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Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy - Head to Head

Which is your favourite T, T, S, S?

  • TV Series with Alec Guinness

    Votes: 39 50.6%

  • Film with Gary Oldman

    Votes: 15 19.5%

  • Haven't seen one or both to compare

    Votes: 14 18.2%

  • Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Bollocks

    Votes: 9 11.7%
  • Total voters
    77


The Large One

The Large One

Who's Next?
Jul 7, 2003
52,343
97.2FM
As a fan of Cold War thrillers, and knowing I'm not the only one, I thought I'd give the heads up on a choice / bad scheduling on TV tonight.

The first two parts of the original 1979 TV series with Alec Guinness are on BBC4 from 10pm, while Film 4 is showing the 2011 film starring... everyone.

So - which is your favourite?
 




G

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,336
Uffern
I've seen both: the Oldman version is a pretty good film and would be well-regarded if, and it's a big if, it wasn't up against the TV version. The Guinness one is not only better but it's one of the best TV series of all time, thanks not only to Guinness himself but also a fantastic cast.

It should be pointed out though that neither Guinness nor Oldman is anything like the Smiley of the books. It shows how an author's vision can be supplanted
 


User removed 4

User removed 4

New member
May 9, 2008
13,331
Haywards Heath
The Large One said:
As a fan of Cold War thrillers, and knowing I'm not the only one, I thought I'd give the heads up on a choice / bad scheduling on TV tonight.

The first two parts of the original 1979 TV series with Alec Guinness are on BBC4 from 10pm, while Film 4 is showing the 2011 film starring... everyone.

So - which is your favourite?
Click to expand...
ive seen the film and liked it, will sky plus it and watch again and intend to watch the tv version tonight, so wont be able to comment till afterwards.
 




The Large One

The Large One

Who's Next?
Jul 7, 2003
52,343
97.2FM
Gwylan said:
I've seen both: the Oldman version is a pretty good film and would be well-regarded if, and it's a big if, it wasn't up against the TV version. The Guinness one is not only better but it's one of the best TV series of all time, thanks not only to Guinness himself but also a fantastic cast.

It should be pointed out though that neither Guinness nor Oldman is anything like the Smiley of the books. It shows how an author's vision can be supplanted
Click to expand...

Le Carré himself did state that, for later George Smiley books, he based the characteristics around Alec Guinness' portrayal.
 












Bold Seagull

Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
29,789
Hove
Difficult to compare given the series has 7 hours to tell the story, whereas the film has 2. I thought the film edged it for resisting the modern day urge for thrillers to involve numerous car chases, and lots of action / special effects. The cast almost outdo each other in underplaying their roles to the extent a twitch or glance across a room contain such weight that you're glued to the film from start to finish. Oldman's Smiley is brilliantly balanced I thought.

The series is also very good, it is a hard job to compare and pick between the two, but I guess the film was so different for me than everything else currently in the genre, that I've gone for that.
 


M

Marxo

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2011
4,328
Ghent, Belgium
I've read the books, seen the TV series and the film and heard all the BBC radio adaptations where Smiley is played variously by Bernard Hepton, Peter Vaughan, George Cole and most recently by Simon Russell Beale but whenever I think of George Smiley the image I get is of Arthur Lowe (not in a home guard uniform).
I thought the film was very good but the TV series has a lot longer to develop the story and has more of a 'cold war' feeling to it.
 


User removed 4

User removed 4

New member
May 9, 2008
13,331
Haywards Heath
The Large One said:
As a fan of Cold War thrillers, and knowing I'm not the only one, I thought I'd give the heads up on a choice / bad scheduling on TV tonight.

The first two parts of the original 1979 TV series with Alec Guinness are on BBC4 from 10pm, while Film 4 is showing the 2011 film starring... everyone.

So - which is your favourite?
Click to expand...
As a little aside, are you a fan of Ted Allbeury ?He wrote some superb cold war thrillers in my opinion.
 




G

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,336
Uffern
Marxo said:
I've read the books, seen the TV series and the film and heard all the BBC radio adaptations where Smiley is played variously by Bernard Hepton, Peter Vaughan, George Cole and most recently by Simon Russell Beale but whenever I think of George Smiley the image I get is of Arthur Lowe (not in a home guard uniform).
Click to expand...

Interesting. The image I had of Smiley from the books bore a close resemblance to Simon Russell Beale but Arthur Lowe is an excellent call
 


The Large One

The Large One

Who's Next?
Jul 7, 2003
52,343
97.2FM
bushy said:
As a little aside, are you a fan of Ted Allbeury ?He wrote some superb cold war thrillers in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Not familiar with him - what aspect of the Cold War?

I've mostly read the likes of Frederick Forsyth, Len Deighton and John Le Carré. Having said that, reading Len Deighton can be hard work; some of his plots don't so much thicken as congeal.

Also, Chris Ryan doesn't only write about SAS stuff. One of his books - The Kremlin Device - has elements of Cold War rhetoric in them, albeit in a post-Cold War setting.
 


Acker79

Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2008
31,854
Brighton
Around the time the film came out, a series of Le Carre audio books (constant gardener, honourable school boy, our kind of traitor, smiley's people, spy who came in from the cold, tinker tailer) were given away free with a newspaper (I want to say the guardian, might have been the telegraph). You didn't even have to buy the paper, you could visit their website and it would let you download them for free. I listened to them while at work
 




The Large One

The Large One

Who's Next?
Jul 7, 2003
52,343
97.2FM
Acker79 said:
Around the time the film came out, a series of FF audio books (constant gardener, honourable school boy, our kind of traitor, smiley's people, spy who came in from the cold, tinker tailer) were given away free with a newspaper (I want to say the guardian, might have been the telegraph). You didn't even have to buy the paper, you could visit their website and it would let you download them for free. I listened to them while at work
Click to expand...

FF?
 






Sergei's Celebration

Sergei's Celebration

Well-known member
Jan 3, 2010
3,609
I've come back home.
I think the film is excellent, a great brooding, grey drama. after I watched it I went back and got the box set of the tv series and it's difficult to compare as it has so much more time to develop but I think the film has it for looks and feel while the tv series edges it for story. Guiness and oldman are both great. I call a tie.
 








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