It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

'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. 'Smiley's People', made a few years later, is a slightly different beast. 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. If it lacks the claustrophobia and urgency of the previous effort, it still has the unsurpassable Alec Guinness in the lead role; and in odd moments, such as where we see Smiley visiting his neglectful wife Ann, Guinness is truly masterful in conveying so much while saying so little. It might not make too much sense if you haven't seen its predecessor; but together, the two are arguably the best work of Guinneess's long and distinguished career.

It's a good plot, at one point I thought that it would have been better if the enemy played the game as flawlessly as Smiley. But by the end I changed my mind - everything had to happen the way it happened! 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. Once again though I was distracted somewhat by mispronunciation of foreign names. I was particularly surprised that Bernard Hepton, who had previously played a German in the Colditz series, couldn't pronounce his "own" name, "Esterhase" (est'rr haaze - the last e pronounced the same way as the first one) The BBC really ought to invest in that area - they are still apt to mispronounce place names on the World News for example. Also "Kantonalbank von Bern" is a bit clumsy - but just have to drop the "von" to make it authentic. I particularly liked some of the correct little details such as a "Turkischer Imbiss" in Berlin - it brings back memories of my own experiences there.So I still give it a 10, well-deserved relative to what else is available in the genre. It's so hard to get authentic spy fiction on screen and too easy to get silly spoofs instead.

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. The 'old guard' which he visits (Connie, Esterhase) looks phased and weathered. The moral lines are blurry. The notion is that the world has changed, and doesn't really need these people any more. Smiley will be disowned by the Circus if discovered.That's all fine. The series is from the great BBC tradition in narrative: the acting is uniformly excellent, it is a clean and riveting piece of fiction. 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. I recommend this simply on its storytelling capacity to immerse you. And if you want a glimpse of how 1970's West Europe was like, it is indispensable viewing, absolutely so. But, it's also a spy film, and a spy film is to my mind one of the best templates for cinematic meditation.Here's what I mean. You enter a world of some complexity that has machinery and movement, but enter long after the machinery has been set in motion. In the films, you (in the detective's shoes) are looking for this or that narrative device, here it turns out to be a girl, doesn't matter. In this film, the story really has started long before we enter, but you only learn this as you move through the first couple of episodes—in other words, midway through you suddenly have memories of this world. (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. You will have to be still long enough for the thing to reveal itself. You have to spy.Isn't this nice? You as a viewer will have to be able to see every corner while not being bogged down by detail. 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. This is a step-up from Tinker Tailor, where after each episode we were summoned for a recap by the master sleuth, everything smoothed out for us. Oh, later episodes are forwarded by explanatory monologues and the story, as it turns out, is a personal bet so doesn't threaten an empire, but you have this structure and double identity of the girl at the center, which are fresh and powerful devices. 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'). The film has what both of these don't, though they are otherwise excellent. It has abstraction in the film. It has not just the 'magicians' tricks, but magic that alters how we see. So, I'm hoping they go ahead with it, they will be building—as the first time—from a great primary text.

Judging by the other comments on this site, this episode of the 2 Smiley-BBC productions seems to disappoint some of it's fans. 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. It's one one of my favorite moments.) Everyone in this production is outstanding and equal to their forbears in TTSS - almost all of whom are them! The fact that virtually every key person is back reprising their roles says a lot about the quality of this production. Mario Adorf plays another vivid character, Claus Kretschmar. Dammit, every actor is interesting, alive and vivid in this story.I guess the discrepancy is due to the fact that this is an entirely different sort of thing than TTSS. This also is a detective story but with a different dynamic. Nonetheless the same qualities make this must viewing for every Smiley fan. SP has excellent character parts all of whom add texture to the slow unfolding of this tale. And that is what is good about it - the story unfolds with pieces coming to light after each of Smiley's interviews. (To anyone who has never seen the Smiley stories this might sound like a recipe for boredom, but in fact it is just the opposite. 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. While the story can be followed and enjoyed to a point, there are moments when the cutting is abrupt and the story jumps with the viewer wondering why some things are happening and 'did I miss something?'. The answer is yes. For example, Villem's part is cut and his reason for going to Hamburg are not explained. 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. No wonder it gets such mixed reviews.With the story stretched to 3 DVDs surely someone should have noticed.A great film, a very disappointing DVD.