"Why are they remaking Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"? I grumbled, before checking and finding that the famous television adaptation with Alec Guinness was first screened in 1979. I was like someone in 1979 saying that a book that had previously been adapted in 1947 so there was no need to do it again.
So let me give an unqualified welcome to the new film of John Le Carre's book, the trailer for which you can find on the Guardian website. And the cast list is impressive - IMDB suggests Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, Bendedict Cumberbatch and Colin Firth - though they will do well to match the cast of the earlier television series.
It happens that I have been watching that series on DVD. It was made in an era when television was able or prepared to take much more time to tell a story than it is today. That version of Tinker, Tailor occupied six 45-minute episodes and benefited from that breathing space. Together with the complex structure with its flashbacks, it gave all the stars time to shine.
And, despite those flashbacks, it felt a very topical story in 1979 when the Cold War was still in full spate and the Berlin Wall seemed immortal. What filmmakers make of the story today will be interesting to see.
Rather than embedding the new trailer here, I am adding the closing titles from 1979. The Nunc Dimittis turns out to have been sung by Paul Phoenix - then a chorister at St Paul's and now a member of the King's Singers.
1 comment:
Sometimes a remake can destroy a cherished image. The 1979 TV serial was pretty near perfection. So I don't plan to see this new version.
I'll stick with Alec Guinness thanks very much. And I thought his performance was even better in Smiley's People than in Tinker Taylor
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