John LeCarré has been lucky in the adaptations of some of his books on
to film. 'A Murder of Quality', though quite different from 'Tinker
Tailor Soldier Spy' and 'Smiley's People', not to forget 'The Spy Who
Came in From the Cold', is a perfectly crafted murder mystery.

Denholm Elliot's George Smiley does not try to imitate the famous
portrayals by Alec Guinness but creates a similarly fascinating
character out of LeCarré's most famous creation. Glenda Jackson plays
his spinsterish "pal", Ailsa Brimley, a former colleague of Smiley's
from The Circus during the war years. She is akin to Connie Sachs,
memorably played by the great Beryl Reid in other LeCarré adaptions.
Both Ailsa and Connie were in love with George and enraged at his
reprobate wife, Ann. This and other LeCarré themes are used in 'A
Murder of Quality' to their usual intriguing effects; the inclusion of
homosexuality, misogynistic tendencies in some of the male characters
and the hint of Smiley's darker, perhaps murderous past.

It is good to see Joss Ackland and Thorley Walters, old hands from
earlier LeCarré adaptations. There isn't a weak link in the cast.
Christian Bale makes a sexually tantalizing school boy, complete with
his "criminal mind" and vulnerable consciousness. Diane Fletcher, the
Lady Macbeth-like Mrs Urquehard from 'House of Cards' appears here as
the tough dramatic arts mistress, the archetype gorgon, hearty and
heartless.

Billie Whitelaw is a poignant mad-woman, Ronald Pickup a wonderfully
spineless worm who lives with his "manly" sister, Fiona Walker.
Matthew Scurfield is a fascinating police chief, a working grunt with
many-faceted depths to his personality.

The cinematography is on the dark and gloomy side, as befits the story
and setting. The music is superb, another wonderfully evocative score
by the late great Stanley Myers.

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Report: 'Batman' accused of assaulting mom, sister
Published: 7/22/08, 12:05 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) - Batman star Christian Bale was arrested Tuesday over
allegations of assaulting his mother and sister, police and British
media said.

The 34-year-old actor spent four hours at a London police station
before being released on bail.

British media had reported that Bale's mother and sister complained he
had assaulted them at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Sunday night,
a day before the European premiere of his latest film, "The Dark
Knight."

The Sun newspaper said police did not question the actor Monday
because they did not want to interfere with the premiere of the movie.

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Moral:

Claudine Longet was arrested and charged with the 21 March 1976 fatal
shooting of her lover, Olympic skier Vladimir "Spider" Sabich, at his
Aspen, Colorado home after he had showered and was preparing to dress.
Sabich was a very handsome athlete with no lack of female
companionship when he met Longet. As their relationship progressed,
Longet and her three children moved in with Sabich, radically altering
his bachelor life. There were widespread rumors of discord between the
couple before the shooting. Spider had told friends he wanted Claudine
out of his house but had taken no real action to evict her because he
adored her children. At the sensational trial, Longet claimed the gun
discharged accidentally as Sabich was showing her how it worked.
Despite the fact that the autopsy found that Sabich was bent over with
his back turned to her and Claudine was no closer than 6 feet (1.8 m)
from him, she stuck to her story that it was a tragic accident. Andy
Williams very publicly supported Claudine throughout the trial, even
escorting her to and from the courthouse.

The Aspen police made two enormous blunders which turned the tide for
Longet. They took a blood sample from her and confiscated her diary
without warrants. Longet's blood contained cocaine and her diary
showed that her relationship with Sabich had turned bitter. Since the
evidence was not obtained legally the prosecution could not enter it
into evidence. The gun was also mishandled by non-weapons experts. It
was given to a policeman, who wrapped it in a towel and put it in the
glove compartment of his unit; for 3 days it was unaccounted for.

Put on the stand, Longet reiterated her innocence and pleaded for
mercy because her three young children needed her. The jury acquitted
her of felony manslaughter but convicted her of criminal negligence, a
misdemeanor, and sentenced her to pay a small fine and spend 30 days
in jail. As a generous gesture, Judge Lohr allowed Longet to choose
the days she served, believing that this arrangement would allow her
to spend the most time with her children. Longet chose to work off
most of her sentence on weekends. Once the trial was over, she took
off for a vacation with her defense attorney Ron Austin. Austin left
his wife and children to do so. Longet and Austin later married and
remain together, residing in Aspen.

Longet has never performed again. After the criminal trial, the Sabich
family initiated civil proceedings to sue Longet. The case was
eventually resolved out of court for a large monetary settlement, with
the proviso that Longet never tell or write about her story.

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Season 1 Episode 18 of Saturday Night Live featured a skit titled "The
Claudine Longet Invitational," which parodied the shooting incident,
showing skiers making runs down the slopes until they are
"accidentally" shot by Claudine Longet, resulting in abrupt wipeouts.
Season 1, Episode 12 (18 January 2001) of Gilmore Girls features
Rory's friend Lane having bought an eclectic range of CDs. Rory
responds: "I must listen to anyone named Claudine Longet." They play
Claudine's version of the song "God Only Knows" (composed by Brian
Wilson and Tony Asher), and Lorelai, on discovering to whom they are
listening, says: ". . . the chick who shot the skier? . . . Wow,
Renaissance woman."