Smiley's People

Plot synopsis:
Maria Andreyevna Ostrakova, a Soviet émigrée in Paris, is told by a Soviet agent calling himself "Kursky" that her daughter Alexandra, whom she was forced to leave behind, may be permitted to join her for "humanitarian reasons". Maria eagerly applies for French citizenship for her daughter, but time passes with no sign of Alexandra and no further contact with "Kursky". Realising she has been duped, Maria writes to General Vladimir, a former Soviet general and British agent, for help. Vladimir immediately realises that Maria was unwittingly used to provide a "legend", or false identity, for an unknown young woman, a ploy which KGB spymaster Karla has fruitlessly tried before. Vladimir also recognises that the operation is wholly unofficial, because Karla uses blundering amateur agents instead of trained intelligence officers.
Vladimir contacts Toby Esterhase, his old handler and "postman" in the Circus, but Esterhase has left the service and refuses to be involved in Vladimir's plans. Nevertheless, Vladimir sends a confidant, Otto Leipzig, to interview Maria in Paris. From a photograph, Maria immediately identifies "Kursky". Vladimir then sends the son of an old friend to Hamburg to collect vital proof from Leipzig. He contacts the Circus again, invoking Moscow Rules and insisting on speaking to his former "vicar" or senior case officer, George Smiley, not realising that Smiley is also retired. The Circus personnel, unfamiliar with Vladimir, are sceptical and uncooperative. Meanwhile, Vladimir's activities are betrayed to Karla, probably by jealous members of Vladimir's émigré organisation. Vladimir is assassinated on Hampstead Heath, evidently by Moscow Centre agents, while on his way to meet an inexperienced handler from the Circus.
New Circus head Saul Enderby and Civil Service undersecretary Oliver Lacon believe that Vladimir was merely an obscure ex-agent seeking attention, and want to bury the matter quickly to protect the Circus from any scandal. They recall Smiley from his forced retirement in the hope that he will erase any links to the Circus. Unlike Enderby and Lacon, Smiley takes Vladimir's claims seriously and begins to investigate. He manages to recover a second letter sent to Vladimir by Maria, who is now being shadowed and fears for her life. Near the site where Vladimir was killed, he discovers Vladimir's half-empty packet of Gauloises cigarettes, containing the negative of a compromising photograph of Leipzig and another man with prostitutes. Smiley recalls that Leipzig had often blackmailed a venal Soviet agent named Oleg Kirov to obtain information, and surmises that Kirov is probably the other man in the photograph. Meanwhile, Soviet agents bungle an attempt to kill Maria.
Smiley consults dying former Circus researcher Connie Sachs, who remembers some background information on Kirov, also known by the cover name "Kursky". Following Vladimir's logic that Karla was acting outside the dedicated system he himself devised, Connie also recounts rumours that Karla had a daughter by a mistress whom he had later sent to the Gulag when she turned against him. The daughter, Tatiana, who grew up without a mother and with a father she never knew, became mentally unstable and was subsequently confined to a mental institution.
Smiley flies to Hamburg, where he hopes to learn the rest of the story. He tracks down Claus Kretzschmar, an old associate of Leipzig and owner of the seedy night club where the photograph was taken. Kretzschmar gives him directions to Leipzig's temporary address on a boat in a gypsy encampment on the Baltic Sea near Lübeck, but two of Karla's agents have already tortured and killed Leipzig. Smiley's search of Leipzig's boat uncovers what Karla's agents did not; the torn half of a postcard hidden underwater in an old gym-shoe on a fishing-line. His discovery is witnessed by several people, and his rental car is damaged by two boys. Smiley rushes to finish his work in Lübeck before German police and Soviet agents close in on him. Here, Smiley appears as the spy of old and a master of tradecraft.
He takes the half of the postcard to Kretzschmar, who matches it to the other half and in exchange gives Smiley a tape recording made at the time the photograph of Leipzig and Kirov was taken, and a photocopy of Maria's first letter to Vladimir. Smiley lays a false trail in the direction of London, and then hastens by train and ferry to Copenhagen, from where he flies to Paris, fearing for Maria's life. With help from his old friend and former lieutenant Peter Guillam, who is serving out his days in the British embassy in Paris, Smiley gets Maria to safety. He also learns that Kirov has been summoned back to Moscow, and has probably been killed for his indiscretions.
Smiley returns to London and meets in secret with Enderby. The transcribed tape of Kirov's confession to Leipzig shows that Karla is secretly diverting funds to a Swiss bank account and misappropriating other resources using a commercial attaché of the Soviet embassy in Bern, named Grigoriev. The money is going to the care of Karla's daughter, who has been committed to an expensive Swiss psychiatric sanatorium under the faked citizenship papers of Maria's daughter. Smiley explains that if the Circus can obtain proof of this activity, they may have the information necessary to blackmail Karla and force him to either defect or be exposed. Unexpectedly, Enderby gives Smiley approval, and secret and deniable funding, to mount an operation to secure the evidence from Grigoriev and close the trap on Karla.
While Smiley does research at the Circus, Esterhase sets up a covert team in Bern to keep Grigoriev under observation. Smiley then visits his estranged wife, Ann, and makes a point of cutting all relations with her as he prepares to face down his greatest foe. Smiley recognises how ruthless he must become if he is to be Karla's nemesis.
In Bern, Smiley learns that, like Kirov, Grigoriev is untrained in spycraft and hopeless at concealment. Esterhase's team soon gains ample evidence of his unofficial handling of funds for Karla and his affair with one of his secretaries. Although Grigoriev is normally accompanied everywhere by his wife, he makes an informal trip by himself to Bern, where Esterhase and his helpers take the opportunity to bundle him into a car. He is then subjected to Smiley's expert interrogation and given the choice of cooperating or being thrown to the mercy of Swiss authorities and, later, Karla. Grigoriev quickly confesses all he knows of the arrangements regarding "Alexandra's" care and the details of the visits he makes to her.
Smiley visits "Alexandra", who is being treated in an institution run by an order of nuns. Among her "symptoms" is her insistence that she is actually called Tatiana and is the daughter of a powerful man who can make people disappear but who does not actually exist. Smiley writes a letter to Karla, which Grigoriev passes on instead of his usual weekly report on "Alexandra"'s treatment. The letter details Karla's illegal activities and offers him the stark choice between defection to the West and protection for Tatiana, or his destruction at the hands of his rivals in Moscow Centre.
In a final scene, Karla, posing as a labourer, defects using a bridge connecting East and West Berlin. Before crossing over into the waiting arms of Western agents, Karla stops and lights a cigarette. As he passes near Smiley he drops a gold cigarette lighter, a gift to George from Ann, that he purloined from Smiley years earlier in an Indian prison. Smiley fails to pick up the lighter, another sign that he has become that which he resisted for so long.

Tags: insanity, murder

Review:
As far as I know, neither `Smiley's People', nor its prequel, `Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy', is available in the US in BBC packaging (the current distributor) so you'll have to use your initiative if you want them.
I acquired my copies of `Smiley's People' and `Tinker, Tailor' through my video guy, who makes a couple of trips every year to London to shop for Euro-only products.
If you have not read it (admittedly, LeCarré is not for everyone), here's an appetizer:Retired British counter-intelligence operative George Smiley (Sir Alec Guinness in a remarkably nuanced performance) becomes aware, through events linked to the murder of a former colleague, that his seemingly invulnerable arch-rival in Soviet counter-intelligence, known to the western intelligence fraternity as `Karla', may have finally exposed an Achilles heel.
(Some years earlier, as recounted in the more episodic yet excellent `Tinker, Tailor', Karla nearly destroyed British counter-intelligence, wrecking Smiley's marriage in the process).
Going on an initial hunch and a fragment of evidence, turned up in a beautiful sequence reminiscent of a similar scene in Antonioni's `Blow Up', Smiley methodically begins to put the pieces together, despite the fact that almost everyone he knows is advising him to go home and don his robe and slippers.
Karla (introduced in a fascinating, wordless performance by Patrick Stewart in `Tinker, Tailor') is no comic book villain but a brilliant, almost monumental adversary who survived Stalin's purges, rising through the labyrinth of Soviet socio-politics to the pinnacle of power.`Smiley's People' is a tale of revenge.
Some of its greatest pleasures are found in scenes that center on the unflinching Smiley and his elegant, slightly honest, former master of spy-tradecraft, Toby Esterhaze (Bernard Hepton).
Smiley recruited Esterhaze from the Vienna gutters at the end of the World War II and to open a line of fire on Karla, reactivates him to compromise and turn one of the Soviet spymaster's European operatives.
(If Toby had been Nixon's Chief of Staff during the Watergate crisis, the Nixster would probably still be president.) The initial meeting between Smiley and Esterhaze, their first since a rather unfriendly encounter in `Tinker, Tailor', is masterful, almost poetic.Even in its somewhat streamlined, screen version `Smiley's People' is complex and dimensional, requiring full attention at all times.
Karla will be especially responsive to Smiley, for it was he who unmasked Karla's highly-placed and destructive double-agent in `Tinker, Tailor', through whom Karla had been manipulating the entire western intelligence community for decades.As events proceed in their intimate, quiet way, the suspense builds like layers of paint, one thin coat at a time.
The recent death of Sir Alec Guinness prompted me to wonder which role in his very long career he should be remembered for, and I believe it should be his portrayal of John Le Carre's master spy and inadequate man, George Smiley."Smiley's People", like the earlier "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", derives much of its fascination from its mundane realism.
Especially in the final scene, where all Smiley's friends and supporters are practically dancing with joy, Guinness's studied absence of emotion dominates.Few corporations other than the BBC would dare drag a 200-page novel out to over 4 hours of TV time, and very few actors other than Sir Alec Guinness could have held the viewer fascinated throughout such a marathon..
In my opinion, this is only slightly less praiseworthy than Tinker, Tailor and that is due to the previous high standard of its predecessor.SP has excellent character parts, particularly Bernard Hepton as Tobe Esterhazy, Beryl Reid, and even the maligned Barry Foster as Saul Enderby.
(His outstanding scene with Guinness on the roof after the consideration of Smiley's evidence about Karla is outrageously deleted in the Acorn DVD version.
So yeah, you have to pay attention.) Now for the bad news.The Acorn DVD is a travesty.With about forty minutes cut and scenes shortened and juxtaposed, this is NOT the Smiley's People that appeared on PBS and the BBC videotape.
The previously mentioned Enderby-Smiley scene is nowhere to be found.I don't know where or why this particular 'version' of Smiley's People was found or used but it as an extreme disappointment to me and to viewers who are coming new to this film.
The merits of Alec Guinness's Smiley are familiar to anyone who has seen this wonderful BBC adaptation of LeCarré's great 'Karla' trilogy of books..well, two of the books anyway.
Sadly they skipped over 'The Honourable Schoolboy' arguably the most exciting of the three.Both 'Tinker Tailor' and 'Smiley's People' have their casting mishaps but nothing that detracts in any important way.
I won't say any more to avoid a spoiler.'Smiley's People' is not as riveting as 'Tinker Tailor' I think because I found the first mini- series, focusing on the inner workings of the Circus, to be far more interesting than the foreign "outside" locations in 'Smiley's People.' But that's just me.
I still love this film and watch it often.Don't miss the Smiley series!
"Smiley's People" is the sequel miniseries to "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and is also based on a novel by John le Carré.
In this series, George Smiley investigates the murder of a Russian general formerly passing information to the Circus which puts him on the trail of his old rival, Soviet spy master "Karla".As with "Tinker, Tailor", Alec Guinness is perfect in a subtle performance as George Smiley.
The returning performers and new performances are solid as well."Smiley's People" is at least up to the high standard of "Tinker, Tailor" and perhaps better.
Whereas in "Tinker, Tailor" Smiley investigated within a limited circle of people and limited area, in this series the locations and characters are more varied.
In this way the plot of "Smiley's People" requires more focus to understand the connections between characters, which I enjoyed.As with "Tinker, Tailor", the style consisted mostly of Smiley conversing with people for information, so this series is also not appropriate for those looking for a fast-paced James Bond type spy thriller, but enjoyable for those looking for a deliberately paced spy film.
I won't choose between TINKER TAILOR and SMILEY'S PEOPLE.
PEOPLE isn't as dark (even though bodies litter the landscape), but it builds to great tension even on repeat viewings.Master-class performances by Michael Lonsdale (Grigoriev), Michael Gough (Mikhel), Eileen Atkins (Ostrakova), and even the unknown Stephen Riddle (Mostyn).
All your life!") is brought to life by Bernard Hepton, reprising his role from TINKER and showing himself equal to the novels' original dialog.The SMILEY'S PEOPLE Special Features DVD has a different interview with John le Carré than the TINKER one does.
This is the sequel to the Tinker Tailor mini-series and last chapter in the Karla Trilogy (they skipped 'schoolboy').
Nothing has fundamentally changed: Smiley is brought out of retirement for one last round of spy games against Karla, his old nemesis.
Moreover, it is filmed in that BBC way I adore—transparent camera, natural light and textures.Which brings me to a point I made in my Tinker Tailor post.
(one episode is capped by Smiley actually having a flashback)So, because you have only a partial view of the story (reflected in the film in a crucial bit of evidence being a film strip), and the story shifts as you move through (indeed, you don't know there is a testimony that goes with the strip), this would be like a chess game where each new move shuffles the rules, trying to make sense is not enough.
Indeed, whereas the bulk of intelligence operatives work as analysts, a good analyst is worth his weight in gold because he does just this: he can flow through a sea of information, salvaging only the crucial bits, the anchors that explain the story.So, my notion of a good spy film is one that makes watching itself have agency in the world—any film would benefit from this, hence why a template.
And the sense of place is powerful —Paris, the Hamburg strip club and lake camp, quiet picturesque Bern, Berlin and the simmering anxiety of the Wall.But the best piece of news is this: there is talk of a sequel to the recent Tinker Tailor film, which is going to be this one (alas for 'Schoolboy').
which is to paraphrase John Le Carre's own description of George Smiley played by Alec Guinness in this.
There's a remarkably seamless continuity between this, the sequel TV series to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – seamless in all departments that is and not just in Alec Guinness's performance.
Alas, since then they've settled firmly into the gutter, producing year after year of cheap unloved tripe and remembered by no one.Complicated tale of "modern" and old systems of espionage clashing, of smoothing over the many consequences of various past causes, of West & East blurring in the middle, of a spy story expertly related, and basically of staunch Briton Smiley hoping to find his old adversary the master-crafty Russian Karla had an ancient Achilles Heel after all.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is still to this day one of the best mini-series I've seen.
Just a reminder, this was the follow-up (sequel?) to the novel "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (1980) They both were extremely well done.
Why does "Smiley's People" (based on a novel by John LeCarre like his others - "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", "Spy Who Came In From The Cold", and "Russia House") stay on the shelf ?
For those who are fans of the spy novels of John Le Carre, George Smiley is admired for his savvy and pitied for his loneliness.
Compelling thinking-man's spy thriller from John le Carre and Alec Guinness.
Those whose idea of a spy thriller is James Bond will be disappointed in "Smiley's People".
Those points being granted, however, "Smiley's People" is a brilliant, intricate, thinking-man's spy thriller, worthy of the author of "Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy" and "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold".
Alec Guinness, who probably played more different sorts of characters than any other actor, considered George Smiley to be his favorite role.
The fact that he is so bland meant that the part of George Smiley was probably a whole lot more difficult to play than most of the flashy character roles for which Guinness was known.Give this one an 8 for it's intricate, thoughtful plot and the superb performance by Alec Guinness..
'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' was one of the standout television series of the 1970s, a perfect adaptation of John Le Carre's best book, a spry thriller, a detective story, and a character study of every shade of English eccentric, brought to life by a perfect cast.
It's a lower key tale, set right at the end of the careers of Le Carre's favourite protagonist, the fanatical moderate George Smiley and his perpetual nemesis Karla; for a thriller, there's an awful lot of sitting around while not much happens.
A little over an hour, I believe, was cut from the six-part series.George Smiley is brought out of retirement again, this time to find out who killed his friend, The General, and why.
The General winds up dead.Smiley retraces The General's steps and his investigation leads to someone high in the Russian secret service, someone who seems to be killing everyone in his wake in his quest to hide a big secret.I will admit that I have always found anything connected with George Smiley, be it books, TV mini-series, or films, very hard to follow.
The stories contain a lot of subtleties and often assume knowledge that you may have had twenty years earlier when you read a Smiley story or saw a movie, but which one has now lost.Nevertheless, thanks to the wonderful performances and interesting story, even with cuts, this is a marvelous psychological study of two men: Smiley and his long-time adversary on the other side, Karla (Patrick Stewart) who are not so far apart as might be imagined.In the spy game, there appear to be no winners and no losers, so anything seen as a "success" is empty.
So much as been already said about either Tinker Tailor or Simleys People that my addition is small, however in a film world driven by special affects or minimal story content, these two film series represents some of the foremost screenplay, editing, acting and cinematography to date.
"Smiley's People" is the sequel miniseries to "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and follows George Smiley as he faces off against his nemesis, the fanatical soviet spymaster Karla.At the onset, Smiley is, as usual, in forced retirement but brought back in to help out his colleagues at "The Circus" (British Intelligence).
There's even more spy thriller action in this series, which isn't saying much, but it's still noticeable (of course, the appeal of the Smiley stories is how exciting they are without any hokey James Bond kind of silliness).This series also gives Smiley more psychological depth, and we see him resolve his glaring character defect - his tolerance of his wife's infidelity - while in the process gaining a new one - a level of cold ruthlessness which he might have described as fanaticism in his opponent Karla.Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that having more components made this a better production than its predecessor.
While still a watchable and intelligent story, Smiley's People is a distinctly different animal from its companion Tinker Tailor.
Each time I've watched Smiley's People I've found myself yearning for the kinds of complexities and subtleties movies based on LeCarre''s other stories are usually rich with - alas, the yearning goes unrequited.
Whereas I can watch Tinker Tailor yet again and discover an uncaught double entendre or an unnoticed directorial adumbration, I find little new after repeated viewings of Smiley's People.
Perhaps most disappointing is that Smiley's People is really not a spy movie at all.
This should have been as good as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but, having watched episode one, it's obvious that the change in director and the start of the 1980s has partially ruined the show.Alec Guinness is trying too hard to be a certain type of, let's say, experienced older generation spymaster and not making a very good job of it.
I enjoyed Tinker Tailor and found the mini series riveting as they try to unearth a Soviet mole deep in the inner bowels of the circus.I caught up with the recent repeat showing of Smiley's People and during the first episode I thought we are in for a treat here as we had intrigue and plot development.
The series just meanderedIts only the final episode that regained my interest but by then I knew this was a sandwich with no filling.So Smiley comes out of retirement to investigate the death of one of his agents, a Soviet General who discovered information about the infamous Karla.The series has two actors famous for portraying James Bond villains in Roger Moore movies.
We have brief cameos from Patrick Stewart, Sian Phillips and Beryl Reid.The most interesting aspect is that the character of Toby Esterhase, one of the people in charge of the Circus in Tinker Tailor.
Unlike Tinker Tailor, where the entire circus was portrayed as a snake pit of cut-throat careerists all very full of themselves, one cares about the characters in this story.
Another great outing for Alec Guinness as George Smiley.
I watched 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' and enjoyed it so much that once I'd finished I had to watch its sequel, 'Smiley's People', straight away; having now watched the latter series I must say I found it just as gripping.
information that leads him closer and closer to Karla.Once again Alec Guinness was brilliant as George Smiley; he really inhabited the role.
Unlike 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' the action does move about a bit as the trail leads Smiley to Switzerland, this doesn't make the series any less gritty though as none of the scenes take place in the sort of picture postcard locations often favoured by film producers scouting for over seas film locations.
If you enjoyed 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' I'm sure you will enjoy this too...
it is just a pity that there aren't more stories featuring Alec Guinness as Smiley..
On the other hand, George Smiley, the middle aged spy master, is once again put out of retirement to investigate about this mysterious case.
And the more he looks into it, the more he's convinced this would be a very bad idea...Smiley's People happens a few years later TTSS: actually the third part of a novel trilogy by John Le Carré, whose second part, was never filmed.
Supporting characters have grown weary as well: Connie Sachs, (Beryl Reid), is almost dying and she works harder than ever to give her precious memories to Smiley, Peter Guillam (Michael Byrne, the only important cast change who's fine but not as much as Jayston in TTSS) still likes fast cars but seems to have said his youth goodbye, Karla ( Patrick Stewart) appears as a frail little old man, who makes dangerous choices out of concern for his daughter; Ann Smiley (Sîan Phillips) must face definite separation.
If you are a John Le Carre fan, it doesn't get any better than this six part BBC series, available on three disks from Netflix and (presumably) other on line film services.
Alec Guiness was a marvelous actor, as we all know, and he may have equaled his role as George Smiley in some film or stage performance.
The sequel to the equally enigmatic TV series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy we see a different side to the recurring characters in Smiley's People.
It is the perfect sequel to the rivalry we see between two Spy masters Smiley and Karla and it encapsulates the cost one pays to achieve ends.I watched this three times the first time it felt like watching an adventure unfold, the intrigue of it all was great fun to watch.
For me this was better than Tinker, Tailor although the plot accelerates as it goes on so require some patience at the beginning, which is well rewarded as the exciting finale draws closer.Also well acted.