[Ray.]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…a bit of a change of topic but I was channel flicking a few evenings ago and settled on a Parkinson interview with Alec Guinness…the bit I saw, he was talking about his early career and being mentored by John Gielgud/how much he admired him and the friendship they came to have etc…the was only around 10 minutes or so left of the interview that I saw but I could have listened to him for hours…such a great story-teller, in his ease of telling a story…

Yes, and a fantastic voice along with a magical, twinkly quality to him. He was in a league of his own.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Ray.

Been rewatching the Alec Guinness version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Vastly superior to the movie version, of course. I love our British understated take on the spy genre, with its emphasis on the increasing mediocrity, decrepitude and rot of relatively early post-Empire Britain.

The best version. And actually, I think Gary Oldman had watched it too because his performance in the remake looked like a big of an homage to Alec Guinness. I am a big fan of old British films and Guinness is just brilliant in everything.

[Ray.]

Originally Posted by Livia

The best version. And actually, I think Gary Oldman had watched it too because his performance in the remake looked like a big of an homage to Alec Guinness. I am a big fan of old British films and Guinness is just brilliant in everything.

Yes, there are many things about the movie version that are laudable. Some aspects (like the performances) simply come down to personal preference. Though I'd personally give it to the series in nearly every respect. And the fact that movie is able to convey most of the story in the two hours it's limited to is commendable.

Great as Guinness is in Star Wars, with such a great body of work behind him, I can see why he was a bit rankled to mainly be remembered for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi.