The Little Drummer Girl

[vinteuil]

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... going back to The Little Drummer Girl - one of the aspects that I found least convincing was how unbeguiling the various intelligence officers were. Who wd wish to have anything to do with that Israeli spymaster? And yet one of the primary rôles of such staff is to be winning, to charm people to do things. Good lord, they all took themselves so seriously! - never a chink of light or humour. One of the complaints levelled at le Carré's works more generally by the intelligence services is that he makes all their staff so dour and in such a perpetual state of existential distrust.





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[Richard Tarleton]

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... going back to The Little Drummer Girl - one of the aspects that I found least convincing was how unbeguiling the various intelligence officers were. Who wd wish to have anything to do with that Israeli spymaster? And yet one of the primary rôles of such staff is to be winning, to charm people to do things. Good lord, they all took themselves so seriously! - never a chink of light or humour. One of the complaints levelled at le Carré's works more generally by the intelligence services is that he makes all their staff so dour and in such a perpetual state of existential distrust.





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This just serves to underline the shortcomings of the TV adaptation (or the difficulty of transferring pages of JLC prose into a few words or lines of dialogue and actorly gestures). In the book, the character of Kurtz is richly drawn, from Ch. 2 onwards.... I was nearly going to say you can't blame Le Carré for the TV adaptation, before remembering that of course you can, as he and more particularly his two elder sons are indeed responsible.

I don't think the charge of dour sticks - at least from Tinker Tailor onwards (novels 4 and 5 were pretty gloomy, and not so well received) - I think they disliked the cynical and duplicitous world he portrays, but you can't accuse his characters of being dour, as the merest review of them from TTSS onwards would confirm.

[Nick Armstrong]

In the end up I watched it to the end and thought it was OK. The best bit was where Charlie tells Salim that she was just an actor, even though I did know it was coming. I liked the switches back and forward between the training and the fiction, and the conversation about horses...'never go back on what you've already said'.

Yes I persevered too. Almost gave up, because I agree with others that there was something missing without being able to put my finger on it - perhaps it was the lack of personal chemistry/appeal that has been noted. Unlike others, I did find Michael Shannon pretty compelling and believable, and the turn by Charles Dance lifted the last two episodes which I enjoyed more than the preceding ones - I liked the little details (the horses conversation; the radio batteries) that threatened to derail the plan.

[LMcD]

Where?


I think you've rather missed the terrifying subtlety of Orwell's idea. Even so, this "downbeat" original is not an example of Americans requiring an original ending of a novel to be re-written.

Sorry, I should have made myself clearer in #51 that what I meant by the 'Hollywood version' was what I understood to be the 'amended' version of the British film released that year.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sorry, I should have made myself clearer in #51 that what I meant by the 'Hollywood version' was what I understood to be the 'amended' version of the British film released that year.

#51 was quite clearly expressed - in #50 you didn't mention any date at all except "1984", and the British film released made and released that year was the one with Music by the Eurythmics. It wasn't until #59 that you mentioned 1956 (and 1955).

[jayne lee wilson]

Excellent piece on the final episode here.... (you may need to register but it's worth it.....)...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2018/12/02/little-drummer-girl-episode-6-recap-deception-carnage-bittersweet/?li_source=LI&li_medium=li-recommendation-widget

Very insightful....I think I'll watch it again....

Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast...

Another nuit blanche.........I've just taken the lemon balm... wondering whether to add the mull to the Mendelssohn...

[Richard Tarleton]

Interesting - I'd missed Khalil being the instructor, and so Charlie's line about not just an instructor then was wasted on me I'm afraid. A coup de theatre which could work on television, if only if you spotted it Too many faces at the training camp, too much directorial misdirection....

As to the last question - how about Single and Single? Don't think anyone has attempted that before - they'd need a fairly hefty budget, but those locations Turkey, Black Sea..... One of his finest, the autobiographical A Perfect Spy, was made into a BBC series which must have entirely passed me by as I have no recollection of it. Le Carré hated it, recalling it (in a letter to Alec Guinness, quoted in the Adam Sisman biography) "...along with The Little Drummer Girl, [the film version, with Diane Keaton], as one of the unadulterated disasters of my professional life". So the Cornwells might just want to put that right, although (again) so much of it (like TLDG) takes place inside the lead character's head.

[LMcD]

#51 was quite clearly expressed - in #50 you didn't mention any date at all except "1984", and the British film released made and released that year was the one with Music by the Eurythmics. It wasn't until #59 that you mentioned 1956 (and 1955).

Sorry - you're quite right. My head's been that full of Br*x*t these last few days....

[Richard Barrett]

My head's been that full of Br*x*t these last few days....

It does have many of the ingredients of a Le Carré novel - the workings of dark geopolitical forces, intrigue and backstabbing in high places, simmering conflicts within the public school network, and a not-to-be-underestimated helping of rank incompetence.

[Dave2002]

It does have many of the ingredients of a Le Carré novel - the workings of dark geopolitical forces, intrigue and backstabbing in high places, simmering conflicts within the public school network, and a not-to-be-underestimated helping of rank incompetence.

Last night's Parliament channel was really exciting .... surprisingly.

The French riots are interesting too ........

[LMcD]

Last night's Parliament channel was really exciting .... surprisingly.

The French riots are interesting too ........

[jayne lee wilson]

Last night's Parliament channel was really exciting .... surprisingly.

The French riots are interesting too ........

I think Sky News/BBC24 have almost been 24-hour Parliament channels these last few days... then we have Newsnight to break it down and clarify..(the excellent Nick Watt can say so much in 5 or 10 minutes...).... absolutely extraordinary times, yes....all sorts of tricky chickens coming home to roost...

[alywin]

I'm thinking I either need to rewatch the series, or read the book, and pay attention properly this time! I think there were too many bits I "blinked and missed" first time around.

[Pulcinella]

I'm thinking I either need to rewatch the series, or read the book, and pay attention properly this time! I think there were too many bits I "blinked and missed" first time around.

I'm currently reading the book......not sure it's helping that much.

Mind you, the TV series claimed only to be 'based on.......' didn't it?

[alywin]

I started rewatching earlier today (or actually yesterday now), and I must say the first episode made a lot more sense when I was concentrating properly. Unfortunately, it's only available until today, so I don't think I shall get all the way through it again.