Smiley’s People (British Mini-series)
Picture: C+
Sound: C Extras: C Episodes: B
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979)
was such a huge international TV success, that not only did it lead to the
sequel Smiley’s People three years later, but landed one of the
strongest casts you will ever see in any TV Mini-series anywhere. Besides the return of Alec Guinness in the
title role, the phenomenal cast included Eileen Atkins, Michael Gough, Vladek
Sheybal, Curd (Curt) Jurgens, Michel Lonsdale, Ingrid Pitt, Eileen Atkins,
Barry Foster, and a then-less knowns Alan Rickman and Patrick Stewart for
starters. When all was said and done, I
was convinced that this sequel was more effective than the original, enduring better
because we learn more about Smiley and his world in a way that defies The Cold
War.
That is even when the final episodes are more tied into
the former USSR, but one way to think of this is that the BBC & Paramount
were willing to put more money into the production and this paved the way for
Paramount’s more spectacular expenditures on Dan Curtis’ landmark Winds Of
War, and even larger War And Remembrance mini-series (reviewed
elsewhere on this site) that were cumulatively the peak of the mini-series
forum. It has been dead in the U.S. for
the most part since the late 1980s, especially when overblown productions with
little intelligence hijacked it. In Smiley’s
People, the pacing is solid and director Simon Langton has a better sense
of both drama and action than John Irvin did on the previous series. Guinness had grown stronger in the role and
the finesse makes the introspective moments all the more effective.
When an old school Soviet Spymaster is shot, this would
usually go as a celebrated event by The West, but the twist is that he was
trying desperately to contact Smiley before his demise. Smiley takes the cry for help seriously
enough to see it not as a trap, but as a clue to something more sinister and
grave. Thus, he goes about traveling
around Europe and other parts to uncover the truth as he also has to uncover
more of his past and history than he ever anticipated. That and the actual spy plot are handled in
a most believable and balanced manner, and part of this can be accounted to the
fact that the teleplay was co-written by author John Le Carré himself, with
John Hopkins. As was the case with his
more recent involvement with the recent feature film version of The Tailor
Of Panama, which is further evidence that his involvement with the
adaptation always brings it an edge it lacks without him in most cases. That is why Smiley’s People endures
over two decades later, and is the kind of espionage work we rarely see
anymore, especially in mini-series form.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image is as good as the image from
the previous mini-series, shot this time by cinematographer Kenneth Macmillan,
and is more than worthy of the first series.
That says something, considering Tony Pierce-Roberts is such a master
cameraman, but this is vivid. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 repeats the original monophonic sound, but is a little too
compressed for its own good, which is odd considering it is a newer
recording. Whoever remastered the sound
went a little overboard, the compression is interfering with the dialogue here
and there. Otherwise, this is a good
presentation. Extras include another
interview with Le Carré done at the same time as the one for the previous set
is as much of a must-hear as the first and runs 19:30, the same text
information on the author as the previous Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
set and offers a new set of filmography lists for this cast. Another nicely boxed set by Acorn Media of a
key television work.
- Nicholas Sheffo
