Audience Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 5014503460624
Format: HiFi Sound, PAL
Label: 2 Entertain Video
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageAnalog
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
Number Of Discs: 2
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: 2 Entertain Video
Release Date: April 12, 1999
Running Time: 337 minutes
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Theatrical Release Date: October 25, 1982

---

Related Items:

• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy : Complete BBC Series [1979]
• A Perfect Spy [1987]
• Edge Of Darkness - The Complete Series [1985]
• The Looking Glass War [1969]
• The History Boys [2006]
• see more

Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display

---

Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
The second of the BBC's well-remembered serialisations of John Le Carré's espionage bestsellers, Smiley's People is marginally less compulsive than Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy if only because Tinker, Tailor had a much stronger plot premise (who is the mole in British Intelligence?) than Smiley's People, which takes a very long time to come into focus. Retired spymaster George Smiley (Alec Guinness) wanders around Europe and visits a succession of desperate or eccentric characters as he plays a game which finally leads to another confrontation with and a possible victory over his Moriarty-like Soviet arch-nemesis Karla (an expressive but silent Patrick Stewart cameo).

Directed by Simon Langton and coscripted by John Hopkins and Le Carré himself, this is a leisurely mystery. It offers a cannily generous central performance from Guinness, who never takes off his scarf and does his best to fade into the background while a succession of striking character players hold centre screen; but slowly and by sheer presence he begins to dominate the panoramic view of European treachery, deception and disappointment. Among the terrific supporting cast are Michel Lonsdale, Mario Adorf, Vladek Sheybal, Michael Gough, Alan Rickman (a tiny, early role as a hotel clerk), Beryl Reid, Ingrid Pitt, Bernard Hepton, Michael Elphick, Rosalie Crutchley, Michael Byrne, Bill Paterson and Maureen Lipman. Smiley's People is more interested in character than thrills, with each cameo contributing another view of the human cost of the Cold War: most of the old friends Smiley seeks out react to his reappearance by saying they never wanted to see him again, and victory is only possible because Smiley discovers that his opposite number has a weakness that makes him almost sympathetic. Originally broadcast in six hour-long episodes, its intelligent approach works better if you watch episode-length chunks, letting one sink in before going on. --Kim Newman




Rating: - Cold War Frost
This and Tinker Tailor were the two rare films (albeit made for TV) which actually match up to the books from which they sprang. most do not, from le Carre or other writers (think the ghastly films of Gorky Park and The Tailor of Panama).

Only a long long review can hope to properly capture the intricate and finely drawn plot, acting, photography, the lot.
This is espionage and intelligence at its best: no blazing submachineguns, no flashing computer screens or wisecracking black ... Read More

---

Rating: - Probably the best television series ... ever!
This is wonderful drama at its best. The brilliant novel by John Le Carre is beautifully and loyally scripted, and Alec Guinness - the only Smiley! - gives a supreme performance. The cast is is of a strength and quality that today's producers can only dream of, and, best of all, the 5-plus hours that BBC gave to this allowed the plot to breathe and grow, and with it the full tension to develop. Alec Guinness gives an Oscar-quality performance; his cameo scene with Beryl Reed as Connie Sachs remains ... Read More

---

Rating: - Refreshingly intelligent entertainment
Perhaps two of the most intelligent television miniseries ever made are the BBC adaptations of John le Carre's spy novels TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY and SMILEY'S PEOPLE, the latter being the sequel to the former. The late Sir Alec Guinness, who brilliantly starred as George Smiley in both, became identified with that character for all time.

As you may recall, TTSS and SP were the first and last books, respectively, of the Karla series. (The second, THE HONORABLE SCHOOLBOY, was never adapted ... Read More

---

Rating: - The real George Smiley
Far from the benign old buffer portrayed in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, here we see George Smiley as written by John Le Carre. Both sides of Smiley are seen at their best in the scene with Connie Sachs and 'Hils'.

Some of the more subtle undercurrents in the piece are a joy to behold such as the transformation of Toby Esterhase from seamy dealer in dubious pieces of art to the man revived in the scenes with 'Herr Glaser'.

An absolute masterpiece which shows the BBC at the height of ... Read More

---

Rating: - Long overdue for release in the 'States
This series, along with "Tinker, Tailor..." was, is, and will remain the defining work in the Cold War genre. Who better to have played Smiley than Sir Alec Guiness? Who better to have scripted this tour through the dismal, melancholy world of British Intelligence, and the silent fight they waged against the Soviet Union to no applause and less appreciation than David Cornwell? Stodgy and correct; quiet and demure, Guiness' Smiley defined the real-world application of high-stakes spy work as no 007 lark ... Read More

---