Comments on: Agatha Watch: Thoughts on Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple

By: Mark M

Mark M — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:51:22 +0000

So it’s been announced that Working Title have hired Let The Right One In’s Tomas Alfredson to direct their film version of Tinker Tailor, screenplay by Peter Morgan. I guess it’s a reassuring choice of director in that he seems unlikely to want to speed things up… But I can’t help thinking it’s the most unnecessary film ever, considering how perfect the TV version was, and how patiently everything unfolds over the seven episodes.

Has anyone heard any of the new radio Smileys with Simon Russell Beale? (I haven’t). Think they’ve still only got to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold so far.

[Love the fact that searching for Smiley on FT brought up both Le Carre's relentless civil servant and the great Smiley Culture].

By: pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør

pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:17:02 +0000

in the book he meets with enderby et al at a mysterious off the books meet-up called BEN’S PLACE — ie not in the circus at all, bz the meeting has to be totally off enderby’s records

By: pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør

pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:15:39 +0000

the most interesting thing abt SP (tv version) was how they
i. emphasised (to the point of removing the book’s ambiguity IMO) the degree of finality of smiley’s break with ann
ii. emphasised smiley’s karla-driven cruelty in the scene with connie and hils
iii. somewhat de-emphasised the complexity of connie’s love for being used by smiley (a really tuff thing to represent admittedly, but this time beryl reid was just too forgiving, given how much uglier smiley’s behaviour was towards her)

the element they went for — correctly but less than ideally, from the pov of having alec g BE it — wz “in the final analysis, perfect tradecraft trumps mere hapless companionship” (this is why when guillam sez, “george you won!” smiley only replies “yes i suppose i did”, cz he knows he no longer even has what connie and hils have)

but i think alec g plays smiley too bland too meek too gentle for too long for this idea to have any energy in it from HIM

By: Mark M

Mark M — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:03:54 +0000

Am happy to bow down to your knowledge re: the books, but in the TV version, I got the impression (could be wrong) they were implying that Enderby’s office was over the theatre, which would be either very stupid or very cunning. The other side of the road makes much more sense ( although still more fun than deepest Lambeth, where MI6 was in those years, I believe).

I love Tinker Tailor, and have seen it endless times. SP lacks narrative thrust.

By: pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør

pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:35:52 +0000

mark i think you are wrong! in the books anyway the circus is surely on the east side of charing cross road as it comes down and hits camb.circ, ie above where the musical instruments shop now is, where new compton street used to be a run-on from old compton street (an office building now cuts it off, though there was still a covered walk-thru when i first arrived in london)

the eight-sided pepperpot where control had his office is visible on the top of this building: overlooking the stub of new compton street and the south end of blackwells

in the tv version it is just harder to say where exactly it all happens

weirdly enuff i never saw smiley’s peeps till this showing, tho i’d seen tinker tailor like seven or eight times: the best thing in it is BERNARD HEPTON’S HAIR

By: Mark M

Mark M — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:51:43 +0000

Slowness of old TV – indeed: I was watching Smiley’s People on BBC4 recently and was staggered to find an entire (hour-long) episode would consist of little more than Smiley popping over to Charlton to chat to someone. And no National Trust loveliness – just London*, Hamburg and Switzerland all looking rather grey.

*Back when Cambridge Circus – where MI6 is based in the Le Carre books, right over the theatre where Les Mis was for all those years – like Picadilly Circus, was still a circus, ie roundabout.