Rating: 
Summary: Ricki Tarr edit info
Review: To me this is the best thing ever put on TV that I have ever seen. A few years back I watched all of them in a row on a PBS fundraiser and was hooked. I bought a PAL version overseas and watch it once a year or so. Anyway, the US version has several small edits (ie Peter discussing "tough guy" training in the elevator) and one large edit, the second interrogation with Ricki Tarr. Smiley interrogates him regarding his use of passports and it is completely cut from the this DVD. Very disappointing and I still dont see why these edits were needed on a 3 dvd set. Still worth buying if youve never seen it.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific viewing.
Review: When reading some of the complaints about the pace of 24, series 3, it made me wonder how those reviewers would have got on with Tinker Taylor, Soldier, Spy, since my recollection of it - when it was originally shown on the BBC - was like watching paint dry.
With that in mind I was surprised to read how well regarded this series is, in the States, and I decided to reacquaint myself with it, by purchasing the DVD set.
I found the whole thing to be excellent, and it benefited greatly from being able to watch it end-to-end, without any week-long breaks. Ian Richardson puts in a sterling performance as the tea and biscuit, too-cool-for-words, bad guy, and Alec Guiness does a fine job as well, as the dogged investigator. The broad range of acting styles adds a great deal of colour to the series, and goes well beyond the simple archetypes of 24. And I recognised Patrick Stewart ( Jean Luc Picard) as karla.
I enjoyed this series, and will be getting Smiley’s People, in the near future.
Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Masterpiece
Review: Where does one start when commenting on the top echelon of film making? How about starting with the principal of this film, Sir Alec Guinness?
Honestly, cinema does not get any better than this. John Le Carre's excellent book is brought to real, gritty, desperate life by this BBC production. I've read the book (the first of Le Carre's I read, as a matter of fact), and I was curious to learn if the rich, dark, texture of the novel could be captured on film. Happily, it has been.
Loosely based upon the story of a real Soviet mole, Kim Philby, the film looks at spycraft as it must be; lots of partial information one tries to make sense of, hunches based upon a lifetime of working in the dark, engaged in a war of sorts, mainly cold, but occasionally very, very hot.
Guinness is George Smiley, one of the most famous names in fictional spycraft literature. His nemesis is Karla (played by a pre-Star Trek Patrick Stewart), a Soviet spy who almost matches Smiley step for step. Smiley is a retired British agent, who is asked to return to help ferret out a Soviet mole in the British secret service.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy takes you into the world of the game as it is really played (or one imagines it as such). Who do you trust? Who is on your side? Who is willing to compromise to get ahead in the bureaucracy, and who is willing to sell his country out completely? The rewards are few and fleeting, the costs heavy and sometimes overwhelming, but the game must be played for one's country, for one's duty. One perseveres and muddles on.
Full of surprises, excellent acting, great settings, and heavy on atmosphere, this is as good as it gets. Others have said that it is a bit too full of twists and turns to easily follow. Having some familiarity with the book, I didn't find it so. However, even if that is true, then just watch it again! I've seen it several times, and, as any work of art, it is full of layers and details that will reveal themselves with subsequent viewing.
MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Any chance that one has of watching a master at work, Guinness is a joy, but watch this master at the top of his craft, in a film worthy of such a performance. (BTW, the American version is 26 minutes shorter than the British version. I'm not sure what's been cut, but it seems a shame to cut a second from such a film!)
Rating:
Summary: TV that exceeds all boundaries
Review: While I agree with the prior reviewer that Tinker Tailor (and its companion Smiley's People) are excellent TV, their comments about the state of American TV are perhaps unwarranted. While I would grant that Prime Suspect, The Singing Detective, The Office, Elizabeth R, Six Wives of Henry the Eighth, House of Cards are all "brilliant television shows", they also represent highlights cherry-picked from three decades worth of productions (and only two of which are even fairly recent). It's also worth noting that the shows picked are essentially all mini-series. One could easily cherry pick a list of US TV shows of a similar quality level that ran far longer than any of those British shows (Homicide, Scrubs, Taxi, St. Elsewhere, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, West Wing).That is all, of course, beside the point. This is because "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is such a unique and marvelous piece of television drama that it really should be viewed not just as a shining example of British TV but rather as one of the finest achievements of human culture, period! If aliens were preparing to vaporize the planet unless we could prove that we were an intelligent and enlightened species, Tinker Tailor would be exhibit A (or at least B) for the defense. The source material is, of course, marvelous and Arthur Hopcraft's script is a text-book example of how to adapt a novel for the screen. Add to that, a skilled director who enticed some of Britain's (and by default the world's) best actors to give performances that rank among each one's career highlights. While I don't wish to downplay the sublime art of this series, there is a scientific (and therefore universal) principle at work. Start with your basic material (le Carre's book), add a catalyst (good script-writer and director, excellent actors, etc.) and the end result can be something truly marvelous.
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