Crappy film

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

which is to paraphrase John Le Carre's own description of George Smiley played by Alec Guinness in this. I'm glad the Creator himself called the craft of spying absurd, there's a lot of people who apparently think it an essential art form and necessary for all our safety. And he also said he thought it was Guinness's performance which held people glued to the end, to which I can only agree too. There's a remarkably seamless continuity between this, the sequel TV series to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – seamless in all departments that is and not just in Alec Guinness's performance. And eleven brilliant hours all told. To me it's as good as the first, a splendid and engrossing pair of miniseries from the days when UK BBC often still broadcast for higher common denominators. Alas, since then they've settled firmly into the gutter, producing year after year of cheap unloved tripe and remembered by no one.Complicated tale of "modern" and old systems of espionage clashing, of smoothing over the many consequences of various past causes, of West & East blurring in the middle, of a spy story expertly related, and basically of staunch Briton Smiley hoping to find his old adversary the master-crafty Russian Karla had an ancient Achilles Heel after all. It's all beautiful to behold, all walking and talking with plenty of thinking required for full enjoyment. The only (slight) downer to me was that the sex club scene went on for an unnecessarily long time. Probably for Smiley too!As with Tinker I had to especially concentrate during the first episode but again found it more than worthwhile and completely memorable. Everyone who can appreciate this gem is another of Guinness's People.

So much as been already said about either Tinker Tailor or Simleys People that my addition is small, however in a film world driven by special affects or minimal story content, these two film series represents some of the foremost screenplay, editing, acting and cinematography to date. This film does NOT cater to the viewer, it demands you pay attention, even small details have far reaching ramifications later in the film. This is dense story that for some may require seeing the film two or three times to understand and appreciate. The star of this story is Alec Guiness giving one of the most powerful and interesting performances of his wonderful acting career. It is a film whose only poor quality is that it does not go on longer to enjoy.

The recent release of Smiley's People on Acorn Video DVD contains the sex club scene in Germany deleted in the U.S. broadcast but sadly deletes or cuts too many of the scenes that build suspense in this complex thriller.After Smiley retrieves the negative in Hampstead Heath he is shown purchasing the chemicals to develop the negative and subsequently developing it in his flat. Deleting this progression during this tense period when Smiley is fearing for his life, takes away from seeing Smiley at his best -- still capable of slow methodical work, even under life threatening pressure.In Switzerland, the scenes establishing Gregorev's wife as a witch are truncated. In particular, the scene where she is seen hitting two cars in order to park is reduced to one frame at the end of the scene. This missing scene explains the applause when gregorev finally tells off his wife during the interrogation and Smiley offers him refuge in the West "with or without his wife".The scene where Smiley goes to meet Lady Anne at her uncle's estate deletes Smiley meeting the aged uncle whom he was always fond of. Thus, we are denied the realization that Smiley, in totally ending it with Anne is suffering some loss too.Acorn Video in cutting these and other scenes in their DVD release of Smiley's People has in effect taken away from the brilliance of this complex masterpiece, as the Acorn DVD will probably be established as the definitive work. A pity.

If you are a John Le Carre fan, it doesn't get any better than this six part BBC series, available on three disks from Netflix and (presumably) other on line film services. Alec Guiness was a marvelous actor, as we all know, and he may have equaled his role as George Smiley in some film or stage performance. But that is difficult to believe. He is perfect in projecting Smiley's world-weariness, his outward reserve, his deliberate methods and his resentment at having been put out to pasture by the Circus. Bringing Karla over, as he does in the last of the six episodes, is his ultimate triumph and closes the book on a career which his superiors had already seen fit to end -- only to call him back for one last time. Guiness manages to convey Smiley's emotions and mental exertions with utmost physical restraint. A half smile here, a lifted eyebrow there, a nod of the head, a slight hand gesture. He never raises his voice, engages in no histrionics -- and yet it's all there in front of you, art in apparent artlessness. John Le Carre has written some excellent novels since the end of the Cold War but the Cold War was his subject, and the search for Karla is his epic. I'm inclined to doubt that any film could do justice to this complex novel -- or that any living actor could come within miles of Guiness's subtle performance.