Good, but no comparison with the series

Rating: 7/10 (19 September 2011)

Not one for the Dartford audience, evidently. There was only one other person there for the late showing. You would have to have read the book or seen the series to follow it immediately, I think, or at least to appreciate the tensions that drove the story. The BBC series is my favourite DVD - I have watched it many times, and this suffers in comparison - to be fair, it had hours to tell the tale, where the film had only 2. Gary Oldman turns in what could either be described as a beautifully restrained, or merely constipated, performance, depending on how charitably disposed you are to the film. There were some excellent performances throughout, some great casting, but it wears its artifice rather too consciously for my liking. Oldman plays a great Smiley. But Alec Guinness WAS Smiley. And that's the mark of a great story. This was merely very good. Worth seeing, but I won't be watching it 6 or 7 times in the future. Not like the series. If you only have £10, don't go and see this. Buy Tinker Tailor and Smiley's people on DVD.