John Irvin joins us now from the studios of the BBC in London. That's at npr.org, click on TALK OF THE NATION. Email, And you can join the conversation on our website. If you have questions for John Irvin about either version, give us a call, 80. I'm sure each of us has experienced innumerable technical satisfactions in our wretched Cold War.ĬONAN: In a moment, the man who directed that BBC miniseries joins us. You and I have spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in each other's systems. I'm sure you can see through our values, just as I can see through yours in the East. And I'm not going to make any claims about the moral superiority of the West. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, 'TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY')ĪLEC GUINNESS: (as George Smiley) I'm not offering you wealth or smart women or your choice of fast cars. Don't you think it's time to recognize there is as little worth on your side as there is on mine?ĬONAN: This new version of John le Carre's classic Cold War thriller inevitably faces comparison to the BBC TV series first broadcast in 1979 that starred Alec Guinness as Smiley.

We both spend our lives looking for the weaknesses in one another's systems. GARY OLDMAN: (as George Smiley) We're not so very different, you and I. (SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, 'TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY') In the new movie 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,' master spy George Smiley, played by Gary Oldman, recalls what he told his Soviet counterpart and nemesis Karla to try to get him to defect.

Le carre spy alec guinness