Not all movie spies are like James Bond

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2012)

When Jim Prideaux is sent to Budapest to arrange the defection of a senior Hungarian officer things do not go according to plan; he is shot and we presume killed. One of the reasons Control, the head of MI-6 was so keen to get his hands on the officer was that he had come to believe that their was a mole high up in the service and this man could identify him. With the operation failing Control is soon replaced along with those closest to him. One of those let go is George Smiley; he is recruited to find out who the mole is without those still in the service knowing. As the case progresses we will learn more about what happened to Prideaux after he was shot; the details of 'Operation Witchcraft', which concerned an apparent Soviet agent who was passing valuable information to the west and ultimately the identification of the mole.
Having seen the television adaptation of the story starring Alec Guinness I was curious to see how this would compare. Now I have seen both I'd probably rate the series higher but that might just be because I saw it first; inevitable a fair amount has been removed in this version but the key parts remain. The acting was top notch; Gary Oldman made a fine Smiley and the rest of the main cast was made up of fairly well known actors all of whom did well. People who don't know anything about the story before watching may be a little disappointed if they are expecting James Bond style action; there is none of that here; these spies aren't glamorous action men they are ordinary people; the sort you'd barely notice in a crowd; in other words far closer to what I imagine real people working at MI-6 are like. That isn't to say there is no action at all; there are a few shootings; one of which is particularly shocking. Over all this was a quality film which I'd certainly recommend.