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Rating:  -
I've dutifully read all the earlier reviews, and most echo my own opinion (so many intelligent, discriminating readers!). Here's my response.
A few complained about the slow pace. It does seem ponderous at times, but if you watch carefully and sum up at the end this is because the audience has been invited to accompany Smiley's search for the sleeper; given this, it is only fair to let us hear the details. Long, talky, expository -- guilty as charged. But no detail is wasted. Every conversation includes critical background and clues. It requires careful attention and consideration to enjoy this story; my only disappointment (and that exceeding slight) was that the identification of the sleeper as Bill Hayden was perhaps too clearly signaled.
As it happens, I had not read the novel when it was published (I was busy being a lieutenant in Viet Nam's somewhat warmer version of the Cold War) and saw the miniseries first. Ever after I have seen the characters (who appeared in later books, including the wonderful collection of reminiscences Secret Pilgrim) from the BBC production as I read. In particular this includes Bernard Hepton's wonderful portrayal of Tobe Esterhase, a "cheap Austro-Hungarian in an expensive suit" and bearer of the name of an earlier cheap spy from the Dreyfus affair.
As to the supposed downscale casting philosophy -- the ensemble was made up principally of stage actors, I thought appropriately. The relative anonymity added, I believe, to the general atmosphere -- we were seeing the actual spies, not Richard Burton or Sean Connery, both of whom appeared in adaptations of Le Carre novels.
Rating: -
This one of the all time great spy thrillers. It is the middle of the story however. The story starts with "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" and ends with "Smiley's People. This is not a "look at one time and understand" series. Alex Guinness is superb. Le Carre is the master.
Rating: -
George Smiley is not James Bond! This story has no mad car chases, major gunfights or dazzling stunts. What it has is a great "who done it" story of betrayal and double-dealing. You must pay attention as the story builds and small things are major turning points. Faceless bureaucrats directing the English secret service, one is suspected of being a Russian double agent. Forced into retirement when an operation goes badly George Smiley is asked by the Minister to fine "the mole". What follows is five hours of excellent drama and wonderful acting that should rivet you to the screen. Smiley follows a twisted path that seems to lead nowhere but systematically logically exposes the mole. The story depends on logic and development not some writer's trick to cover holes.
The casting is excellent starting with Alex Guinness and continuing to the smallest role. This is very British and may cause problems for some. We both speak English but we speak it differently. That is my only quam about saying this is a must see and very enjoyable item!
Rating: -
I saw this program many years ago and made an indelible impression for its performances, subject matter, realism. However, for those who want a fast paced, action-filled shoot'em up, this is not for you. This is a slow-paced, talky, cerebral yet thoroughly entertaining movie, with an ideal cast, starting with the great Alec Guinness. If intrigue, mystery, espionage, are your cup of tea, this is it.
Rating: -
This series from the BBC is probably great. Probably because it has everything it needs to be great and yet it sounds in the end a little bit sad, too slow, too obvious to be true, believable and such stories need to be believed. It is one of the most beautiful story from the Cold War, about the fable of the Russian spy inside the spying service of Her gracious British Queen. The main interest is how the service is paralyzed by inside hostilities, inside vanities, inside rivalries that kill all possible initiatives to find out who is embedded in the comfortable armchairs of that service. The secret services and spying services of any country become complacent after a while and that's the way you can infiltrate them in no time. You just have to play the superficial game of faithfulness and fidelity and orthodoxy and blind obedience, and then you can do what you want and become the best Russian spy ever. When finally someone arrives from ahigh to investigate he becomes the object and target of absolutely all hostilities and jealousies and everyone is ready to kill him if necessary, poison or handguns are best. That's the only real interest of this series. The patriotic motivations of the good spies are superficial and in fact not argument-supported at all. It is something that is considered as natural: every patriot loves his or her country and is ready to die for it. Then the motivations of the Russian spy are just as superficial, dealing with the hypocrisy of this democracy where so few people have real power and real control over the life of millions of powerless subjects who are lured by the baits of elections. Standard communist discourse from these old years of the 1950s and 1960s. The final touch is how the surveillance of this spy under custody is so loose that he can get an appointment from someone outside, get out of the building and get "liberated" by his own assassination in a peaceful park. In other words they let him organize his own final exit. Hypocrisy we were saying. It is far more shameful cynicism. But the series is played so well by so good actors. That's the best part of British TV: real actors are acting in the series and not beginners or mediocre middle aged non-entities. It is a real pleasure, even if the small screen of this medium reduces these actors to close-up shots and hardly anything else.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID
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