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List Price: $59.99Amazon.com's Price: $53.99 You Save: $6.00 (10%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0054961853991
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Acorn Media
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: Acorn Media
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 14, 2006
Running Time: 390 minutes
Sales Rank: 18580
Studio: Acorn Media
Theatrical Release Date: 1988
Editorial Review:
Description:
What traits of nature and nurture go into the making of a master of deception? British agent Magnus Pym’s training begins in a chaotic childhood. His charismatic con man father trades secrets for love, bouncing in and out of jail and his son’s life. Schooled at Oxford and mentored by two masters of espionage, Magnus is poised for greatness—except that his mentors are on opposite sides of the battle.
With characters drawn from his own life, le Carré weaves a gripping tale of international intrigue brilliantly adapted for the BBC by Arthur Hopcraft, who also adapted le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for television. A Perfect Spy stars Peter Egan (Reilly: Ace of Spies) and Ray McAnally (A Very British Coup) with an exceptional supporting cast featuring Alan Howard, Peggy Ashcroft, and Sarah Badel.
Amazon.com:
A Perfect Spy is a captivating, straight-ahead adaptation of John Le Carré's novel about the development of a Cold War double agent, Magnus Pym, whose life since childhood has taught him the art and elements of deceit. Peter Egan (Bean: The Movie) plays the adult Pym, raised in part by his con-man father, Rick (Ray McAnally), and the latter's community of accomplices. Stranded in Vienna while working an angle for Rick that goes wrong, young Magnus (Benedict Taylor) makes a connection with a down-on-his-luck writer, Axel (Rudinger Weigang). That relationship will come back to haunt him when Axel--later a Communist spy--recruits Magnus to divide his loyalties between East and West.
Typical of a Le Carré drama, the role of nature versus nurture in the spy business is a complex and fascinating mystery. Magnus has always been a talented liar--it was part of his survival in childhood--and seems most comfortable infiltrating others' secrets and tempting danger. But he is slowly and effortlessly outsmarted by those who know how to maneuver a man into a corner before he realizes he has run out of options. The cast of this 1988 British television miniseries is the best thing about the production, especially McAnally (My Left Foot), who died the following year. Arthur Hopcraft's smooth adaptation of Le Carré's story keeps the sometimes complicated narrative accessible, --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - It's Not Must-See TV
"A Perfect Spy" was the third of Britisher John LeCarre's cold war spy novels to be filmed for television by the British Broadcasting Company. As they generally did at that time, they threw money at the screen: script by the talented Arthur Hopcraft, who'd previously done the honors for the same author's "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," and "Smiley's People;" location filming in glamorous places, extras and cars galore. Yet it's just not the same "must-see tv" as its stablemates.
Magnus ... Read More
Rating:  - An outstanding adaptation of a novel which must have been very tough to film
This mini-series is based on one of the most complex books I have read - dealing extensively with the inner demons of a man on an inexorable path to self-annihilation. I am happy to note that this mini-series does a superb job of translating the story from the book to film.
Yes, allowances have been taken - I don't think one could have made a film of this book without taking such allowances. Purists will object, and I'm sure each of us can find fault in some of the choices made, but ... Read More
Rating:  - if this one could be a perfect spy, then
every con artist could be a better spy than this perfect spy.
a guy came from a con artist parent, at first looked smart when he was young, then after he completely became a grown man, he seemed to lose all the wits and merits and turned out to be a stupid and naive so-called spy. well, le carre's novels were all like this, all the english intelligence organizations were nothing but wimpy, dim-wit in the game of the cold war. the worst of this mini series was that only the guy who played the ... Read More
Rating: - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
The Good: Ray McAnally's brilliant performance as Rick Pym, the main character's conman father.
The Bad: the miniseries oversimplifies the narrative by giving us Magnus Pym's story along a single time line, from boyhood to adulthood. The novel works on two time lines; the first one follows the search for Magnus Pym who has disappeared and the second one follows his reminiscences of his life as he hides in a seaside hotel. The book jumps back and forth, and while the US, UK, and Czech ... Read More
Rating:  - Central Role Badly Miscast
A Perfect Spy is a complex novel, very difficult to film because it is essentially a psychological exploration rather than any sort of conventional narrative, much less a spy story. What one makes of the film will depend largely on how one reacts to Peter Egan as Magnus Pym. For my taste, he was absolutely awful, and he was hardly helped by the plodding direction. The only way Egan seemed capable of displaying the character's inner life (what the film is really about)was to grin throughout like a demented ... Read More
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