Alec Guinness plays the part of master spy George Smiley, as he had done several years earlier in the six-part British miniseries "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", which was shown in the United States on public television's "Great Performances" series in September 1980. This third and final segment of John Le Carre's espionage trilogy, "The Quest for Karla" (part 2, "The Honourable Schoolboy", was not filmed), has Smiley striving to capture his Russian counterpart, code-named Karla, in East Berlin while working his methodical way through a maze of intrigue. German actor Curt Jurgens, in his final performance, is a Russian general who once had worked for British intelligence and a longtime friend of Smiley's despite now being with the other side.This six-hour film, shown as part of the syndicated Operation Prime Time series, was made available for airing in either two or three segments. |
