Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

**snapper** · 12 Feb 12,, 15:33

I'm sure a few people will watch this film (it's nominated for various awards)... I was going to watch it myself but an older friend of mine said there was an earlier version with Alec Guiness (Obi Wan) as the 'hero' so I looked that up. Indeed there is!

Most of the old BBC is viewable on youtbue (I can't find the very first bit) and starts here in Part 2 of Chapter 1: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Chapter 1 Return to The Circus (2/6) - YouTube

Not only that but the final book of the heros/antihero (George Smiley) career (Smiley's People) is also given the Alec Guiness treatment and on youtube. It starts here: Smiley's People - Chapter 1 - The Two Incidents - Part 1 - YouTube

The chap who wrote the books, John le Carre (real name David Cornwell), actualy worked in British Intelligence in 1960s and some suggest that the 'mole' in Tinker, Tailor was a depiction of the 'Kim' Philby affair (except of course Philby got away). 'Smiley's People' is pure fiction; nobody as senior as 'Karla' is known to have defected at the time it was written though Mitrokhins defection was quite a coupe in 1992 and selections of his archive have since been published.

Off to see the new version of this Cold War classic tonight but I doubt it can be better than these classics that were made while the Cold War was still going on. You still meet the occasional old relic of those days and they always have great anecdotes about the 'old days'.

**BD1** · 12 Feb 12,, 16:09

le Carre´s Smiley trilogy is for me the best spy fiction ever. i hope the moviemakers did the books justice, but i´m bit doubting it. the odds certainly are against it
hope you report back to us

**Bigfella** · 12 Feb 12,, 20:01

Have seen the film & the original BBC series and read the book (ages ago). The BBC series captures the book best because it has the time to go into the detail that made the book so good. Also, Guiness was born to play Smiley. Having said thet, the film is magnificent. Treat it as its own thing. Le Carre was a producer, so it it has his approval. The entire cast is excellent & the look of the film suits both the time & subject matter. Both filmed versions are recommended if you can see them.