John le Carré: Screen Adaptations

I sought out this movie after my initiation in Le Carre's work. It represents the basic (and best) qualities of his stories - tense and realistic espionage thrillers that do not glorify the people working in the field. If you're looking for James Bond and his action antics and gunfights, you're not going to find it here.

Double agents, double crosses, murder - all wrapped up in a gritty and realistic story. Not the best adaptation and the acting feels a little too calculated at times, but the power of the story still carries it through.

On my watch list now.

On my watch list now.

On my watch list now.

I did not knowingly watch this movie as an adaptation of Le Carre's work. Probably a good thing too, since it was not the most gripping movie overall. The realism (and cynicism) of his work still comes through.

Again, when I watched it years ago, it wasn't with the intention of watching a movie based on a Le Carre book. I was impressed by his stories even before I paid attention to him.

The movie that really kicked off my interest in Le Carre's work. It captures the essence of what his stories are like - realistic, gritty portrayals of politics and espionage, and the people who are involved in these activities.

This story is quite possibly the best ever created by Le Carre. The movie based on it was outstanding and the TV series that preceded the movie by more than 3 decades is also outstanding, albeit in different ways.

The movie is a thriller, keeping the audience on a tight leash, while the TV adaptation ebbs and flows with tension, inescapable in the medium. Where the TV series shines is the details of the story. The length allows it to go into more details than the movie possibly could. Remarkably, the two screenplays are very similar.

A sequel to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the series carries over much of the cast from that series, notably Alec Guinness who plays the lead character of George Smiley. The story isn't as brilliant as Tinker, Tailor, but it's still very very good.

On my watch list now.

A solid detective murder mystery this time around, no international politics or espionage in sight.