Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Page #5

Synopsis: In the early 1970s during the Cold War, the head of British Intelligence, Control, resigns after an operation in Budapest, Hungary goes badly wrong. It transpires that Control believed one of four senior figures in the service was in fact a Russian agent - a mole - and the Hungary operation was an attempt to identify which of them it was. Smiley had been forced into retirement by the departure of Control, but is asked by a senior government figure to investigate a story told to him by a rogue agent, Ricky Tarr, that there was a mole. Smiley considers that the failure of the Hungary operation and the continuing success of Operation Witchcraft (an apparent source of significant Soviet intelligence) confirms this, and takes up the task of finding him.
Director(s): Tomas Alfredson
Production: Focus Features
  Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 35 wins & 93 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Metacritic:
85
Rotten Tomatoes:
83%
R
Year:
2011
122 min
$20,200,000
Website
3,703 Views


There's a rotten apple, Jim.

And we have to find it.

What did you mak e of it, Jim?

Control's theory?

I thought it was madness.

I know that it is one of five men.

All I want from you is one code name.

Alleline.

Tink er.

Haydon.

Tailor.

Bland.

Soldier.

We drop Sailor.

It's too close to Tailor.

And Rich Man doesn't seem

to be applicable.

Esterhase.

Poor Man.

And the fifth?

Smiley.

I thought it was madness.

To think that any one of you

could have been a traitor.

Absolute madness.

'But you still went.

'Why? '

'I went

because Control ask ed me to go.

'Lt's called doing one's duty.

'At the station I met the legman

supposed to tak e me to the General.

'The waiter must have panick ed.

'Lt was meant to be

a simple snatch job.

'They drove me

to some military hospital,

'and then put me on a transport plane.

'I could tell by the stars

we were heading east.

'Then they work ed me for...

'... I don't know how long.

'Week s, maybe months.'

What did you tell them?

Everything.

I held on for as long as I could to let

everyone get the hell out of there.

Did they?

My network s in H ungary,

did they get out?

No, they were blown.

The story is you blew them

to save your own skin.

'After the interrogators had cleared out,

this little fellow turned up.

'Look ed lik e a priest.

'That's when they really started on me.'

What was your last line of defence, hm?

The mole.

Control's crazy theory.

I was going to bury that so deep

they'd never get it out of me.

- Which was a jok e.

- Why?

Because they already knew.

All they wanted to know was how far

Control had got in his investigation.

No, I don't know her.

Did they ask about me at all?

Yes.

The little fellow did.

What did he say about me?

He had this cigarette lighter.

He k ept flashing it about

for me to see it.

Showed me the inscription.

- "To George..."

- "...from Ann.

"All my love."

Karla.

'lt was odd.

'They sent me back to England.

'Straight to Sarratt for debriefing.'

He said when he was being debriefed

at the N ursery, he had a visitor.

Who?

'Toby Esterhase.

'He gave him 1,000 and an Alvis.'

Told him he was dead now.

Couldn't come back.

Had to become a lotus eater,

forget everything that happened.

Control's theory.

Tink er, Tailor. All of it.

Yes, that's what I thought.

How on earth did Esterhase

hear about Tink er, Tailor?

'lrina k ept telling me

in Moscow Centre

'everybody on the top floor

was laughing themselves sick.

'She told me

Karla was very proud of this.

'She said everything the Circus think s

is gold is sh*t, made in Moscow.

'Lrina k ept telling me

in Moscow Centre

'everybody on the top floor

was laughing themselves sick.

'No, I had a hotel nearby.

They do have some seedy rooms.

'Lrina k ept telling me in Moscow Centre

'everybody on the top floor

was laughing themselves sick.

'She told me

Karla was very proud of this... '

'She said everything

the Circus think s is gold is sh*t.'

This meeting is not taking place.

Is that clear?

Perfectly, Minister.

There is a house

somewhere in this city

where Alleline and the others meet

Witchcraft's London representative.

I thought Lacon had made it

clear to you.

Keep your nose bloody well

out of Witchcraft's business.

It's Lacon's advice I'm following.

You told me

to follow in Control's footsteps.

I wouldn't consider that sound advice,

given the mess Control left us with.

It has tak en Alleline

and, if I may say so, myself

this long to get us back in the game.

The man Alleline and the others

meet is called Polyak ov.

'From Witchcraft to you.

'His real role is to receive

information from the mole

'to tak e back to Karla.'

That, er...

That's not possible.

Made possible.

By you in the house you persuaded

the Treasury to pay for.

Witchcraft's intelligence is genuine.

It's been gold.

It's just enough glitter

amongst the chick en feed.

Control didn't believe in miracles

or in Witchcraft.

But you were lazy and greedy

and so you hounded him

out of the Circus and you let Karla in.

You opened negotiations to exchange

intelligence with the Americans.

What they tell the C ircus,

they'll be telling the Kremlin.

Witchcraft's information,

the "gold" Karla let you have,

it wasn't to lure you.

It was to lure the Americans.

Now,

do you want to tak e credit for that?

What can we do?

We have one thing the mole wants.

- If I go to Paris...

- You'll go.

If I go to Paris,

I want your word

that you will get Irina back.

I don't care who you have to trade.

And I am out.

I want a family, thank you.

I do not want to end up lik e you lot.

You will get her back.

I'll do my utmost, Ricki.

Oh, hello, George.

Hello.

I want to talk about loyalty, Toby.

Control recruited you, didn't he?

Found you starving

in a museum in Vienna.

A wanted man.

Saved your life, I heard.

And yet when the time came,

when it came to picking sides

between him and Alleline,

you didn't hesitate.

That's understandable, perhaps,

with your war experience.

You survived this long, I suppose,

because of your ability to change sides.

Serve any master.

What? What's...

What's this about, George?

It's about which master

you've been serving, Toby.

'I ntelligence

has been leak ed, Toby.

'Someone's been taking files

from the Circus.

'No, no, no, no. No.'

This is a mistak e, a misunderstanding.

Files were delivered

to a Russian attach, weren't they?

Yes.

'And, yes, I delivered them.'

'But so did Percy Alleline.'

Good boy.

'Bill Haydon.

'And so did Roy Bland.'

Things aren't always

what they seem, George.

You should know that.

Look, Moscow think s Polyak ov's...

...working for them.

Every now and then we give him

the odd file to tak e back to them.

Chick en feed,

just to k eep his bosses happy.

But Polyak ov's our Joe.

- He's a part of a big operation.

- Operation Witchcraft.

Yes, I know.

George.

- Please, I don't deserve this.

- Who gave you the message

for Jim Prideaux

to forget about Tink er, Tailor?

- Bland.

- To get rid of Connie Sachs?

- Westerby?

- Bland.

Or Haydon.

I don't know. One of them.

Or maybe Percy. No.

Well, I don't know who.

You're just the messenger.

Running between them all.

Anything to serve Witchcraft.

I know all about your secret source.

And I know something you don't.

I know who he is.

He's Karla.

'One of you has been giving

Polyak ov the crown jewels. '

- I did not know.

- Are you still a wanted man, Toby?

- Look, George, I didn't know. I...

- You pick ed the wrong side.

No, you've got to believe me.

George, please.

I am loyal.

I... I am loyal.

Don't... Don't...

Don't send me back.

Please, George.

Don't send me back.

Give me the address.

Where do you meet Polyak ov?

Hey, hey!

Dog, dog, be quiet!

What is this? Who are you?

- What are the safety signals?

- The air vent.

Open and all's well,

closed and you're not to enter.

And the microphone?

Peter?

The boy stood on the burning deck

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Bridget O'Connor

Bridget O'Connor (18 January 1961 – 22 September 2010) was a BAFTA-winning author, playwright and screenwriter. She may be best known for the play The Flags, and her posthumously Oscar-nominated adaptation, with her husband, Peter Straughan, of the book Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for the film of the same name. She died in 2010, aged 49, from cancer. In 2012, she posthumously won the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay along with her husband. more…

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