Film File - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Easy knowing we're in the autumn season - a quality, but slow moving drama like this wouldn't have stood much of a chance a few weeks ago with the summertime juvenile audience. This new spy thriller features a stellar cast, including Gary Oldman, Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Ciaran Hinds, John Hurt, Toby Jones and Mark Strong. Directed by Tomas Alfredson - he of the superior chiller 'Let The Right One In' - the story is set in the 1970s, and finds George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a recently retired MI6 spymaster, doing his best to adjust to a life outside the secret service. However, when a disgraced agent reappears with information concerning a mole at the heart of the Circus, Smiley is drawn back into the murky field of Cold War espionage. Tasked with investigating which of his trusted former colleagues has chosen to betray him and their country, Smiley narrows his search to four suspects - all experienced, urbane, successful agents, but past histories, rivalries and friendships make it far from easy to pinpoint the man who is eating away at the heart of the British establishment. Adapted from the iconic 1974 original by novelist John Le Carré, the screenplay is by Peter Straughan and Bridget O'Connor and was shot in London, Budapest and Istanbul. Having, as one ecstatic reviewer put it "blown the roof off" at its recent Venice Film Festival premiere, this one always had serious class and style stamped all over it - the cast alone ensured that any flaws would be minor. As a journey back to 1970s Britain, the film is a superb evocation of the period, right down to the ever-present pall of cigarette smoke, Wimpy burger bars and a fashion sense best left buried in a time capsule. With the highest echelons of the Circus having been penetrated by a Russian mole, the inscrutable Smiley is lured from retirement to snare this 'rotten apple' before even more damage is done. When Control (John Hurt) makes a major blunder by sending smooth spook Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) to meet with a Russian general with knowledge of a double agent at the heart of British Intelligence, it is left to Smiley to redeem his former friend's reputation and ferret out the traitor. Oldman owns the screen in this one - whic is quite a boast given his co-stars - and is a perfect mirror of Le Carré's original creation, right down to the grey suit, stilted walk and attitude that is anything but smiley. With the list of suspects whittled down to four - 'tinker' Percy Alleline (Toby Jones), 'tailor' Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), 'soldier' Roy Bland (Ciaran Hinds), and 'poor man' Toby Esterhase (David Dencik) - Oldman sets about unmasking the mole. Add to that up-and-coming agent Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch), 'wet work' operative Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy), bitter former insider Connie Sachs (Kathy Burke), and shadowy Russian spy Polyakov (Konstantin Khabenskiy), a key figure in joining the puzzle pieces. For those old enough to remember the stunning turn of Alec Guinness as Smiley in the BBC adaptation in the '70s, it was always going to be a tough call finding a modern version mixing just enough 'old school' ethos with the correct dab of clandestine ruthlessness required of a spymaster. Oldman delivers the goods in spades in a portrayal even the great Guinness himself would surely have applauded. For this reviewer who has read the book a number of times and seen every previous TV and film adaptation, this latest version did not disappoint. Such is the skill of the directors and his actors, that this has to be one of the high points of the cinematic year so far. A classic.