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The Ipcress File (1965) |
Reviews and Comments
a terrific film but ...I thought $26.99 for FUNERAL IN BERLIN was robbery but this is even worse. Only a real low forehead would pay this much. Save your money. Sooner or later this will be available again -- and probably in Blu-Ray down the road -- and you will feel really, really stupid and for good reason.
Palmer, Harry Palmer...1965's "The Ipcress File" is an extremely well executed dramatization of Len Deighton's excellent spy novel of the same name. In one of his earlier roles, Michael Caine stars as British secret agent Harry Palmer, working class spy but smarter and tougher than he looks.
Palmer is assigned to a mysterious case in which top British scientists disappear for a few days, then reappear having been brainwashed to uselessness. The only clue is a fragment of recording tape with the word "Ipcress." Whoever is kidnapping the scientists is prepared to kill to protect the process, as Palmer's colleagues discover. When Palmer gets too close to the secret, he too is kidnapped. Palmer will struggle for his freedom and his very sanity to complete his mission.
The movie borrows the crisp, snappy dialogue of the original novel, while Michael Caine nicely captures Harry Palmer's working class, anti-James Bond personna. While the plotline is perhaps deliberately opaque, the direction is crisp and the movie uses a variety of intriguing shooting angles to add to the suspense, which builds nicely to a surprise ending.
This movie is highly recommended to fans of Michael Caine and of Len Deighton, who will find this a dated but still very enjoyable film.
Pretty good... IPCRESS FILEMichael Caine plays ex-con turned spy Harry Palmer in this very cool British spy thriller from the 1960s. His understated performance and the great and stylish directing of Sidney J. Furie really lift this movie several echelons above other films in the genre. Also, a nice score by John Barry (from 007 fame) adds to make this one of the classics of the time period. highly recommended, especially for michael caine fans.