A Murder of Quality

Name: A Murder of Quality
Genre: Mystery
Released: 1991-10-13
Duration: 1 h 30 min
Rating: 6.3
Cast: Denholm Elliott, Joss Ackland, Glenda Jackson

TV Movie
1991
1h 30m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

994

YOUR RATING

Denholm Elliott in A Murder of Quality (1991)

Mystery

Taken from the book by John le Carré, George Smiley rallies to the aid of his former intelligence colleague, Ailsa Brimley, to investigate a mysterious letter from a junior master's wife at ... Read allTaken from the book by John le Carré, George Smiley rallies to the aid of his former intelligence colleague, Ailsa Brimley, to investigate a mysterious letter from a junior master's wife at Carne School, a boy's school. When Smiley goes to Carne to investigate, he finds the junio... Read allTaken from the book by John le Carré, George Smiley rallies to the aid of his former intelligence colleague, Ailsa Brimley, to investigate a mysterious letter from a junior master's wife at Carne School, a boy's school. When Smiley goes to Carne to investigate, he finds the junior master's wife brutualy murdered, with her husband as one of the suspects. Smiley begins ... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

994

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Trivia
Alec Guinness was asked to play George Smiley for a third time but he passed. Anthony Hopkins, who had previously starred in John le Carré's The Looking Glass War (1970), was offered the role and read a script, but withdrew from the project when script changes were made that he didn't like. Denholm Elliott was approached with just three days until production was to start. Elliott turned it down initially as he was living in Spain and returning to the UK would mean he would be landed with a bigger tax bill. He then agreed to play the role when he was offered twice the fee.

Quotes
Terence Fielding: We are all common middle class boys with upper class pretensions and third class degrees.

Connections
Referenced in An Evening with George Smiley (2017)

User reviews15

Review

Featured review

10/10

Alec who?

My favorite DVD bar none. Denholm Elliott's Smiley was a brilliant interpretation in the shadow of Alec Guinness, not a surprise if one remembers his role in Woody Allen's "September." Glenda Jackson and Diane Fletcher might have been given more screen time. Christian Bale was smartly cast.

I've watched the DVD perhaps 30 times, more than either Tinker Tailor 1979 or Smiley's People 1982 (but they are several hours longer, I'd have to reload the DVD player for these, and each have gotten 10 or more viewings). To digress, Bernard Hepton's part in Smiley"'s People is scary good. To digress again, Cyril Cusack's "Control" in Spy Who Came in from the Cold" is chilling (though the style of the film is badly dated).

Is this program a mystery at all? I think "A Murder of Quality" is mostly a commentary by Le Carre on the sins and pretensions and hypocrisy of the decayed British Empire of the 1950's. To me, the mystery is much in the background - it provides a great format. In contrast, Tinker-Tailor and Smiley's People use the complex mystery to illuminate the hypocrisies of the East and West, but are strong core mysteries.

When I first viewed "A Murder of Quality" I was slightly put off by the structure, particularly the quick scene changes. I now think it was clever and possibly the reason I view the story over and over. I'm not sure who might get my credit/praise. Perhaps it's J Le Carre himself since he has screen writing credit.

On my DVD, Diane Fletcher's photo appears for Glenda Jackson in her (Glenda's) biography. There is no Diane Fletcher biography.