MovieChat Forums > Smiley's People (1982) Discussion > DVD of Smiley's People Truncated???

DVD of Smiley's People Truncated???

posted 21 years ago by freeupmon
16 replies | jump to latest

While searching for the DVD's of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy & Smiley's People (which only appear to be offered from Acorn Media & BBC America Shop), I came across the following review/ comments on the Amazon web page. Can anyone comment on the writer’s claim that the DVD edition of Smiley’s People offered by Acorn has been truncated: this would seem strange since they advertise the production as 3 DVD's lasting 324 min (5 1/2 hours), including an interview with John le Carré, production notes, cast filmographies, a le Carré biography, and booklist (it would seem crazy to edit out scenes only to add fluff). If such is the case, does anyone know whether the DVD version of TTSP is similarly edited?
From Amazon.com:
May 29, 2003 Reviewer: A viewer from Amherst, MA United States
“This is still the stunning film it always was, and it is nice to have most of it available for purchase. The production is exquisite. Rightly so for probably the best spy film ever made. But over 20 scenes are missing or truncated in the new Acorn Media DVD. You will miss the General in Wilhelm's truck, the woman confronting Smiley on the General's stairs, a Hare Krishna offering help to Smiley on Hampstead Heath, Ostrokova's ambulance driver stopping for his girlfriend, the end of Smiley's conversation with Kretchmar in his Hamburg nightclub, Smiley leaving his rental car at the train station and throwing out the keys, the conversation between Endeby and Smiley on the Circus balcony, and the scene between Toby and Gregoriev in Bern, among many others. These cuts won't make a difference to most viewers, but they do change the film slightly. It would have been nice to have been warned of the cuts beforehand.”

Thank you for your help.
Freeupmon.

[–] glilley 21 years ago

I was not aware of this being cut but I am aware of the transfer being bad generally. This is the text of a message I sent to Acorn on the subject:

Have just received Smiley's People on DVD. I am extremely disappointed
with the fuzzy quality of the transfer, also the discs appear to be
incorrectly "flagged" so the player can differentiate between film and
video-based material. This results in the player being unable to perform
3/2 pulldown for film material and causes pans to be jerky with some
double-imaging present.
I bought "Tinker, Tailor" in the BBC UK release and the transfer is
pristine, with none of the above problems. It appears I should have
waited for the BBC release of "Smiley's People".
Do you have any comments on this?

The BBC UK release of Tinker, Tailor is stunningly superior (no cuts that I'm aware of) I don't know what the Acorn NTSC version loks like.

Gordon Lilley
[email protected]

[–] bluecoronet77 19 years ago

I'm sorry to hear there are any scene's missing as this is such a rich, yet complex tapestry. I wondered were there any flashbacks to Tinker, Tailor that were cut from Smiley's People ? The art work on the dvd set shows varios pictures, all of which appear in the series -- except one picyure with Smiley and Bill Haydon.

[–] imdb-hjst 18 years ago

I have the UK BBC DVD copy of Smiley's People, and while I can't comment on missing scenes (I never saw it on TV) the running time is stated as 349 minutes. There are no special features, and the whole thing fits on 2 DVDs, so I'm not sure why the Acorn release needed 3. The picture and sound quality on the BBC DVDs is great (for early 80s TV at any rate).

[–] bmwhtly 18 years ago

I've also got the UK version. I think the only thing cut out of them is the recap at the beginning of each episode, as the first episode runs a full 59min, and the others slightly less.

'There are three of them, and Alleline'

[–] bin-hexed 18 years ago

I went ahead and bought the UK version from Amazon.co.uk, I pay a little more for the shipping, but the disc was 8 Pound 49 P, which is significantly less than the 47$US tag at Amazon.com, and I am sure to get the full version on discs--thanks to all of you for helping me with this purchase decision, and thanks Amazon for making the US consumer have to work harder for the same quality.

[–] bmwhtly 18 years ago

thanks Amazon for making the US consumer have to work harder for the same quality

I don't mean to stir up trouble but its about time the scale was evened out don't you think. the USA is forever 'one up' on britain when it comes to cinema and DVD's.

I'm only an actor because I've been putting off being a writer for 35 years - Bill Nighy

[–] bin-hexed 18 years ago

perhaps your right in one sense, but in the grand scheme of things, I feel that could be made easier for consumers everywhere if the idiotic regional coding system were scrapped. shame on us all for allowing it to be in the first place.

[–] zaphodnl 18 years ago

Yes, the Acorn release (and the BBC DVD release) of Smiley's People are truncated and/or doctored. I transferred the original 1991 BBC PAL tapes to DVD (beware, there is a new UK edition of the tapes, similarly truncated). Unfortunately, these tapes are very difficult to get hold of at this time. Should you get hold of a copy, please beware that the VHS tape stock used was inferior, so the tapes will most possibly clog your VCR and/or cause it to squeal... The run time is 2hrs 50min for the first tape, and 2hrs 49min for the second tape, for a total of 5hrs 39min (339 minutes). There are no extras and no breaks between episodes. Bar code is 5 014503 460624. Since the two tapes are over 2hrs each, transferring them to DVD requires using dual layer DVD's, if you want to preserve the original sequence without breaks. Note that because of the PAL transfer process, film material such as this is sped up about 4% (25/24) on video tape, so the original TV run time probably would have been longer, about 353 minutes.

[–] flyingpenguins 18 years ago

"Note that because of the PAL transfer process, film material such as this is sped up about 4% (25/24) on video tape, so the original TV run time probably would have been longer, about 353 minutes."

Smiley's People was shot for TV, not theatrical release and would therefore have been originated at 25fps on film (for the UK by the BBC). The transfer to PAL video would not require speeding up by 4% as the film was not shot at 24fps.

[–] stevem-26 17 years ago

The missing scenes mentioned in the first posting on this board are ones that I have never seen. By this I mean two or three showings on PBS in past years, one of which I taped. So, in The US, I guess at least some of us have never seen these scenes.
Seems to me there are a few very short bits that showed up on the Acorn DVDs that weren't on the PBS showings, but I can't remember them just now, so I guess they don't matter a lot.
As to quality:
The only reference I have is my aging home taped VHS tapes. The Acorn DVDs are so much better, so I'm happy.
I do believe there are intrinsic "fuzzinesses" that may not be able to be improved. For instance, the lighting is often darker than, say, Tinker,Tailor, and to get the right mood, there was considerable use of available light, so there's quite a bit of fuzziness right there.
The opening and closing titles show more than my tapes, mainly the chalk being blown away.

[–] boija02 17 years ago

Having just watched the BBC DVDs in the UK, I believe all the scenes mentioned as missing above were present. I rented the series, so I can't supply many more details, but I'd assume they are the versions generally available in the UK. The rental site lists the run time as 337 minutes, if that's useful for identification.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] nuv 16 years ago

Sadly, I agree with the other poster about the cuts not ever being seen in the U.S...at least not since Smiley's People first aired back in the early 80s (on Masterpiece Theater, if I remember correctly). I've seen this series many times, and almost NONE of those scenes ring a bell, other than Toby/Gregoriev in Bern, when he's talking to Gregoriev just before they cart him off for interrogation.

I really didn't "get" this series much on the 1st. viewing (I was 16 at the time, so go figure), but I did on subsequent views...it's aged very well. Both this and TTSS are just masterful spy thrillers. But I will agree with some that this show is lost on most American audiences, because espionage is a subtle game that has never been portrayed as anything other than James Bond in the U.S...not in a long while, at least. I think only "Munich" comes even remotely close to capturing the suspense and terror that are the real hallmarks of espionage films...and even then, it's really not a spy movie in the same way that "Smiley's People" is, either.

I just borrowed the Acorn versions of both series, I'll let you know if the Acorn Media SP is trucated any more than I remember it to be...

[–] Jason_Radley 14 years ago

Maybe it was just my combination of cheap DVD player and scratched rental copy, but the length of the episodes weren't all the same.

[–] calmeilles 7 years ago

The current BBC DVDs (bought this week, Nov 2016) are:

Smiley's People BBCDVD11873 — 6 episodes, each 58 minutes. Total 349 minutes, or 5 hours 49 minutes.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy BBCDVD1180 — 7 episodes each of 45 minutes. Total 315 minutes, or 5 hours 15 minutes.

I've never seen either broadcast or DVD in the US but one might reasonably guess that any shortage in People would be due to cutting to allow for adverts and probably that Tinker didn't need cutting as 45 minutes of drama in an hour's slot left plenty for the commercial interests.

[–] 7 years ago

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