Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Desert Island Top Pick, 17 Aug 2003
Another review is almost superfluous - existing comments appear to confirm without exception that many people agree with me: this is probably the finest piece of television ever made, and possibly the finest adaption on screen of a book, ever. I would simply like to pick out the sound recording for praise (has the part that street noise plays in real life atmosphere ever been so perfectly exploited?) and applaud the supporting cast for standing up, every one of them, to Alec Guinness when he was on such millenial form.
The contrast between formidable and vulnerable is the most believable thing I have ever seen an actor achieve. His most astonishing feat is that, in the very last shot of the entire series, his expression sums up the conflicting characteristics of Smiley, the whole complex and subtle delineation of Le Carre's novel, within a few seconds. This is the DVD I will keep, when Sue Lawley forces me to discard the other nine - should Desert Island Disks ever catch up with the digital multimedia age!
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77 of 79 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely superb, 8 Sep 2005
I watched this series first time around many, many years ago as it was serialised on the BBC and to say it was riveting does it no justice at all.
James Bond, eat your heart out - welcome to the real world. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy truly shows the BBC at it's best. I would suggest this drama is nigh impossible to surpass and even the acclaimed sequel, Smiley's People, could not better that. On a par, yes, and equally gripping, but no better.
For those who have never seen the late, great Sir Alec Guiness except in Star Wars, then, this is as good an opportunity there is to see a master at work - the role of George Smiley was surely custom made for him.
Read the synopsis, believe it, then buy it - you will not regret watching this, that's for sure.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best bits of television drama. Ever. , 20 Feb 2008
There is a Soviet mole in the Circus. At least, according to Irina, a female Russian KGB agent in Hong Kong who wants to defect to the West. Before she can deliver this precious bit of information herself to the headquarters of the british Secret Service in London (the Circus, as it's called), she is found out by her KGB colleagues and hastily flown home to Moscow. Her british Secret Service contact in Hong Kong, an agent named Ricky Tarr, barely makes it back alive to Britain, but he refuses to go go back to the Circus.
Irina's sudden disappearance in Hong Kong is, in Tarr's mind, sufficient proof of her revelations. His message to London was relayed to the Soviets, and Irina was grabbed before she could defect. Therefore, more than likely, in London the Russians will be waiting for him.
Tarr contacts the only Circus operative he can still trust, Peter Guillam, and tells him his story. Guillam informs Lacon, the governments liaison officer to the Circus and they in turn take Tarr to see Smiley.
Someone has to be brought in to investigate Irina's claim. Someone who knows the Circus, but who can operate outside of official channels.
Enter George Smiley, the one time right-hand man of the former Chief of the Circus, Control. Smiley was slated to be his successor and was acknowledged by everyone to be the best man for the job, but then a series of scandals and spectacular failures rocked the Circus, entailing the loss of several networks in the Eastern bloc. Soon after that the terminally ill Control died and Smiley was out on his ear.
But of late british Intelligence has, as the story begins, recovered its reputation and has gained access to a valuable source of Soviet intelligence, codenamed Merlin. Source Merlin is run by the new head team of the Circus. But is this information genuine or is it fed to the british to allay suspicions?
Smiley is asked to look into it. During his last months at the Circus both Smiley and Control suspected something was wrong in the service, and now Smiley is told to finish the job where Control left off and ferret out he mole in the Circus...
A classic spy story brilliantly adapted for television. Real care has been taken in casting the parts and as a consequence the acting is superb all round. The late Alec Guinnes gives one of the best and most moving performances of his long career, as do the late Ian Richardson and Bernard Hepton.
Oh sure, for modern taste this might look far too dated with lots of Vaauxhall Vivas, Ford Granadas, Morris Marinas, huge sideburns, brown suits with enormous lapels, wide ties, paisley printed shirts with enormous pointy collars.
And for today's taste it's surely agonizingly slowly paced. Since most people today have the attention span of a common housefly, modern telly has to cater to that. When this series was made, in the late seventies, they didn't do that but instead they concentrated on good scripting and well-crafted dialogue. Also, and again alas, for the modern taste: there is precious little violence or foul language in this series, a disappointingly small number of gunshots, and no car chases.
If you manage to overcome these "objections", and give it a try you will be amazed and utterly captivated by this marvellous, drama series, one of the all-time greats, right up there with Elizabeth R, House of Cards, and Brideshead.
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