In this adaptation of his own book, Le Carre knots his rope of intrigue with precision; the result is a made-for-TV movie that ranks with SMILEY’S PEOPLE and the feature film THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD as one of the best adaptation of the veteran writer's spy fiction.
George Smiley (Denholm Elliott) dusts off his WWII-era spying skills to investigate a murder in post-war academia at the request of a former colleague, newspaper editor and agony aunt Ailsa Brimley (Glenda Jackson). Sometime before Stella Rode (Joanna Jacobs), the gossipy wife of milquetoast professor Stanley Rode (David Threlfall) is choked to death, Alisa received a letter from her that suggested she was afraid of someone. Ailsa feels Smiley could take advantage of his acquaintance with Terence Fielding (Joss Ackland), a professor at Stanley’s school. The campus proves a sort of ivy-league Peyton Place, staffed by jaded educators who spend their off-hours in a wide variety of sordid pursuits. Married headmaster Felix D’Arcy (Ronald Pickup) is dallying with a blonde veterinary assistant. Charles (Michael Cochrane) and Shane Hecht (Diane Fletcher) are dipping into charitable funds and Fielding is homosexual, though to his credit he's not of the predatory inclination to pursue pupils. Did Stella amuse herself by sullying reputations and eventually earn someone's lethal ire? Fielding insinuates that Rode is the guilty party, remarking that his briefcase felt unusually heavy on the night in question — perhaps it held the cable with which Stella was strangled. Although there's no dearth of suspects, the guileless Stanley might wind up taking the fall — nasty Stella once pretended to poison his dog. It takes the death of student Tim Perkins (Christian Bale), to point Smiley in a different direction.
The superb cast helps uncover a multitude of sins in Gavin Millar's thriller, which is dedicated to the proposition that not all victims are created equal. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
