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George Smiley

Adventures, Spies, Gangsters, and Thrillers: A Look Back at Four Richard Burton Films

By David Cranmer

November 5, 2014

The public image of Richard Burton (1925-1984), for better or for worse, will forever be intertwined with Elizabeth Taylor (who he married twice) and for a lifetime struggle with alcohol. But at his Hollywood start, Burton established himself as a top Shakespearean actor on par with Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud. Poor film choices—a number…

A Murder of Quality by John LeCarre: An Old-Fashioned Detective Mystery

By David Cranmer

October 29, 2014

The second George Smiley novel is an offbeat curio in the series and a damn good one at that. A unique entry because it isn’t a spy novel at all but rather an old-fashioned detective mystery along the lines of Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers. Later, more celebrated Smiley adventures certainly have mystery elements…

Back to the Beginning: Call for the Dead by John LeCarré

By David Cranmer

August 1, 2014

“Short, fat, and of a quiet disposition, he appeared to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes, which hung about his squat frame like skin on a shrunken toad.” That tag at the start of John LeCarré’s first espionage novel conspicuously describes the master spy, George Smiley. Call for the Dead, published in…

Literary Intelligence: Writers as Spies

By Ros Barber

February 1, 2013

Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy was my first brush with the notion that writers were spies. At nine I was Harriet, furiously scribbling in my notebook as I peered under gates and through knot-holed fences in my neighborhood. I spied on my family too. Great fun, until my intelligence activities were discovered. Writers are natural…

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is based upon the John LeCarre novel about British spy George Smiley.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: Where is my Pantheon of the Untrustworthy?

By Clare Toohey

December 9, 2011

At HQ, a few of us have been tapping our toes and drumming our fingers awaiting T2S2.  And today is supposedly the day of its release, and out here on the eastern seaboard of the U.S., at least, I can’t seem to find any Smiley showtimes—Arrrrgh! I am awash in despair.  My Friday night is…

Death Brackets logo

Death Brackets: Toughest Dicks vs. Baddest Thriller Heroes: Quarter Finals

By Guy Bergstrom

September 29, 2011

And the tournament continues! This is our fourth Death Brackets post, and the suspense is horrible!  In the Intro, you met the contestants and learned the rules. During the First Round (Part 1 and Part 2), you got the tales of the tape, their competitive advantages, disadvantages, and the first corpses left behind in elimination. …

Death Brackets

Death Brackets: Toughest Dicks vs. Baddest Thriller Heroes: First Round, Part 1

By Guy Bergstrom

September 27, 2011

If you’re not up to speed on the concept and the competitors, here’s where we set the rules and the brackets. Eight of the world’s best detectives versus eight spies, assassins and anti-heroes in a fight-to-the-death contest of wits and toughness. In brief, each hero is dropped into a random setting — not their home…

Death Brackets: The Contest and The Contestants

By Guy Bergstrom

September 26, 2011

Mysteries and thrillers, by nature, are populated by tough guys. Detectives who hunt down serial killers. Spies who uncover dangerous traitors. Assassins who take out the worst bad guys on the planet — and anti-heroes like Dexter and Hannibal Lecter with enough goodness in their dark hearts that they sometimes turn their characters around and…

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Movie Poster

More Tinker Tailor: Can’t Help it!

By Clare Toohey

September 10, 2011

  Admittedly, the T2S2 remake is finally one I’m anticipating with delight.  If you’ve seen the trailer and cast, perhaps you’re getting that feeling, too? If you’re not biting your nails for release yet, try on this brand-new Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy featurette, which includes interviews with Gary Oldman (George Smiley) as well as John…

Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug/ via TheOneRing.net

Tinker, Tailor, Doctor, Dragon?

By Clare Toohey

June 17, 2011

Benedict Cumberbatch, appreciated here most effusively for his role in the BBC’s new Sherlock (season 2 currently in production, to air in the UK in August), will also appear this year as Peter Guillam in the film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, based on John Le Carré ’s espionage novel of the same name. In the…

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