They called it the Circus, partly because it was located in a warren of offices near Cambridge Circus in London, partly because of its various legal, illegal, immoral and vital activities as the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service of England. “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” a powerful, intelligent, gripping movie based on one of John Le Carre’s classic spy novels, opens today as a highlight of the holiday movie season.
This is not to be confused with the TV series of 1979, when Alec Guinness portrayed George Smiley in the six-hour mini-series. Director Tomas Alfredson and the brilliant Gary Oldman bring this one to ground in a little over two hours of taut, tingling tension. The story is unchanged: Smiley, a year into a forced retirement, is brought back to find a double agent who is a player in the Circus.
Le Carre, born David John Moore Cornwell, was himself a spy, working for British intelligence before being exposed by Kim Philby, himself a famed double-agent who disappeared into Russia in 1963. Philby and four colleagues, including Guy Burgess, came through Cambridge University in the 1930s, became Russian agents and, to put it mildly, caused major problems to Allied intelligence during World War II and its aftermath.
The movie features some of England’s top actors as Smiley’s colleagues, working under a man known as Control, the leader of the Circus and Smiley’s boss, as well as his good friend. John Hurt, a matchless actor, is a joy to watch. The other insiders include Colin Firth, Toby Jones, David Dencik and Ciarin Hinds, and none of them misses a beat. Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan wrote the screenplay and Hoyte van Hoytema was the director of photography.
There certainly is some violence, but “TTSS” is primarily a tale of character, of men who live on the edge of a constantly shifting ledge. It’s a wonderful book, with Le Carre at his best and the various spies living under constant pressure, depicted almost lovingly in the book. Alfredson, born in Sweden, revels in the increasing tension, and audiences will applaud him for keeping them so involved.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opens today at several theaters.
—Joe