Moscow rules

[khaosworks]

Been quiet for a while - nothing much going on this week, just trying to get past work and heading for the long weekend. I had the sudden urge to rewatch the most excellent BBC adaptations of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and "Smiley's People", and I always marvel at how absolutely compelling drama it is, for little to no action and scenes consisting entirely of talking heads. Alec Guinness's quiet, gentle portrayal of George Smiley holds such hidden steel that you're constantly drawn to him just to see if you can pierce that veil of mystery, the hint of the wheels turning inside the ultimate spymaster's head. I don't think such an adaptation would even be contemplated for today's modern audience by network executives, who would probably demand that Smiley shag Madame Ostrakova, or Peter Guillam be played by Ben Affleck, or something.

Makes me want to dig out my Sandbaggers DVDs next.

Comments

[faxpaladin.livejournal.com]

I've reread Tinker, Tailor recently -- didn't know the miniseries were on DVD. I may need to go looking for them. I haven't seen them in -- oh, god, it is decades, now...

One of my vivid memories as a kid is the pitying/smirking look from my childhood rival Joel when I spoke of how excited I was because that night I'd finally find out who Gerald the Mole was. I think he was picturing a cartoon character...

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

Both of them are out from Acorn Entertainment, I think the company is. Not much in the way of special features, but with drama this good, you don't really mind.

[(Anonymous)]

Here in R2 land they came out a couple of years back from BBC Worldwide in their 'Classic Drama' range, and they do have some rudimentary extras - nothing spectacular, but a couple of half-decent documentaries as I recall.