The Ipcress File (1965)

You won't be disappointed!

hyped garbage

Did you people see the same film I saw?

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

What struck me from the start when I first saw this film 50 years ago was its dominating stylishness. It has a very particular style of its own all the way, evident in the environment, the fascinating camera angles, the very laconic dialogue, the austere almost militarily disciplined stringency and the total lack of any make up lustre to the characters - as far from Hollywood as possible, especially Michael Caine as Harry Palmer himself, the very opposite of any James Bond or hero agent with his stolid glasses.The stylishness also dominates the composition of the film, which is almost architectural: no action at all to begin with, very careful hints at what is going on, large desolate offices with stiff strictness, and only gradually the intrigue is introduced with the visit to the abandoned factory and Gordon Jackson's first discovery of the secret - and then the shocks start building up, to culminate in the great brainwash scene as an awesome finale.But that on the other hand is the weakness of the film. It's not credible. The stylishness is overdone in artifice and far-fetched methods bordering on absurdity, but it's the book that here goes off into incredibility. The enemy nation for which the spies are working is never mentioned, but Albania is, and Albania was at the time a satellite of Communist China, and it's more credible that China could have contrived an espionage intrigue like this and with those means than Russia.On the whole, it's almost a masterpiece, and it was a great joy to see it again after 50 years and get even more impressed than the first time above all by its artistic qualities.

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.

Sandwiched between Michael Caine's performances in the amazing "Zulu" and the culturally significant "Alfie", "The Ipcress File" is a real disappointment. Make no mistake--Michael Caine turns in a solid performance. And the camera work, shot from first person POV, is often inspired.But other aspects of this film are off-putting or uninspiring. The musical score often serves as a jarring contrast to the action on screen, instead of supporting it. Worst of all, the story is fairly boring (the identity of the bad guy is telegraphed quite obviously via dialogue early on). One commenter at IMDb called the pace of the film "urgent", but I found its sluggish pace one of its worst features.I see how the Harry Palmer character could be fun to watch, with his idiosyncratic attention to some details and his interest in cooking, but in the film, he doesn't really seem inspired by his passions, except women.The plot about mind control was done infinitely better in "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) and would be done better in "The Parallax View" (1974) and "A Clockwork Orange" (1971).The introduction of Harry Palmer as a film character (though he's no Bond or Marlowe or Spade) is notable, but it does not elevate this film above mediocrity, I am sorry to say.

"The Ipcress File" was produced at the height of the James Bond craze. However, while also a British secret agent, The Ipcress File's Harry Palmer is entirely different sort of character altogether. An Army Sergeant convicted of racketeering, Palmer has been given the choice of working for British Intelligence or going to prison. He is a working-class James Bond with a cockney accent. Harry Palmer lives in a modest flat in London and, rather than driving around in an posh Aston Martin, one gets the distinct impression that he probably commutes to the grubby office from which he works on the bus.There is nothing glamorous about Palmer's associates, either. All are either civil-servant bureaucrats or stuffy military types. On the other hand, Harry Palmer is a wise-guy who is smart enough to carry out his assigned tasks efficiently but who also doesn't quite fit in.The Ipcress File is a rare type of film, a smart thriller. Don't expect massive explosions, spectacular car chases or eye-popping special effects. Instead, The Ipcress File is an intelligent film about intelligent people, none of whom can necessarily be trusted. In Harry Palmer's world, brains count far more than brawn. This is one spy thriller that is well worth going out of one's way to see.