We've had the Week From Hell, and there hasn't been much posting going on. But now we're back with a vengeance, and we've brought with us Spies vs. Jazz.
"But leclisse...why are spies dueling it out with Jazz? One's a film and t.v. genre, and the other is a bunch of black dudes that toot horn atonally. This doesn't make sense."
There's white Jazz players, but there's not one black spy.
"But leclisse...you're forgetting Bill Cosby. He was a spy. For East berlin."
Dear Lord. I had no idea. But anyway...we're starting out Spy vs. Jazz with the best spy drama ever. Enjoy.
From Toby Manning at The Guardian:
The BBC's 1979 adaptation of John le Carré's thriller is still unmatched in its evocation of the chilly, cynical cold war era. "If you can't beat it," says one spook, out on a windy heath, "spy on it." It's a place where spook spies on fellow spook, and trust is as much a casualty as the agent shot in Czechoslovakia at the start.
The story, the hunt for a mole deep within the secret service, is based on double-agent Kim Philby, who duped MI5 for decades – junior spook Le Carré included. He created his spybuster George Smiley, a dumpy, elderly cuckold, as the "anti-James Bond". Alec Guinness, perfectly cast, might not look so good in a pair of skintight trunks, but Smiley's brains and guile are worth all of Bond's gadgets put together. His dissection of the commie conspiracy is riveting from start to bloody finish.
Tinker, as much about atmosphere as action, depicts a very British, very bureaucratic, and very bumbling secret service: a clutch of pipe-smoking, snobbish, sniggering schoolboys, repressed homosexuality seething through grey strip-lit corridors. "Poor loves," says Connie Sachs, the Soviet-watcher and old soak played by Beryl Reid, "trained to rule the waves".
Watch the seven 50-minute episodes back-to-back and betrayal starts to feel all part of a day's work. It's shot in suitably leeched colours, too: if it's not raining, then it's snowing; and the vibrantly spangly (and deeply ugly) 70s wallpaper occasionally swallows Smiley whole. The Russian doll-within-doll title sequence is perfectly judged, while Geoffrey (Brideshead) Burgon's end of empire music is a delight.
Then there's the acting. Ian Richardson invests even the lifting of a teacup with meaning, while Patrick Stewart, as Smiley's Russian nemesis, can speak volumes without uttering a word.
Disc 1 Technical Information:
Title: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Disc 1)
Year: 1979
Country: U.K.
Director: John Irvin
Source: DVD9 Retail
DVD Format: NTSC
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 5.63 GB
Programs used: ImgBurn
Resolution: 720x480
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Video: MPEG2 @ ~5800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Audio: English- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Subtitles: cc- English
Menu: Yes
Video: Untouched
DVD Extras:
- Interview w/ John le Carré
- John le Carré Biography
- Production Notes
- Filmographies
Disc 1 Megaupload Links
Disc 2 Technical Information:
Title: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Disc 2)
Year: 1979
Country: U.K.
Director: John Irvin
Source: Retail DVD5
DVD Format: NTSC
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 3.94 GB
Programs used: ImgBurn
Resolution: 720x480
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Video: MPEG2 @ ~5800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Audio: English- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ ~192 kb/s
Subtitles: cc- English
Menu: Yes
Video: Untouched
DVD Extras: None
Disc 2 Megaupload Links
Disc 3 Technical Information:
Title: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Disc 3)
Year: 1979
Country: U.K.
Director: John Irvin
Source: Retail DVD5
DVD Format: NTSC
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 3.93 GB
Programs used: ImgBurn
Resolution: 720x480
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Video: MPEG2 @ ~5800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Audio: English- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ ~192 kb/s
Subtitles: cc- English
Menu: Yes
Video: Untouched
DVD Extras: None
Disc 3 Megaupload Links
