The Ipcress File

Plot synopsis:
The novel is framed as the unnamed protagonist delivering his personal report on "the IPCRESS affair" directly to the Minister of Defence, thus making the novel itself the 'IPCRESS File' of the title. The events begin soon after his transfer from military intelligence to WOOC(P), a small civilian intelligence agency reporting directly to the British Cabinet, where he works under the command of a man named Dalby. An intelligence broker code-named "Jay" is suspected to be behind a series of kidnappings of highly placed and influential British VIPs with the intention of selling them to the Soviets, and the protagonist is assigned to meet with Jay in order to secure the release of "Raven", a high-ranking scientist and his latest target. After meeting Jay at a sleazy Soho strip club to negotiate Raven's release, the protagonist is abandoned; investigating his surroundings, he discovers Raven's unconscious body in a back room and attempts to rescue him, but is unsuccessful.
WOOC(P) receives intelligence that Raven is to be transferred to the Soviets in Beirut, and a rescue mission is organised with Dalby and the protagonist participating. The protagonist is assigned as a lookout while Dalby kills Raven's captors and rescues him. The protagonist is forced to kill the occupants of a car which suddenly arrives on the scene in order to maintain the cover of the operation, believing them to be operatives working for Jay; they instead turn out to be members of ONI. The operation is otherwise a success and Raven is recovered, but the investigation into Jay continues. Dalby disappears, apparently going undercover, leaving the protagonist temporarily in charge of WOOC(P). At this point the protagonist's former superior from military intelligence, Colonel Ross, approaches the protagonist offering to sell him confidential information related to the affair. The protagonist rejects the offer in disgust, but begins to second-guess himself.
Carswell, a statistician from another department assigned to the matter, begins noting a range of bizarre and seemingly irrelevant links between many of the kidnap victims. A break suddenly appears when Housemartin, one of Jay's high-ranking operatives, is arrested in Shoreditch for impersonating a police officer, but by the time the protagonist and Murray, another operative assigned to the case, arrive at the police station only to discover he has been murdered in his cell. Information from the arrest enables WOOC(P) and the police to storm one of Jay's safe-houses, but it has been abandoned. In order to help with the administration of the department, the protagonist is assigned an assistant, Jean, a beautiful young woman towards whom he begins to develop romantic feelings. Dalby re-emerges, and reveals intelligence suggesting that Jay's operations will interfere with an American neutron bomb test in the Pacific.
Dalby, Jean and the protagonist are sent to the test site as British observers, and while there the protagonist learns from an old friend, Barney, that the Americans suspect him of being a double-agent due to the deaths of the CIA operatives in Beirut. Jean reveals to the protagonist that Dalby has left been visiting an abandoned Japanese bunker on the island. Soon after, Barney is killed in apparently suspicious circumstances, and while following Dalby to the scene the protagonist is present when the bomb test site is sabotaged, setting back the bomb test and killing a military police officer. The protagonist is arrested by the Americans and interrogated, before apparently being transferred to Hungary on suspicion of being a Soviet agent. There, he is drugged and subject to days of psychological and physical torture, and nearly cracks before eventually managing to escape—only to discover that he is in fact in London. The protagonist takes refuge with Charlie Cavendish, the father of a friend killed towards the end of the Second World War, and attempts to reestablish contact with WOOC(P) without being arrested for treason. Charlie is killed by Jay's operatives, forcing the protagonist on the run; he approaches Dalby at his home, but discovers Dalby meeting with Murray, Jay and another of Jay's operatives—confirming the protagonist's suspicions that Dalby is in fact the traitor.
The protagonist is discovered by Murray, who reveals himself to be an undercover operative from military intelligence also investigating Dalby. The protagonist escapes, but is soon captured by Jay's operatives and taken to meet Jay—he has, however, allowed military intelligence to follow them, and Jay and Dalby are arrested by Colonel Ross. The protagonist reveals to Jean that Jay and Dalby were using a process called "Induction of Psycho-neuroses by Conditioned REflex with Stress" (IPCRESS) to brainwash the VIPs into loyalty to the Soviet Union, which they had also unsuccessfully attempted to subject the protagonist to. The seemingly irrelevant links that Carswell had discovered were in fact indicators of the personality traits that Jay had used to determine which VIPs would easily succumb to the process. Dalby was the one who had sabotaged the American bomb test, as part of Jay and Dalby's efforts to frame the protagonist. Colonel Ross reveals that his attempt to sell information to the protagonist had been a test of his loyalty, which the protagonist had passed by rejecting it. The novel ends with the protagonist concluding his report to the Minister, revealing that Jay has turned and began working for the British, while Dalby has been executed and his death covered up as a car accident.

Tags: comedy, neo noir, murder, realism, cult, intrigue, brainwashing, suspenseful

Review:
This London is still coming to terms with the end of World War II and the advent of a modern world.Working Class Palmer is an unwilling Home Office agent with criminal tendencies who is more interested in a pay rise so that he can indulge his true passion, gourmet cooking, than serving his country.
This perspective is aided by the stunning photography that uses every conceivable camera angle (even views from a light bulb!) to see the world from the characters perspective.Look out for the supermarket scene between Ross and Palmer, my vote for the most violent use of a supermarket Trolley in a movie.As Palmer slowly unravels the mysterious disappearance of top government scientists it becomes clear that there is someone close to the top of the British Secret service acting as a double agent.
Although conceived and produced by Harry Salzman and scored by John Barry, this is a film which deliberately positions itself miles away from the up until this time familiar James Bond espionage ethos.
Palmer is the better man - and not just morally either: his appreciation of Mozart ('proper' Mozart, too, not the appalling bandstand variety pushed on him by Daulby) and fine cooking, marks him out as a man of taste, in contrast to the surrounding snobbery and elitism.This theme of class, as well as the locations chosen for 'The Ipcress File' mark it out as a very British spy film - possibly the best one ever in contrast to the Bond cycle, which represented an attempt to create a deliberate trans-Atlantic product.
This is an interesting slant on the usual cold war thriller plots and is much more believable than James Bond films, although it lacks the latter's explosive action.
The musical score by John Barry is another element that works well with one is witnessing.Harry Palmer came alive the way Michael Caine played him.
This was the first of three films to depicted the normal activities and dangerous and extreme situations of British intelligence agent Harry Palmer(played by Michael Caine who became an international star with his portrayal of the working stiff/British spy).
A working class Joe. Caine goes on to make two more Palmer films that were not as successful as the first one;"Funeral in Berlin"(1966),and the last one " The Billion Dollar Brain"(1969),but in all this one was a gem of a good spy flick..
However soon he makes progress and finds himself drawn into a deadly web involving treachery, American agents and a plan to 'brain drain' the UK and weaken its powers.Although it has dated in some regards, The Ipcress File stands up well as a sort of answer to the Bond ideal of the British Secret Service.
Although there are elements most of viewers know from James Bond movies, it is not a clone of them; it was just a mode or manner how spy films in Europe were directed and produced in the 1960ies and later on as well.
This is a well-made gritty spy film set during the cold war years of the 60's.Michael Caine is Harry Palmer, an undercover British agent who we see initially to perform routine surveillance on suspected enemy agents from an apartment in London.
The case is more difficult than usual since the British agents have reasons to believe that one of their own works for the enemy.What makes this film different from the films of the Jame-Bond 007 series is that it portrays a different and more realistic life of intelligence agents that is not glamorized or romanticized.
Instead their lives can be more boring but also more deadly at the same time whereby little details can make the difference between life or death especially if the enemy may anticipate your moves.Eventually Palmer manages to resolve the case he works on (and also stay alive) not because he has the best weaponry or the best information but simply because he follows his instincts.I recommend this film if you are looking for a good mystery and intense thriller.
Books like Len Deighton's "The Impcress File" are designed to be 'the thinking man's secret agent.' Once in, you will follow the exploits of Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) who's background reveals is an ex-burglar and jewel thief who has been recruited from prison by M.I.6 for espionage work.
Michael Caine is Harry Palmer, the spy who came in to get out of the cold, in "The Ipcress File," a non-Bond type spy film set in London.
Neither Ross nor Daulby have a sense of humour neither to they even smile, he and all the cast are perfect, this is what the British Civil Service is really like (I know I worked in it.) The Ipcress file is the first of three superb films in which Palmer is presented as the British version of James Bond.
I think it`s both which is a strength and weakness for THE IPCRESS FILE , a strength because we`re shown that intelligence work is composed of nothing more dynamic than sitting in an office all day looking through files and checking out leads ( Factually correct I imagine ) and a weakness because not many film goers will be interested in watching a spy movie involving an agent who spends much of his time behind a desk and there are maybe a bit too many scenes set in an office .
There`s another problem with THE IPCRESS FILE and that`s once you know who the traitor is the surprise only works once , likewise once Harry escapes from his prison cell we`re treated to a shock revelation and I remember thinking this was a very clever plot twist first time I saw it but seeing it again tonight it doesn`t carry much of an impact .
It has a straightforward plot that you can actually follow (that rarely happens in spy thrillers), dry humor from Caine ("You've got some wiping to do!") and a genuine feel for this genre: it looks just like a spy film is supposed to look..
Michael Caine became an international star with his portrayal of working stiff/Brit spy Harry Palmer in this grabbing 1966 espionage thriller.
However, while also a British secret agent, The Ipcress File's Harry Palmer is entirely different sort of character altogether.
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.
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.
***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 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.
The plot is pretty standard, but it is in its execution, by director Sidney Furie and his cinematographer Otto Heller (I had to look it up) is good to very good and, in my view at least, it has helped The Ipcress File stand the test of time.There is none of that utterly spurious spy glamour in Furie's (and writer Len Deighton's) spy world – the security services are just another department of the Civil Service for those it employs – and the whole film, when it counts, exudes menace, the lack of focus which is necessarily at the heart of spying – after all no on really knows what's going on.Forty years on it is salutary to reflect on what can be done with imaginative lighting and camera-work.
Palmer himself retains his integrity throughout, even if he perceives himself as something of a rebel within the Secret Service.THE IPCRESS FILE is a direct antithesis of the Bond canon of films, also popular at the time of release.
Made by Bond-producer Harry Saltzman as the antithesis to the Bond franchise,this clever little spy yarn gives Michael Caine one of his iconic roles as "Harry Palmer".He would do the part in two subsequent films in the sixties which helped him cement his fame.This movie is not for those who want action packed spy-adventures because it's pace is rather slow,focusing more on character than action.
In the role that turned him into a star, Michael Caine plays cockney agent Harry Palmer, hired to investigate the brainwashing of some scientists.
Specifically, Palmer lives in a dreary flat but is called to investigate things involving geopolitics.Some people note that this was around the same time as the James Bond movies but "The Ipcress File" was more intellectual.
(The "Ipcress File" is on my very short bookshelf of favorite books of all time.)However, I recently caught the film on American Movie Classics and was struck with its overall excellence, start to finish.
Plus these are some great sarcastic touches like Colonel Ross suggesting that Major Daulby doesn't have his sense of humour  in fact Ross is as humourless as a top civil servant gets.There are also some fairly accurate digs at stupid policemen  see the "Arrested in possession of a suitcase" scene.Sadly, Cain didn't want to do any more Harry Palmers and so the series never got past three  there were a couple of other later efforts but they are not worth the time watching.
The Ipcress file and Funeral in Berlin are two great espionage films.If only Cain hadn't been so short sighted the series would have rivalled Bond..
I suspect that Ian Fleming would have preferred the James Bond films to have been closer to the Harry Palmer movies than the over the top series that relied on special effects and huge budgets but were so short on substance.
Unlike his contemporary, James Bond, Harry Palmer is a working class, realistic spy.
A True 60's cult, a story of betrayal, gentleman and the secret service.Set all around London, this 60's classic follows Harry palmer (Michael Caine) as he uncovers the plot behind the kidnapping and brainwashing of British Scientists.
In other scenes we have the remarkable work of John Barry's (known for composing the music for the earlier James Bond films) orchestra giving the scenes that real cult feeling.Caine pulls of the role of Harry Palmer, a rather cocky and witty character who seriously knows how to cookand kill people.
This being one of Cain's first films, it was indeed a map of things to come.The I.P.C.R.E.S.S. File is truly a spy film that could quite easily stand next to the James bond movies.
Michael made three Harry Palmer films in the 1960s, starting with "The Ipcress File".
Now I cannot comment about how closely this character and these plots were to the original Len Deighton novels (where Harry was NOT blackmailed into working for the service), as I've never read them, but the films are wonderfully entertaining.In "The Ipcress File", Harry has apparently made a mess of his military career and instead of sending him to prison, the government has decided to make him a spy--as he IS resourceful...though also a bit disdainful of authority.
The protagonist barely even qualifies as a spy, or a secret agent: he's a working stiff.The plot is typically pretty complicated and hard to follow, but it does culminate in some really powerful scenes, and Caine's performance is fantastic.
Just had myself a little Harry Palmer weekend, watching all three films in this classic trilogy starring Michael Caine as the Cockney thief turned secret agent.
First up was 1965's "The Ipcress File," costarring Nigel Green and Guy Doleman as Harry's two superiors (both of them far more disagreeable than James Bond's M), as well as Sue Lloyd as the agent who Harry gets involved with.
Like the Bond films, this Palmer outing was produced by Harry Saltzman (as were the following two); other elements that connect to the 007 franchise are Peter Hunt as editor, a wonderful score by John Barry, and set design by the great Ken Adam.
The ipcress file is the first of a trilogy of films made about the spy harry palmer.
The Ipcress File is like no other spy film, and quite the opposite of the glamorous James Bond genre.
Furie, gripping cinematography by Otto Heller (all inventive angles with a gritty, photo-realistic aesthetic) and a killer score by the maestro, John Barry; everything just about hits all the right notes.Saltzman produced and it gave him another big hit outside of the Bond franchise.For anyone interested in 60s British espionage cinema, I would highly recommend it, along with the two sequels - FUNERAL IN BERLIN and BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN.The original Len Deighton novels are also a must for those who might like to get an inkling of what Raymond Chandler might have produced if he had been a cockney military historian and cookery writer penning spy books in Britain in the swinging 60s.
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.
It chooses a more realistic approach, which seems all the more silly when considering that the story is far from a likely one.Seemed that producer Harry Saltzman, who also produced multiple James Bond movies, until the mid-'70's, wanted to completely dominate the spy-genre in every form.
Sue Llyod,(Agent, Jean Courtney)," Eat the Rich",'87 was very sexy and had her eyes on Sergeant Harry Palmer,(Michael Caine),"Bewitched",'05, who worked with Jean and at times you just found her to be a rather dark and mysterious person.
This is probably the best film of the 60's in the Spy Genre, at the height of the cold war era, these sinister good guy/ bad guy films were all the rage, James Bond was having massive rating in the Cinema and then along comes Caine, the rest they say, is history.
Caine's appeal in IF (Ipcress File) is probably due to the stubborn anti-hero qualities he exudes, a ladies man with a a roving eye that would put a radar array to shame, suave, sophisticated, yet very much man about the house, given his self-supporting stance in the film.An ex-army sergeant ' bought ' from a military prison into active service in a different guise, the trade off being the job he's doing has the potential to kill him, so stark choice, spend time in prison or do this job and get 'pardoned' effectively, if you live to tell the tale.He exhibits in the film the ' I'm doing this my way ' attitude in several scenes, notably when he throws policy, procedure and protocol out of the window and asks for a high security clearance operation and gets it.The film is peppered with these events through to the end, had he been a matter of fact, by the book, typical spy, I doubt that the film would have worked so well, at the time, no other actor I feel would have filled the role of Harry Palmer so good as Caine.
Michael Caine's character Harry Palmer is a short-sighted cynical spy who lives in a modest flat; he does his own shopping at his local super-market and doesn't bag-off with a succession of gorgeous women, he even has to do his own paper-work.
Then comes the agent himself, our protagonist for the film: Harry Palmer, as an early Michael Caine role.
The Ipcress File is perhaps one of Michael Caine's best films.
"The Ipcress File" follows British agent Harry Palmer, who is sent to contact a man suspected to be involved in the kidnapping of a prominent scientist.
"The Ipcress File" entertains primarily as an intriguing Cold War spy thriller but also through its characters and their interactions, cleverly reflects on a number of the significant societal changes that the country was going through at that time.The spy thriller, in its various forms, was an extremely popular genre in the Sixties and "The Ipcress File" which was based on Len Deighton's novel of the same name, provided a far grittier and more realistic representation of how counter-espionage work was carried out than had previously been seen, particularly in the James Bond movies.
Then we meet a young Michael Caine, this time playing an agent called Harry Palmer, who is taken from his job on a stakeout, to investigating the murder and disappearance.
Michael Caine plays the role of the British intelligence agent Harry Palmer and brilliantly delivers a reality to this film in ways that most other movies of similar nature fail.
This movie is about Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, a Brit working for one of those intelligence or counterespionage agencies that the Brits have so many of.