David Cornwell aka John le Carré .. Gone

[fishfoodie]

To cap a truly shite year; the greatest of espionage authors has passed away

Fleming was cartoonish & infantile; Carré was reality; even the Russians loved his books & the TV adaptations, because they knew what real spies looked like.

[Kiwias]

He started at a high level with "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" and hardly dropped his standards at all. The Karla trilogy is utterly magnificent.

RIP

[GogLais]

Seems to have been a decent chap. I've dipped in and out the Smiley books, I should really organise myself to read them in order sometime. Perhaps they'll show the 70s tv series again.

[Kiwias]

Seems to have been a decent chap. I've dipped in and out the Smiley books, I should really organise myself to read them in order sometime. Perhaps they'll show the 70s tv series again.

They are available on YouTube.

[Torquemada 1420]

The interesting thing for me was the crossover between real life and his fiction writing. His pen name was precisely because since he was working for MI6, he was not allowed to write under his own name.

Tinker, Tailor and Smiley's have to be the best books of that genre ever written.

[Torquemada 1420]

Seems to have been a decent chap. I've dipped in and out the Smiley books, I should really organise myself to read them in order sometime. Perhaps they'll show the 70s tv series again.

They are available on YouTube.

I had to watch the broadcast and the rerun (which was unusual in the days when we only had 3 channels) each week to try and keep up with the complexity!

[fishfoodie]

Seems to have been a decent chap. I've dipped in and out the Smiley books, I should really organise myself to read them in order sometime. Perhaps they'll show the 70s tv series again.

They are available on YouTube.

I had to watch the broadcast and the rerun (which was unusual in the days when we only had 3 channels) each week to try and keep up with the complexity!

The two BBC TV Series are excellent; I had high hopes for the more recent film, given the quality of the cast; but unfortunately they made a bit of a balls of it.

[Torquemada 1420]

The two BBC TV Series are excellent; I had high hopes for the more recent film, given the quality of the cast; but unfortunately they made a bit of a balls of it.

I thought the film was excellent. Had to allow for the need to compress into a single pass watch.

[tabascoboy]

I loved that his portrayal of the espionage world was in many ways so completely humdrum, such an antidote to James Bond. Most of the battles were fought intellectually with acute attention to detail, and he wrote so well of the British Old Boy Net that the simple faith that your peers were simply not capable of the slightest treachery was omnipresent. It made it easy to understand how Blake, Philby, Blunt, Burgess and MacLean were able to get away with what they did for so long.

And all long before the world of computer analysis and widespread communication monitoring when there was no alternative to just spending hour after hour scrutinizing written logs and records looking for inconsistencies.

It did get updated I imagine with some of the later works but I haven't read for example Our Kind of Traitor.

[Paddington Bear]

Superb writer. A big loss.

[Uncle fester]

You certainly wouldn't binge his works but they are fantastically well written books.
Have a particular liking for the Looking Glass War.

[Torquemada 1420]

It made it easy to understand how Blake, Philby, Blunt, Burgess and MacLean were able to get away with what they did for so long.

Along with being buddies with the royals.

[fishfoodie]

The two BBC TV Series are excellent; I had high hopes for the more recent film, given the quality of the cast; but unfortunately they made a bit of a balls of it.

I thought the film was excellent. Had to allow for the need to compress into a single pass watch.

Understood; my qualms were more around the unnecessary changes to characters, & some implausible changes to settings; things that didn't have to change to fit in for time. If they were to remake Smileys People, I'd prefer it was redone as a mini-series, rather than trying to force it into a couple of hours.

[Certain Navigator]

The two BBC TV Series are excellent; I had high hopes for the more recent film, given the quality of the cast; but unfortunately they made a bit of a balls of it.

I thought the film was excellent. Had to allow for the need to compress into a single pass watch.

Understood; my qualms were more around the unnecessary changes to characters, & some implausible changes to settings; things that didn't have to change to fit in for time. If they were to remake Smileys People, I'd prefer it was redone as a mini-series, rather than trying to force it into a couple of hours.

Agreed. I thought the film was a very pale imitation of both the book and the mini-series. If I were someone who hadn't read the book, it certainly wouldn't have inspired me to do so (but I'm guessing I wasn't the target audience...).

And unless somebody figures out a way to bring Alec Guinness back from the dead, Smiley's People should be left well alone.

[Torquemada 1420]

The two BBC TV Series are excellent; I had high hopes for the more recent film, given the quality of the cast; but unfortunately they made a bit of a balls of it.

I thought the film was excellent. Had to allow for the need to compress into a single pass watch.

Understood; my qualms were more around the unnecessary changes to characters, & some implausible changes to settings; things that didn't have to change to fit in for time. If they were to remake Smileys People, I'd prefer it was redone as a mini-series, rather than trying to force it into a couple of hours.

Yup: why Das Boot as the full length series was better than the film.

[Dinsdale Piranha]

I thought the film was excellent. Had to allow for the need to compress into a single pass watch.

Understood; my qualms were more around the unnecessary changes to characters, & some implausible changes to settings; things that didn't have to change to fit in for time. If they were to remake Smileys People, I'd prefer it was redone as a mini-series, rather than trying to force it into a couple of hours.

Yup: why Das Boot as the full length series was better than the film.

Das Boot is one of the few where I disagree. I thought the director's cut of the movie was better than the series. The series drags in places - as does the book.

[fishfoodie]

Understood; my qualms were more around the unnecessary changes to characters, & some implausible changes to settings; things that didn't have to change to fit in for time. If they were to remake Smileys People, I'd prefer it was redone as a mini-series, rather than trying to force it into a couple of hours.

Yup: why Das Boot as the full length series was better than the film.

Das Boot is one of the few where I disagree. I thought the director's cut of the movie was better than the series. The series drags in places - as does the book.

It's a fine line to tread; where you've got the material, & some studio screaming for x episodes; but someone has to decide that it's better to have 6-8 80% episodes, rather than trying to drag the material out to 10-12 episodes, & fuck the studio execs.

[Saint]

The two BBC TV Series are excellent; I had high hopes for the more recent film, given the quality of the cast; but unfortunately they made a bit of a balls of it.

I thought the film was excellent. Had to allow for the need to compress into a single pass watch.

Agreed. Within the confines of a 120 minute medium I thought it was excellent - tge trouble being that the source material couldn't be compressed that much, and it was impossible for anyone who had seen Alec Guiness in the role, and frankly the rest of the cast, to move on. The TV series was so far ahead of its time - its the sort of thing that Netflix aspires to today (and regularly misses)

[fishfoodie]

The two BBC TV Series are excellent; I had high hopes for the more recent film, given the quality of the cast; but unfortunately they made a bit of a balls of it.

I thought the film was excellent. Had to allow for the need to compress into a single pass watch.

Agreed. Within the confines of a 120 minute medium I thought it was excellent - tge trouble being that the source material couldn't be compressed that much, and it was impossible for anyone who had seen Alec Guiness in the role, and frankly the rest of the cast, to move on. The TV series was so far ahead of its time - its the sort of thing that Netflix aspires to today (and regularly misses)

When I discovered, "The Deadly Affair", I was surprised how much I enjoyed James Mason playing Smiley, sorry, "Charles Dobbs". It was impossible for someone like Mason to pull off the drabness of Smiley in the way that Guinness did; but I thought Oldman did a good job; Mason played him in a different way, & it was interesting to see a character you've pictured in your mind, while reading the book, & then seen re-imagined by a genius actor, or three.

Harry Andrews as Mendel is also masterful; & Harriet Andersson as Ann would make any man stray off the straight & narrow

[Torquemada 1420]

Das Boot is one of the few where I disagree. I thought the director's cut of the movie was better than the series. The series drags in places - as does the book.

That was an accurate reflection of sub life: long passages of boredom. Director's cut is a hour longer than the film release.

[Paddington Bear]

Rewatched TTSS last night. Great film, though I do see how the ending would be a little unclear if you hadn't read the book (beyond the fact that Firth is by far the most famous of the actors who could potentially be the mole, so inevitably is the mole).

[Torquemada 1420]

Rewatched TTSS last night. Great film, though I do see how the ending would be a little unclear if you hadn't read the book (beyond the fact that Firth is by far the most famous of the actors who could potentially be the mole, so inevitably is the mole).

Dunno. Toby Jones is a plausible Patrick Wymark look-a-like and he was the baddie in Where Eagles Dare.

[Dinsdale Piranha]

Rewatched TTSS last night. Great film, though I do see how the ending would be a little unclear if you hadn't read the book (beyond the fact that Firth is by far the most famous of the actors who could potentially be the mole, so inevitably is the mole).

Dunno. Toby Jones is a plausible Patrick Wymark look-a-like and he was the baddie in Where Eagles Dare.

The biggest issue is that due to the length of the movie, there's little time for any backstory of the main protagonists so when you find out who it is - it's a bit meh. However I still thought the recent movie was excellent and it made me go and watch the TV series and buy the book (haven't read it yet)

[Dinsdale Piranha]

Das Boot is one of the few where I disagree. I thought the director's cut of the movie was better than the series. The series drags in places - as does the book.

That was an accurate reflection of sub life: long passages of boredom. Director's cut is a hour longer than the film release.

The chapter 'storm' in the book nails this accurately. It nearly bored me in to submission!

[Torquemada 1420]

Das Boot is one of the few where I disagree. I thought the director's cut of the movie was better than the series. The series drags in places - as does the book.

That was an accurate reflection of sub life: long passages of boredom. Director's cut is a hour longer than the film release.

The chapter 'storm' in the book nails this accurately. It nearly bored me in to submission!

I get it. It does serve to show that that particular war arena was not all action and tension and, perversely, the boredom led many to crave some danger. Accurate portrayals don't necessarily convey into good watching/reading.