"call for the dead" was filmed as "the deadly affair" (1966). it was directed by sidney lumet from a script by paul dehn, and starred james mason as charles dobbs, (not george smiley, as le carré had sold the rights to use the name "george smiley" with the rights to "the spy who came in from the cold"), harry andrews as mendel, simone signoret as elsa fennan and maximilian schell as dieter frey. the major change in the script from the book is the addition of an affair between ann smiley and dieter frey, which presages the events of "tinker tailor soldier spy".