The film of TTSS was shown once again on television last weekend; I watched it partly out of sense of loyalty to the story, and partly to take my mind off current events. It was only this evening that I finally realised that the film is actually telling a relatively simple story with none of the complications and backflashes of the book.
- Control sends Jim Prideaux to Hungary in order to handle a defector.
- Instead of bringing the defector back, Prideaux is shot and believed killed.
- The scandal forces Control and Smiley to retire.
- "The gang of four" is now able to introduce Witchcraft as an impeccable source of intelligence that is going to bring them 'the crown jewels' from the US [and thence to the Russians, but this is barely mentioned].
- Ricki Tarr phones Lacon and tells him how a Russian spy told him about a mole in the Circus.
- Lacon engages Smiley (and Guillam) to track down the mole.
- Smiley meets Tarr and hears the mole story for himself.
- Smiley uses Tarr to set a trap for the mole.
- The mole is revealed.
- The mole is killed by Prideaux.
That's it: very simple. I've left out Connie Sachs because she doesn't contribute that much. Somehow she knows (as she does in the book) that the Russian involved is Polyakov, but that's not too important; it's the mole who's important.
The scenes in the school where Prideaux is teaching hardly contribute
anything; as I pointed out in the
original blog entry about this film, the whole point of Prideaux killing the owl who emerges
from the chimney in the middle of a lesson is ruined by having Prideaux
shoot the mole, not break his neck like P did to the owl.
| Title | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 251 | Another month comes to an end | MBA, Business novel, Steeleye Span, Eliyahu Goldratt | |
| 1037 | The music room (2) | Musical instruments | |
| 1229 | My life in ruins | Films, Athens, Greece | |
| 1622 | Glucose (2) | Health, Food science |
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