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diginks · 1 day ago

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These John le Carré Spy Thrillers Still Keep Espionage Fans Hooked

Author: Wealth of Geeks Editorial Staff Published: February 18, 2025 February 19, 2025 When John le Carré died in December 2022, the world lost its finest writer of espionage fiction. Le Carré (real name David Cornwell) served in two branches of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI5 and MI6, and began his career as a novelist in 1961 while still an active undercover agent. In 1964, he left the Secret Service after double agent Kim Philby, one of the so-called Cambridge Five spy ring, betrayed him to the KGB. Free to write full-time and buoyed by the proceeds from his third novel, 1963’s best-selling The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, le Carré set to work on a series of superbly crafted novels that, taken together, represent an unprecedented body of work. Hollywood also began to take interest in possible John le Carré movies. For many, le Carré’s crowning achievement is the “Karla trilogy,” a series of three interwoven, intricately plotted novels — Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honorable Schoolboy, and Smiley's People — that focus on the efforts of retired agent George Smiley to root out a mole in The Circus and unmask the Soviet spymaster (codenamed Karla) who pulls the strings. Carré’s writing crackles with tension, his characters course with life, and his plots keep the pages turning with an urgency few writers can match. The recent documentary The Pidgeon Tunnel and the publication of A Private Spy, his collected letters, in late 2022, shed fascinating new light on this singular author’s life and work — work that has, as the following list attests, provided rich fodder for filmmakers ever since he hung up his tiny camera in the early 1960s. Find here the best John le Carré movies.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)

Image Credit: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Writer Arthur Hopcraft and director John Irvin’s seven-part BBC adaptation of le Carré’s signature novel harks back to an earlier, more sedate era of television drama. A magnificently low-key ensemble piece starring Alec Guinness in a rare TV appearance, it captures the seedy essence of le Carré’s world with dour precision; viewers can almost feel the chill draughts and smell the musty carpets of The Circus. Guinness delivers perhaps the finest performance of his distinguished career as the fusty, brilliant Smiley (a role he erroneously thought himself wrong for), and the supporting cast, a cross-section of Britain’s finest character actors, provides consummate ballast. In tribute to Tinker Tailor’s pedigree, Irvin insisted on shooting the whole thing on film (at the time, only TV exteriors warranted film, a budgetary measure that resulted in jarring visual discrepancies between scenes). The extra expense paid off. The seamless transitions and grainy texture of the film add greatly to the overall effect, setting a precedent for future prestige productions and future John le Carré movies.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures. Richard Burton stars in a suitably chilly version of le Carré’s 1963 novel, playing disaffected agent Alec Leamus, a fake defector drawn into a plot to sow disinformation about a high-ranking Stasi officer (played by Oskar Werner). Aiming to portray espionage as a morally compromised business, the film, like the novel, can’t help hinting at something quietly heroic in Leamus, amplified by Burton’s forceful performance. Universally favorable reviews made much of the stark contrast between Leamus and another fictional British agent whose more lurid exploits enjoyed their third big-screen outing the same year. (Incidentally, Bernard Lee, most famous for playing M in the Bond movies, including 1965’s Thunderball, has a small role here playing a grocer). Le Carré had fond memories of visiting the set. “I enjoyed an amiable relationship with the screenwriter ,” he wrote in The Guardian in 2016, “As a former instructor in the black arts at a British spy school during World War II, turned out to know much more about espionage than I did.”

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Image Credit: Jack English/Focus Features. Another brilliant interpretation of le Carré’s 1974 masterpiece with Gary Oldman stepping confidently into Alec Guinness’s shoes. Gorgeously shot by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema and an almost absurdly starry supporting cast (Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, Simon McBurney, and Kathy Burke), it oozes class and Oldman is in his element. If it has a fault, it’s one of bandwidth rather than execution. The script, by Peter Straughan and the late Bridget O'Connor, “Is a brilliant feat of condensation and restructuring,” to quote Jonathan Romney of The Independent, but the feature-length format doesn’t quite have the headroom to accommodate Tinker Tailor’s sinuous expanse. “To strip down or minimalize le Carré,” wrote The Atlantic’s James Parker, “is to sacrifice the almost Tolkienesque grain and depth of his created world.”

Smiley’s People (1982)

Image Credit: Paramount Domestic Television. That the Beeb’s follow-up to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, an adaptation of book three of the Karla trilogy, falls slightly short of its predecessor reiterates the dizzying height of the bar confronting it. Make no mistake, Smiley’s People knocks most TV drama — and even some other John le Carré movies — into the proverbial cocked hat. Alec Guinness again brings a hint of wintry melancholy to Smiley, here engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse with his KGB nemesis, and Beryl Reid, a beloved British actress best known for her comedy performances, strikes the perfect note of blowsy vulnerability as former Circus researcher Connie Sachs. But it lacks the staying power of Tinker Tailor, possibly due to a troubled and unhappy shoot. Guinness considered Reid miscast as Connie (an opinion he later revised) and disliked director John MacKenzie so much that he had him fired. He then quickly fell out with MacKenzie’s replacement, Simon Langton. “I felt dubious about Simon's work,” he wrote at the time. “I greatly miss John Irvin's grip and inner tension.”

The Constant Gardner (2005)

Image Credit: United International Pictures. Le Carré found himself again on slightly unfamiliar ground with his 2001 novel, a dive into the cesspit of corporate corruption and the murderous activities of pharmaceutical companies in the third world. Naturally, he pulls it off with breathtaking skill. Much the same goes for the film adaptation, an emotionally charged thriller that makes masterful use of flashbacks to tell the tale of a mild-manner British diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) investigating the suspicious death of his activist wife (Rachel Weitz). With another terrific supporting cast (they do seem to come running for John le Carré movies), including Hubert Koundé, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite, and Donald Sumpter, Gardner won an Oscar for Weitz as Best Supporting Actress. It also earned nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing. Shooting on location in the Kibera slums of Nairobi so affected the cast and crew that, in 2004, they established the Constant Gardner Trust to thank the locals for their help with the filming. The end credits feature le Carré’s dedication of the novel to French humanitarian Yvette Pierpaoli “and all other aid workers who lived and died giving a d-mn. Nobody in this story, and no outfit or corporation, thank God, is based upon an actual person or outfit in the real world,” reads the text, under the author’s name. “But I can tell you this. As my journey through the pharmaceutical jungle progressed, I came to realize that, by comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard.”

A Most Wanted Man (2014)

Image Credit: Entertainment One Films. A terrific take on a late-career le Carré, directed with style by photographer-turned-filmmaker Anton Corbijn, A Most Wanted Man marks Philip Seymore Hoffman’s last screen appearance before his tragic death in 2014 at the age of 46. Cerebral and multilayered, the plot involves Hoffman’s rumpled anti-terror agent pitting his wits against Grigoriy Dobrygin’s brutally tortured Chechen refugee seeking political asylum in Hamburg.

The Little Drummer Girl (2018)

Image Credit: BBC Studios. Further evidence that the small screen serves le Carré better than the big, this six-part miniseries, based on his 1983 novel, stars Florence Pugh (Black Widow, Little Women) as a young British actress groomed by a Mossad agent (Michael Shannon) to infiltrate a Palestinian terror cell. Directed with typical pace and visual flair by Park Chan-wook, the convoluted plot detours from le Carré’s usual stomping ground into hot-button geopolitics and the legacy of British foreign policy in the Middle East. Not to everyone’s taste, it still easily trounces the 1984 film version with a subtle and engaging performance from Pugh erasing all memories of a badly miscast Diane Keaton (yes, that Diane Keaton).

The Night Manager (2016)

Image Credit: The Ink Factory. A stylish, entertaining miniseries based on le Carré’s 1993 book of the same name, this plays like a 20-minute episode of Cannes Confidential compared to the BBC’s original takes on Tinker Tailor and Smiley’s People. Starring Tom Hiddleston as the titular hotel drone drawn into the murky world of international arms dealing, it certainly offers plenty to like — support from Olivia Coleman and Hugh Laurie as a borderline-Blofeld supervillain for starters — but it all feels a bit surface-y and removed from LeCarréworld, even though the author bestows his blessing via a fleeting cameo.

The Tailor of Panama (2001)

Image Credit: Columbia Pictures. Geoffrey Rush, still hot off his Shine Oscar win, hits the spot as an ex-con pitched up in Central America keen to bury his shady past but, instead, coerced into spying on the Panamanian government by an unscrupulous MI6 agent (Pierce Brosnan, sending up his Bond persona with caddish relish). Helmed by veteran director John Boorman (Deliverance, Excalibur), Tailor can also boast a script co-written by le Carré himself and a supporting cast comprising Jamie Lee Curtis, Daniel Radcliffe (making his pre-Potter debut), and legendary British playwright Harold Pinter as Rush’s voice-in-the-head mentor and Jiminy Cricket-style conscience. Call it the most underrated of John le Carré movies.

A Murder of Quality (1991)

Image Credit: A&E. Another great British actor — Denholm Elliot — gets a crack at George Smiley in this overlooked but surprisingly pleasing TV movie adaptation of le Carré’s 1962 novel. Inevitably, Elliot’s performance suffers in comparison to Alec Guinness, but his mix of pipe-smoking stuffiness and piercing intelligence gets the job done. More murder mystery than a spy story, the plot has Smiley playing detective at the behest of a wartime colleague who has suspicions over an old friend’s death.

Our Kind of Traitor (2016)

Image Credit: Jaap Buitendijk/StudioCanal. While not exactly le Carré Lite, this slickly made thriller still feels vaguely insubstantial despite excellent performances from Ewan McGregor and Naomi Harris. They play a vacationing couple caught up in international money laundering by Stellan Skarsgard’s charismatic Russian mobster.

The Deadly Affair (1966)

Image Credit: Columbia Pictures. The question raised by this solid if unremarkable adaptation of le Carré’s first novel, 1961’s Call for the Dead, is why, given the talent involved, isn't it better than it is? Sidney Lumet directs from a script by Paul Dehn (who also wrote the far superior The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and, ironically, Goldfinger), while James Mason plays Smiley surrogate Charles Dobbs*, once again making a nuisance of himself investigating the suicide of a government official. The cherry on the disappointing cake takes the form of a swinging-sixties bossa nova score by Quincey Jones, performed by Astrid Gilberto. *Rival studio Paramount Pictures owned the film rights to the name George Smiley, a holdover from The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, hence the pseudonym.

Author: Wealth of Geeks Editorial Staff

The editorial staff at Wealth of Geeks brings a wealth of experience to the table. Their combined years of experience contributing to and editing high-quality content spans a wide range of topics, including money, autos, lifestyle, home and garden, and entertainment. They understand the diverse interests of our readers, and it shows in every article and list. Each piece is thoughtfully crafted and fact-checked to make sure it resonates. Read the full article

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willmarstudios · 24 days ago

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Bookworm Will Review 2025 (#14)

Title: 'Kiss & Tell'

Author: Adib Khorram

Rating: 2 / 5

Review: (MILD SPOILERS)

I really liked the intention behind this story!

A somewhat realistic look into the life of what a young boy band (or any musician/celebrity imo) experiences in terms of perceptions. The long hours, the constant traveling, unattainable expectations from both yourself and the public and of course tokenism and capitalism.

Hunter, the essential MC, a white and openly gay musician in the boy group 'Kiss & Tell' is no stranger to how the public/people in the biz view him. And given he's a celebrity, not much is kept private because people talk. Once his ex posts a series of scandalous texts between them, his "stereotypical and clean gay" image is shattered. Props for this book tackling a subject like bottom shaming, you don't see that often. Regardless, everyone is then expecting him to change to "fix" the image. Emotions run high, feelings aren't expressed in a safe manner, and disaster ensues as we watch this meltdown unfolds.

As I mentioned, I appreciated what this story was trying to present and talk about to younger audiences. There is nothing wrong with being queer and passionate about wanting to help, sex isn't something to be ashamed of and how racism/capitalism dictate success. Hunter was the token gay, but the rest of the band has various ethnicities that are exploited, except we really only focus on Hunter which I guess makes sense. I felt like there was more we've could've explored with the rest of the cast instead of everyone (While caring) bending to address the white MC who "has it worse". I may be thinking about this TOO much because friendship as solid as theirs is a wonderful thing to have. Especially when you are struggling with anything.

TLDR; some points it felt like it was comparing oppressions and I didn't enjoy that.

I did enjoy Kaivan's journey with inner homophobia, I felt like that was a very realistic representation of another sad truth about the LGTBQAI+ community. There are a lot of other problems with it too (racism, classism and ableism), but the one we focused on was the closeted gay having to "fit in" by bashing other gays. It tied in with the concept of safety because sometimes not everyone is going to "be ok" or "comfortable" with you outwardly expressing your queerness. Young queers are constantly disowned, abandoned, and potentially lose everything, being forced to start over from scratch. Black and BIPOC trans individuals especially.

In a similar case, we watch Hunter get molested and touched without warrant just because he's A.) a pop star and B.) gay. We are constantly viewed as sexual deviants, which is dumb because if someone wants to have sex in any form, as long as they're safe and everything is consensual, why do shame them? Sex is natural. Though if you do get into a particular kind of club, just really check in with yourself to see if you want to participate in particular activities before hand. Someone people are there for the dancing. Some are there for back rooms. Both are valid reasons to go out and have fun, but shouldn't be exclusively stereotypes for queer people.

LOVED the inclusion about how activism is a MUST, even if its something small. Wasn't a huge fan of either love interests, in fact, was kind of like wth why is there hinting for you going back with your ex?

Past experiences do not excuse current behavior.

Overall, it was silly, fun and a decent starting point for introducing topics that aren't really discussed about in books (at least that I've seen).

#bookworm will #book recommendations #book review #queer books #kiss and tell #adib khorram #books #bookblr #book #queer #YA #contemporary romance

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