This is based on John Le Carré's first novel, Call for the Dead, published
in 1961. After the 1965 film The Spy Who Came in From the Cold he was quite
marketable and they were able to get a top director and some great actors.
They stay fairly close to the book - other than calling Smiley by the name
of Charles Dobbs and Peter Guillam by Bill. Only annoying to Smiley fans
but you have to wonder why. Of course, they didn't know that Smiley would
become the model for a British MI6 agent and that Peter would appear a few
times at his side. Interesting that the two most famous fictitious British
agents are Smiley and Bond - as different as pork and beans - Bond basically
being a male fantasy figure while Smiley is a middle-aged bureaucrat who
meticulously plans everything out. You could fit three of Fleming's
books into Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy. The film is pure Le Carré,
slow and steady - running down a spy by putting the pieces together and trapping
him. It never really rises to the level of excitement but keeps the viewer
involved.
Le Carré was in MI6 at the time he wrote the book usually on his way
to work and back home. He has said his inspiration was another part time
writer at MI6 - John Bingham - and that Smiley was partly based on him. Bingham
was a popular author at the time and a few of his books are available on
Kindle. In the first chapter of the book titled A Brief History of George
Smiley, he describes him as "Short, fat, and of a quiet disposition, he appeared
to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes, which hung around his squat
frame like skin on a shrunken road." It goes into his history with his wife
Lady Ann who called him "breathtakingly ordinary" as she goes off with man
after man. This strange masochistic marriage of his forgiving her transgressions
is a theme that runs through his Smiley books. Le Carré's first wife
was named Anne.
I don't think any of the Smiley film characterizations really go for the
short, fat look though Alec Guinness may have come the closest. In this one
it is James Mason, past his days as a matinee star and willing to look tired,
depressed, rumpled and his age. It is a complex character - beaten down by
his wife who he loves so much it hurts and yet still aware enough that when
something doesn't smell right he takes up the chase. His wife is played by
the great Ingmar Bergman actress, Harriet Andersson.
Someone has sent an anonymous letter to the Foreign Office that an MI6 agent
was a Communist in the 1930s. He readily admits it and says so was half the
British Cabinet - and as we found out in real life some of MI6 who were double
agents. Smiley is assigned to vet him and tells the man (Robert Flemyng)
that there seems to be no problems and he will approve him. That night the
man goes home and commits suicide. This strikes Smiley as odd and he goes
to talk to his wife (Simone Signoret) and is about to put it to bed when
a simple wake-up call triggers his antennas. Something is wrong here and
he gets the assistance of a local policeman on the verge of retirement and
usually on the verge of falling asleep (Harry Andrews) and they investigate.
Smiley (I call him Smiley anyways no matter what the film called him) has
been told to just put it down as suicide - no need for embarrassments at
MI6. He won't because he is on the hunt.
I really enjoyed this. At times it drags for a bit and some viewers may wonder
why so much time is spent on his relationship with his wife but Mason is
great and his failing relationship colors everything in his life. Every
step he takes is weighed down by his home life misery. You see a bit of his
Humbert Humbert in his agony. If you have seen enough of these and I expect
we all have you have a good idea where it is going but it is fun watching
Smiley get there. An adult spy movie. Also appearing is Maximilian Schell
and Lynn Redgrave. It is directed by Sidney Lumet who was coming off Fail
Safe and The Hill and he has the confidence to just let the film play out
without feeling the need to throw in any Bondian spy craft.
