgess et al for Moscow.
As Smiley, Alec Guinness gives one of his finest
performances, his seemingly placid and imperturbable exterior
masking a seething mass of conflicting emotions, culminating
with his angry realisation that the same man is reponsible
for his own domestic betrayal and that of the Service. The
long, complicated narrative is told largely through a series
of interlocking flashbacks, which helps to locate the mindset
of the story and its characters in the past, one step closer
to the events that inspired it.
Tinker, Tailor eventually resolves itself into a succession
of extended vignettes, allowing for some finely-etched cameos
from the likes of Joss Ackland, Ian Bannen, Hywel Bennett and
Nigel Stock. Ian Richardson, as the ambivalent Bill Haydon,
and Beryl Reid, as a melancholic ex-colleague of Smiley's now
subsisting on a diet of whisky and memories, are especially
good. Si⮠Phillips is also particularly sharp in the series'
final scene as Smiley's unfaithful wife Ann, the mere mention
of whom has been used throughout the episodes as a subtle way
to impugn his integrity.
Although its Cold War aspects date it (as does Warren
Clarke's crudely camp caricature of a homosexual
functionary), the series remains notable for its powerful
performances, taut direction by John Irvin, and an
exceptional music score by Geoffrey Burgon, including his
haunting Nunc Dimittis, a setting of the 'Song of Simeon',
sung over the end titles uncredited by chorister Paul
Phoenix. The series was an immediate success and has been
repeated many times since. Guinness returned in the sequel
Smiley's People in 1982.
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