The Night Manager is what The Key To Rebecca should have been.
I’ve said it before and I’ll, no doubt, say it again, but the the miniseries format seems to be the the ideal for bringing a novel to the screen. The Night Manager is a 6-episode, 2016 adaptation of the 1993 John Le Carré novel of the same name. I had both set aside the latter to read as well as buried the former in my watching queue. Amazon, in this case, forced my hand* by promising to remove the show from their Prime streaming at the end of the year.
The series updates the written story, placing it roughly in “the current day” of 2016. Familiar only with the TV version, I can’t speak to its “adaptation” in any way. As a TV series, though, it was excellent. It was well filmed and well-acted. The action and intrigue crosses Europe and the Middle East and the aesthetic and production values do justice to the sweeping scope.
My snide remark about The Key To Rebecca is more self-referential than accurate. There isn’t really much to compare between the two stories. They have ties to Cairo, yes, but The Night Manager isn’t really “about” Cairo. I think the stage is set more often in London than in any of the more “exotic” locales. It’s just that The Night Manager makes Cairo (played, often as not, by Morocco, much as Rebecca‘s Egypt was filmed in Tunisia) look really, really good.
One sequence, more than any other, gave me the shivers while watching. The high-tech weapons demonstration was something else. The grand finale, the napalm strike, was a thing of beauty. Obviously I can’t comment on how accurate it all was was. Do Javelins, Stingers, and cluster bombs really look like that? Are they used this way?
Articles in the British press, at time of airing, mention that the production spent around £1 million to film it. It is mostly industry pyrotechnics, not weaponry, enhanced by CGI. Given that it cost that much to “simulate” the scene, I have to wonder how much one would have to spend to put on a “night shoot” of that caliber. If you’re a businessman (albeit a black market one), would you really waste millions trying to sell product that your buyer already agreed to purchase? Once again, I’m not sure if what I am seeing is even vaguely plausible. Even if not, as the main antagonist says, it is “pretty, though.”
Speaking of which, Hugh Laurie drew plenty of praise for his portrayal of arms dealer Dicky Roper. I never watched House nor did I see him in any of his English television roles. I suppose I watched him in The Man in the Iron Mask, although I retain no memory of that film except for the fact that I didn’t like it. I also saw his bit-part role on Friends – not that I’d remember that either. I guess what I am trying to say is, despite him be a rather well-known actor, this was my first impression him. Very impressive that was – this kind of a show needs a good villain to be successful and Laurie’s Roper is that and more.
As I said, I have no information about how much was added for this “update.” The show is anchored in among the “Arab Spring” and Kurdish nationalism, which wouldn’t have topical circa 1993 (at least not in the same current-events sense). One other connection comes serendipitously courtesy of very current events. The recent release of “The Merchant of Death” arms dealer Victor Bout spurred a wave of background articles on the man and his criminal endeavors. Thus, I just now learned that Bout’s primary company was called “Air Cess.” A joint venture between Air Cess and a South African Company was called “Air Pass.” Is the similarity between Air Pass and the series’ fictional Tradepass a coincidence? Is the incestuous relationship between illegal arms dealers and major world governments a fiction? Is part of this show’s purpose that social commentary, made the more relevant by the Russian-American prisoner swap?
So, yes, I really did like this series. I’ve learned not to trust what Amazon or Netflix shoves at me through their streaming services so I guess I’m lucky not to have passed this one over. Furthermore, this is hardly just my personal preference. The show won a bunch of awards (BAFTA, Royal Television Society, British Screenwriters) based on its BBC run and more (Golden Globes, Primetime Emmys) from AMC’s showing for American viewers. Critics were almost entirely positive.
Speaking of critics, fiction, and novels, one cameo jumped out at me and, subsequently I read, at professional critics as well. The barely-seen husband of a significant character is shown for the first time reading Robert Harris’ Fatherland? Is it a commentary on spy fiction; Harris versus Le Carré. I’ll just assume that there is a deeper meaning.
In this case, I have no inhibitions about reading the source novel whenever I get a chance. Although there are bits of suspense that are now ruined for me, this isn’t a story that hinges on surprise twists and turns. We generally know who are the good guys and who are the baddies, even from the get-go. I really am interested in comparing how this tale has changed in the two decades since it was written down.
*As it turned out, they did not. After threatening to remove the show from streaming, it was renewed into the new year.