The Ipcress File is a
British espionage film directed by
Sidney J. Furie and starring
Michael Caine,
Guy
Doleman,
Nigel Green,
Gordon Jackson and
Sue Lloyd. The screenplay by Bill Canaway and
James Doran was based on
Len Deighton's
novel,
The IPCRESS File.
It has won critical acclaim and a
BAFTA award
for best British film. In 1999 it was included at number 59 on the
BFI list of the
100 best British films of the
twentieth century.
Plot
A scientist called Radcliffe (
Aubrey
Richards) is kidnapped on a train and his escort killed. A
senior British intelligence officer,
Colonel Ross (
Guy
Doleman), sends for
Harry Palmer
(
Michael Caine), the film's
protagonist, who up to that point has been
engaged in a tedious
stakeout.
The protagonist of Deighton's novel was nameless, but in Chapter 5
he remarks, "My name isn't Harry, but in this business it's hard to
remember whether it ever had been." In the opening scenes of the
film, Palmer is shown to care little for authority, to indulge in
quick repartee and to have an interest in good food. Newspaper
cuttings shown in Palmer's kitchen are actually cookery articles
written for
The Observer by
Deighton, an accomplished cook and cookery writer. In a scene where
Palmer prepares a meal, the hands in
close-up are Deighton's.
Ross tells Palmer that he is being transferred to a department
headed by a Major Dalby (
Nigel Green).
"Dalby," says Ross, "doesn't have my sense of humour". "I shall
miss that," says Palmer. Radcliffe's disappearance appears to be
part of a
brain drain, in which several
scientists have unaccountably vanished. Ross introduces Palmer to
Dalby as a good man but insubordinate. His file records that he had
been
court-martialed for
black market activities but offered a job as a
spy as an alternative to jail. Dalby tells Palmer that his criminal
tendencies may be of use but that if he gives any trouble he will
go straight to prison.
At his first departmental meeting Palmer befriends a young woman,
Jean Courtney (Sue Lloyd) and a Scotsman, Jock Carswell (
Gordon Jackson).
Dalby briefs his
agents on the Radcliffe kidnapping, saying that they suspect an
Albanian
-born criminal known as Bluejay (Frank
Gatliff). Palmer's unorthodox methods bring him quickly
into contact with Radcliffe's captors. Palmer organises an
expensive and unauthorised raid that yields nothing but a piece of
audio tape, marked 'IPCRESS', that produces a meaningless noise
when it is played, but one of Palmer's colleagues discovers that
IPCRESS stands for "Induction of Psycho-neuroses by Conditioned
Reflex under Stress". A file is opened on IPCRESS. Radcliffe is
bought back from his captors but proves to have forgotten
everything about his research and to be of no further use to the
British government. Palmer is caught up in rivalry between Ross and
Dalby and finds himself in conflict with local
CIA operatives. He becomes involved with Courtney, but
suspects that she is watching him for Ross. Carswell is killed and
Palmer thinks there is an attempt to frame him for the murder. The
IPCRESS file disappears from Palmer's desk. Palmer eventually
discovers what IPCRESS is and unmasks the agent behind the
disappearance and brainwashing of the scientists. The discovery is
made at great cost to himself and he realizes that he was chosen
for the job because he is expendable.
Cast
Cast notes:
- Nigel Green and Michael Caine appeared in a number of films
and TV episodes together, including Zulu and Play
Dirty. Zulu was Caine's big break, and he was
cast-against-type as an aristocratic Lieutenant, while Green was
his Colour Sergeant. In this film it
was Green who is a Major to Caine's cockney Sergeant.
Production
The film was intended as a less extravagant alternative to the
James Bond films popular at that time.
In
contrast to Bond's public
school background and playboy lifestyle, Palmer is a Cockney
career soldier who lives in an East End
flat and has
to put up with red tape and inter-departmental rivalries.
When appointed to a new post, one of his first questions is whether
he will get a pay rise. (Bond's salary is hardly mentioned and he
only goes to the best hotels, often using the
Presidential suite.)
In this respect, it is a tribute to the complexity and flexibility
of the mind of
Harry Saltzman, who
was an acknowledged master of proposing "bigger and more
extravagant ideas" for Bond films according to the MGM Home
Entertainment documentary
Harry Saltzman: Showman. Five
prominent members of the production team - producer Harry Saltzman,
executive producer- Charles Kasher (who also produced the
sequel-"Funeral In Berlin", film editor
Peter R. Hunt,
composer
John Barry and
production designer
Ken Adam - also worked
on the James Bond film series, and projects like this ultimately
led to Saltzman's departure from Eon Productions and his sale of
Danjaq, LLC to
United Artists in 1975.
The film had two immediate sequels:
Funeral in Berlin (1966) and
Billion Dollar Brain
(1967). Decades later Michael Caine returned to his Harry Palmer
character in
Harry Alan Towers'
Bullet to Beijing (1995)
and
Midnight in Saint
Petersburg (1996).
Reception
Critical reception
Box office
Awards
Writers Bill Canaway and James Doran received a 1966
Edgar Award from the
Mystery Writers of America for
Best Foreign Film Screenplay.
The film won the
BAFTA
Award for Best British Film, and
Ken
Adam won the award for 'Best British Art Direction,
Colour'.
The film was entered into the
1965 Cannes Film Festival.
References
- Action Cook Book by Len Deighton
- Amazon.com: Cookstrip cook book: Books: Len
Deighton
- The British Film Designers Guild :: Helpful
Information
External links
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