MovieChat Forums > Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2012) Discussion > Operation Witchcraft is unconvincing

Operation Witchcraft is unconvincing

posted 4 years ago by Saber (19)
6 replies | jump to latest

The plan by Karla and the mole is to use the Operation Witchcraft to make it look like Polyakov is working for the British when, in fact, the mole is providing information to Karla. The mole has a perfect cover for passing information to Karla because he can always claim that he was receiving information from Polyakov at the safe house.

My question is, how did the three stooges think that they could protect the location of the safe house from the rest of the Circus? In the BBC version, Smiley was constantly on guard against possible shadows at all times even while he was interrogating Toby. So what guarantee was there that the top three men of the Circus were not followed by someone whenever they visited the safe house?

Also, the Witchcraft arrangement can't have an indefinite life span. It must come to an end at some time. What, then, were Karla and the mole going to do?

I don't know if le Carre explains this aspect in the book. But I would have appreciated if the film explained how Percy came by Polyakov. What convinced Percy and the rest that Polyakov was genuine? Did they really believe that Polyakov was truly selling out the Soviet Union? If they did, the true talented spook in the story is not the mole, but Polyakov, because he succeeded in pulling the wool over the rest.

I can't avoid thinking that the secret to the success of the mole and Karla was not so much their ingenuity, but the Control's loss of grip over the Circus. If the Control maintained a strong grip over the Circus, the unfortunate series of events would not have happened.

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 4 years ago

In real life as in the fictions of Le Carre, during the time period in question, the British Secret Services had gotten a bit laissez faire and complacent. They had achieved great successes from inception through the World Wars and they were a bit dozy at the time.

So, I agree: one of the reasons for the success was that Control and the Service just weren't cutting the mustard at the time.

An added element was that it was "unthinkable" that one of the elite, aristocratic, Cambridge (or Oxford) boys would betray Queen and Country. Some of that stuffy, Rule Brittania stuff was clouding thinking. If I recall correctly, in the UK, male homosexuality was illegal, but not lesbianism because the idea that proper ladies would do "such a thing" was unthinkable. The same blinders-on mentality was here with the nobility and upper classes.

As a final point, however, I don't think Karla intended it to go indefinitely, just as long as possible. The USSR didn't give a damn about the doubles. They were using them to acquire information, they were assets. They weren't just using them, they were using them up. Obviously, they'd want it spun out as long as possible, but they were probably aware that it wasn't an everlasting relationship.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Interesting.

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 4 years ago

Some of this is coming from sources outside of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; I've read some biographies and histories, and watched documentaries.

I highly recommend The Pigeon Tunnel by Le Carre. It's a sort of autobiography (although the subtitle, "Stories from My Life" is more accurate; it's really a collection of tales). It's very, very good.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

I used to be really into Le Carre's books, but it's been a while. I'll have to get The Pigeon Tunnel.

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 4 years ago

I've only read a couple of his novels, but I preferred The Pigeon Tunnel to the fiction stuff. It's so fascinating reading tales from a life as rich and variegated as Le Carre's.

[–] Martoto (5024) 4 years ago

Correct. It would have been Smiley who discovered the operation. But George wouldn't face Bill and Ann's affair. And the rest of them who could have been given that job were compromised by the Budapest sting. Particularly Prideaux, who actually knew.