The Ipcress File (1965)

Michael Caine, Nigel Green and Guy Doleman, all three, have their own charm. The movie is not bad but it's boring and hard to digest. Sue Lloyd is a very enjoyable presence. The story is interesting, but it does not matter. I would make a great parody from a few scenes in the movie. John Barry's music is super cool, heavily heightens the value of the movie.

THE IPCRESS FILE is a spy thriller film about a realistic mysterious game that takes place between hatred and fearlessness. It is based on the 1962 Len Deighton's novel of the same name. The set is placed in an authentic London scenery which, together with an official grayness, fully corresponds to a double espionage conspiracy.A top scientist is kidnapped and his security escort killed. Harry Palmer, a British Army sergeant with a criminal past, has no real love of espionage, but he doesn't really know any other life. His boss, Colonel Ross, suspects that a scientist disappearance is connected to a plot: sixteen top British scientists have inexplicably left their jobs at the peak of their careers. Palmer is transferred to a section of the organization headed by Major Dalby. With studied insolence, Palmer takes on the case of locating missing scientist, who has in his possession a valuable file that would prove injurious to the Free World should it fall in the wrong hands...A conspiracy theory and threat are closely linked to a scientific achievement, which quite reminiscent of the films about the secret agent 007. The link between efficiency and sarcasm has become a trademark of the British Secret Service. At least on film. The pace is a bit slow, the plot is unclear, but the denouement is perfectly fluid and exciting.Characterization is very good and fully corresponds to a tense atmosphere.Michael Caine as Harry Palmer is an insubordinate agent, who loves to cook, read and love a nice widow, while, through his glasses, exhibits a strange magnetism. Mr. Caine has offered a solid performance.Guy Doleman as Colonel Ross is quite unconvincing as Palmer superior. Nigel Green as Major Dalby is, despite his mischievous mustache, strict attitude and cynical reflections, convincing character. Frank Gatliff as Eric Grantby (Bluejay) is an evil external player with lovely face. Sue Lloyd as Jean Courtney is too nice protector for an agent.A modest and unobtrusive film, which includes a double deception and a quite interesting experiment.

***SPOILERS*** Known as the thinking man's "James Bond" movie has the just released from the brig for stealing booze out of the local army PX former UK Army Sgt. Harry Palmer, Michael Caine, who's recruited by his boss Colonel Ross, Guy Doleman,to find out what's been happening to a number of NATO scientists. It's these brilliant men who suddenly lost their memories as well as minds taking what ever information that they had in scientific as well as military research down the memory hole together with them.Palmer a master cook, he learned that wile doing KP in the British Army, and food & wine expert is told by his bosses in British intelligence to go undercover and find out what happened to the scientists in there suddenly losing their minds. That's in order to keep Plamer's handlers' hands from getting dirty or being , like Palmer, exposed and possibly assented. Palmer does crack the case he's on by deciphering this so-called "Ipcress File" that involves brainwashing the top western scientists and making them useless in their ability to think straight. Palmer himself is later kidnapped and tortured by the master mind of this weird operation communist Albanian Eric Ashly Grantby-Code name "Bluejay"-who uses torture to make Palmer forget who he is and who he's working for. "Bluejay" is planning to turn him into a helpless zombie as well as mind controlled assassin for, I suppose, the Soviet Union's KGB.***SPOILERS***Dark and stark looking film with a minimum of light-even in total daylight-"The Ipcress File" was soon to become the standard intelligent spy film that all others following it are to be compared to. It shows just how dangerous the spy game really is unlike the many "James Bond" real or imitated movies where in it our hero Harry Plamer is just a regular guy or just plain Joe not a superman without all kinds of gadgets to get him out of danger as well as beautiful women in every scene that he's in. It also has the villains in the film being not as powerful as in the "Bond" movies and not running an entire shadowy and secret organization that Palmer is confronted with that makes the movie a lot more believable.

A critical sequence takes place early in "The Ipcress File", one of the best spy movies of the 1960's. Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, a sergeant in army intelligence, gets out of bed, goes to the kitchen and makes his morning cup of coffee. The camera follows him as he grinds the beans, spoons out the coffee, and finally adds boiling water. Later in the film he makes an omelette, expertly breaking the eggs with one hand while chatting to a female colleague. These are important scenes in "The Ipcress File"; they establish the character's point of difference. Spy films proliferated in the 60's, inspired by the Cold War and the success of the James Bond films. Each new entry in the genre presented a bit of business that would help it stand out from the crowd. Bond may have had his Aston Martin and his debonair style but Harry Palmer had his horn-rimmed glasses and his domestic virtues. Harry Palmer is good at what he does but invariably rubs his superiors the wrong way. He is posted to British Counter-Intelligence to track down Dr. Radcliffe, a scientist who has been kidnapped by an international group of criminals who will try to sell him to the highest bidder – East or West. Palmer is under the command of Major Dalby played by Nigel Green, but finds his previous boss, the snobbish Colonel Ross, played by Guy Dolman, still hovering on the scene. Double agents and brainwashing were two of the favourite plot devices of movies from the period, and "The Ipcress File" ticks both items on the checklist. When the missing scientist is returned, it is discovered that he has been brainwashed. The claims for the effectiveness of brainwashing in movies have become more preposterous over time. Although the techniques on view in "The Ipcress File" are not the most far-fetched, they are nonetheless the least convincing aspects of the film. They consist of a high-pitched noise and cheap disco effects projected onto the subject strapped to a chair inside a metal container. Michael Caine plays Palmer with that same air of insolence that he brought to nearly all his roles in the first half of his career. The film also strips away any glamour espionage may have had. The operatives spend a great deal of time filling out forms – L101's and Motor Pool Requisitions. "Mostly it's just legwork", explains Jock, a colleague Palmer befriends played by Gordon Jackson.A noticeable feature of the film is the camera work. After nearly 50 years, this appears as eccentric rather than chic. Many scenes are shot with the view obscured by what appears to be the nearest piece of furniture. Other scenes are shot at gravity defying angles. Although these effects now seem quaint and overly self-conscious, "The Ipcress File" is still a sharply told tale. It seemed that no British spy movie of the period was complete without a John Barry score. Barry was very experimental during the 60's, and produced one brilliant score after another including this one for "The Ipcress File" with effective use of the cimbalom in the main theme.Even if "The Ipcress File" doesn't qualify for classic status, Caine is still a good reason to watch this film, he gave it a unique edge back then that still makes it easy to watch today.