First half is shamefully old, but I've finally completed a two-part Goblet of Fire movie recap at my lj, if anyone's interested. Part One and Part Two.
...now I need to watch Tinker Tailor again. Or re-read the book. Some sentences have stuck in my mind for years, like "and he was soaked to the skin, and God as punishment had removed all the taxis from the face of London." Such a perfect description of one of those ordinary rotten-luck nights we all have sometimes. And it's amazing how much drama Le Carre wrings out of what ought to be dull paperwork. Who knew looking through message logs and shipping manifests could be so tense? Now that is skilled writing!
Famously, if you want the swashbuckling unrealistic British spy stories, you read Ian Fleming or watch the movies; if you want more realistic British spy work but no less exciting, you go for some John le Carre. :)
The 2011 film is great, but if they shaved down the story any more in the adaptation, it would collapse. xD As it was, the adaptation was good and just from watching the movie you wouldn't suspect anything was gone from the book.
There was also a BBS miniseries adaptation back in 1979 starring Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley, a much more frog-like Smiley as envisioned by le Carre, lol. And the actor who played Peter Guillem in that is also the narrator for the audiobook which can be found on Youtube.
I remember seeing a bit of a documentary somewhere about Sir Alec preparing for the scene where they catch the mole. One of the other people involved in the production walked in on him just, like, stroking the gun and talking to it about who the mole might be, as if he were Smiley worrying about the fallout once they knew for sure. "Oh, I hope it isn't..." I loved that image.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-04-29 01:25 am (UTC)I think I have my week planned now :-) Thanks!
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Date: 2019-05-17 08:33 pm (UTC)Famously, if you want the swashbuckling unrealistic British spy stories, you read Ian Fleming or watch the movies; if you want more realistic British spy work but no less exciting, you go for some John le Carre. :)
The 2011 film is great, but if they shaved down the story any more in the adaptation, it would collapse. xD As it was, the adaptation was good and just from watching the movie you wouldn't suspect anything was gone from the book.
There was also a BBS miniseries adaptation back in 1979 starring Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley, a much more frog-like Smiley as envisioned by le Carre, lol. And the actor who played Peter Guillem in that is also the narrator for the audiobook which can be found on Youtube.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-22 02:02 am (UTC)