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I believe that John le Carre is one of the great Cold War writers. I remember one summer where I was denied television and read most of his work nonstop. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold was one of the most stunning novels I had ever read. It was beautifly ugly, a cold, sharp, hard beauty that pierced to the heart. Gone were the James Bond stories of espionage. Le Carre has no gadgets, no femme fatales, no tuxedos. Rather, there is the cold rain, the dripping mackintosh raincoats, the drab, bland gray corridors and implacable bureaucrats with shadows for eyes. He writes of godless men in a godless world, where there are no friends, no allies, no lovers, no one but enemies who are not what they seem.
Tinker Tailor is his crowning work. It is as beautifully unhappy as the Spy Who Came In From the Cold, realistic and vicious. And as contrary to Bond as possible, the protagonist is George Smiley, a fat, frumpy, stuffy little man whose wife has made him a cuckold and who has been booted out of the espionage business. Yet he is brilliant, although his brilliance is veiled.
I recently watched the miniseries production of Tinker Tailor, and I think it is one of the finest pieces of drama ever made.
I firmly believe it is Alec Guinness's greatest role, and that is truly saying something. I have never seen a man do nothing on screen like Alec Guinness. Everything, from his posture, his motions, his smile, all of them reverberate with intelligence and energy. I have never seen a man use a simple glance or pause with such surgical precision. The man's blinks are scenes in themselves. Even when he has no lines, his presence is overpowering.
Tinker Tailor is possibly the greatest book adaptation ever. It is one of the rare occasions when everything comes together in a single effort, and the script, the score, and, of course, the actors embody a work with hypnotic talent. It ranks with The Lord of the Rings and To Kill a Mockingbird, and it probably beats them. I heartily reccommend it to anyone who likes fiction, or drama, or movies at all.
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