Thursday Theater

Since the 2011 film version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy never did come to a theater near me, I finally rented the 1979 television mini-series starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. Now, I’m probably not the person with whom you would want to watch a film based on something I’ve read. I constantly compare the film to the book, often out loud, and I’m always disappointed. Well, almost always.

The Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy mini-series is the most satisfying adaptation of a novel that I have encountered. It captures the essence of the “heartburn thriller,” not with mood music or fancy film techniques, but with supreme acting by well-cast actors. These guys (especially Alec Guinness, of course) manage to convey their heartburn to their tense, anticipating audience with a mere wiggle of an eyebrow or twitch of the lip. Of course, any filmmakers that respect the story they are telling enough to cast Patrick Stewart as a guy who says absolutely nothing can be trusted to put good, strong, well-played characters on the screen.

I believe, however, that the real advantage of this, or possibly any mini-series adaptation of a novel, is that of time. Most novels, at least most good novels, cannot be given justice in a feature-length film simply because there is too much story to tell. The Tinker Tailor mini-series takes 290 minutes to represent John Le Carre’s complex (though relatively short with regard to words and pages) novel, and that is time much needed and very well spent. I fully intend to watch the 2011 feature-length film when I can get a hold of it (hopefully in April) and it will be interesting to see how well this story really can be represented in 127 minutes.

It’ll also be interesting to see how well Gary Oldman represents George Smiley compared to Alec Guinness. It is, literally, a tough act to follow, but Oldman’s Oscar nomination gives me some hope for a good show.

Not that I needed another thing to be comparing and contrasting while I try to enjoy a film. You definitely do not want to watch this movie with me. Someday, I hope to learn from some of my favorite movie people: “Repeat to yourself it’s just a show/You should really just relax.”


Coming next: thoughts on Sign of the Unicorn, the third Amber novel by Roger Zelazny