A Murder of Quality (1990)
directed by
A tv movie based on the 2nd George Smiley story by John LeCarre, A Murder of Quality stars Denholm Elliot, Joss Ackland, and Glenda Jackson. Not a spy story, it's a fairly traditional murder mystery set in a small public school in the English countryside.
Alec Guinness was asked to reprise as George Smiley, but turned it down. So did Anthony Hopkins. Elliot, who is quite good, took it at the last minute.
As per usual, LeCarre's story gets some digs in at England's conservative, upper-class. The villain is despicable, but his claim to be warped by the elites' treatment of him rings true to the story.
It looks like the tv movie it is and it's acted far more naturalistically than any of the other movies we've watched so far, especially Ben-Hur and The Birds. It's not bad, but it pales next to most of the others. We'll keep it because we're LeCarre completists, but it's really only ok.
Verdict: we're keeping it
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| Denholm Elliott and Glenda Jackson |
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