Rating: 
Summary: Great spy character development.
Review: Michael Caine was a shoe in for the part of Harry Palmer the cockney protagonist in this spy story. He was born and raised in East London, a rough district. Palmer's beat however is more in the West end, and the mood of the city is captured well on film. It's significant how much can be accomplished with a good story, excellent character development and appropriate props and location. This was not an expensive film to make (vis a vis Bond 007), unless the cost of printing it in widescreen and color is considered expensive. The part of Major Dalby "a passed over major" working for the Home Office is done superbly by Nigel Green. He is Parmer's 2nd boss, after he is transfered by his 1st boss Colonel Ross. The trio are a right bunch to track down spys, and in the inimitable British way of understated action, accomplish a hell of a lot through old fashioned intelligence!
Rating: 
Summary: The Anti-Bond, If You Will...
Review: Michael Caine's Harry Palmer -- the character is nameless in the Len Deighton novels; as he is also the first-person narrator, this works, but for this film, (third-person all the way) it was felt that he needed a name -- is just as escapist a fantasy as Connery's Bond, but in a different manner. Deliberately deglamorised and *presented* as just a relatively ordinary man, if of a somewhat dubious moral character, doing his best to keep out of trouble, Palmer nonetheless is, underneath, a bit more.Blackmailed into espionage with the threat of well-earned prison time, Palmer is a useful foot-soldier in the sordid, quiet war of espionage and counter-espionage, set to unmask a traitor -- but who *is* the traitor -- is there anyone at all that he can trust? Michael Caine (this was the first film in which i had seen him) inhabits the role of Harry Palmer and makes it totally his, a man of contradictions -- a working class man, but one who genuinely loves and appreciates the finer things, unlike Fleming's (and, to some extent, the Bond movies') Bond, an amoral thug who apes the manners and tastes of his betters. The apparently-realistic dreary grey London streets and settings add to this film's apparently-realistic approach, all the better to persuade the viewer to suspend his disbelief and accept the rather complex plot, especially when we get to the brainwashing parts... First of three films, this was a series that *could* have rivalled Bond but fizzled out in the end. All three, however, are well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: BOND meets BULLITT
Review: THE IPCRESS FILE does for espionage films what BULLITT did for police films; it provides what seems to be a realistic depiction of the trade as opposed to Hollywood glamourization. And it succeeds marvelously.
Caine turns in an excellent performance as Harry Palmer, a secret agent investigating the "brain drain" of leading government physicists who have been kidnapped only to reappear with their scientific knowledge erased. In additon to providing the audience with an alternative to James Bond, dealing daily with paperwork and beaurocracy and completely devoid of gadgets, the film gives the viewer real insight into counter-espionage techniques, portraying Plamer as more of a detective than a playboy (did James Bond ever take time away from the casino to locate Blofeld by tracking down the location of his most frequently issued parking tickets?).
I very much enjoy the direction of this film, which made impressive use of the widescreen format. Low, angled shots add to the drama immensely. My one complaint is that, while performances are all top-notch, the plot fizzles upon resolution and it seems as if apprehension of the key villain is as unimportant as reversing the "brain drain." The entire experience of THE IPCRESS FILE is good enough, however, that this does little to hamper the viewer's enjoyment of this film.
Rating:
Summary: BOND meets BULLITT
Review: THE IPCRESS FILE does for espionage films what BULLITT did for police films; it provides what seems to be a realistic depiction of the trade as opposed to Hollywood glamourization. And it succeeds marvelously.
Caine turns in an excellent performance as Harry Palmer, a secret agent investigating the "brain drain" of leading government physicists who have been kidnapped only to reappear with their scientific knowledge erased. In additon to providing the audience with an alternative to James Bond, dealing daily with paperwork and beaurocracy and completely devoid of gadgets, the film gives the viewer real insight into counter-espionage techniques, portraying Plamer as more of a detective than a playboy (did James Bond ever take time away from the casino to locate Blofeld by tracking down the location of his most frequently issued parking tickets?).
I very much enjoy the direction of this film, which made impressive use of the widescreen format. Low, angled shots add to the drama immensely. My one complaint is that, while performances are all top-notch, the plot fizzles upon resolution and it seems as if apprehension of the key villain is as unimportant as reversing the "brain drain." The entire experience of THE IPCRESS FILE is good enough, however, that this does little to hamper the viewer's enjoyment of this film.
Rating:
Summary: The IPCRESS File - Michael Caine
Review: The Ipcress File is without a doubt the best of the Hollywood action spy thrillers of the 60's. It is what the James Bond series started out to be and never quite became. Michael Cane in neither a tough guy nor a slick CIA/KGB type. He is a foot soldier, literally in this case, in the cold war. His opinions are neither sought nor listened too. He is only sent in when the situation becomes too clouded for the professional intelligence officers to unravel. An army sergeant convicted of shady dealings and condemned to one prison or the other, Harry Palmer (Michael Cane) chooses the one without walls, but great danger. The problem for Harry isn't to solve the mystery; it is to figure out just what the mystery is. Everyone about him is so stiff upper lipped and bowler-hated that it is difficult to see any movement, and as a good foot soldier, Harry Palmer knows that you can't shoot until someone moves and gives away their position. Finally the story plays out in a London back-alley where the street savvy, uneducated but intelligent Palmer is called upon to make the right choice. With a plot that is slightly too fanciful and a hero slightly too suave for reality, this is none the less a very believable film, beautifully photographed and edited. Watch The IPCRESS File in a triple bill with the much grittier and more realistic 1965 B/W film, The Spy Who Came In Form The Cold starring Richard Burton and the 1962 B/W film The Manchurian Candidate starring Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey if you want to know what Hollywood's view of the Cold War was at the dawn of the Viet Man War.
Rating:
Summary: The IPCRESS File - Michael Caine
Review: The Ipcress File is without a doubt the best of the Hollywood action spy thrillers of the 60's. It is what the James Bond series started out to be and never quite became. Michael Cane in neither a tough guy nor a slick CIA/KGB type. He is a foot soldier, literally in this case, in the cold war. His opinions are neither sought nor listened too. He is only sent in when the situation becomes too clouded for the professional intelligence officers to unravel. An army sergeant convicted of shady dealings and condemned to one prison or the other, Harry Palmer (Michael Cane) chooses the one without walls, but great danger. The problem for Harry isn't to solve the mystery; it is to figure out just what the mystery is. Everyone about him is so stiff upper lipped and bowler-hated that it is difficult to see any movement, and as a good foot soldier, Harry Palmer knows that you can't shoot until someone moves and gives away their position. Finally the story plays out in a London back-alley where the street savvy, uneducated but intelligent Palmer is called upon to make the right choice. With a plot that is slightly too fanciful and a hero slightly too suave for reality, this is none the less a very believable film, beautifully photographed and edited. Watch The IPCRESS File in a triple bill with the much grittier and more realistic 1965 B/W film, The Spy Who Came In Form The Cold starring Richard Burton and the 1962 B/W film The Manchurian Candidate starring Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey if you want to know what Hollywood's view of the Cold War was at the dawn of the Viet Man War.
Rating:
Summary: The making of an icon
Review: This is the film which established Caine as an icon. He is good looking, yet wears glasses, he is young and trendy, yet listens to classical music, he is a cockney, yet he has class. He is a bachelor, yet an accomplished chef, and he is a member of military intelligence, yet casual and insubordinate. Based on a thriller by Len Deighton, this sometimes cynical story keeps the viewer with Caine's Harry Palmer at all times, from his first introduction to a spy headquarters behind a fireworks company facade down to the end of the film where neither Harry, nor we know who to trust. Caine is ably supported by Gordon Jackson (Playing, not for the first time in his career, a character called 'Jock') and Guy Doleman and Nigel Greene as the slightly creepy spy bosses he has to report to. A good start to the series of Harry Palmer films, and a boost to Caine's fledgling career|
Rating:
Summary: Simply the best '60s spy film
Review: This is the spy game at its core: Nasty, dull footwork with the occasional killing or double-cross, where life is cheap and wages are low. Michael Caine takes the character from Len Deighton's novels -- a middle-class [wise-guy] who uses his wits more times than his gun -- and nails it perfectly. It also keeps you guessing until the end, which is better than 95% of the stuff now running at local theatres. The DVD is great in showing the wide-screen version; the shot composition by director Sidney J. Furie is absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, Furie's problems with the producer (Furie was fired after finishing the film shoot) must still cloud his thinking, because his commentary track banks heavily on negative comments. Film editor Peter Hunt's comments, meanwhile, provide plenty of good inside tales about the film. (He also manages to prod Furie into some of his better moments.)
Purists may argue that "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" is a bit more-realistic. "The Ipcress File," though, is entertaining -- and an excellent example of transferring a film to DVD.
Rating:
Summary: the classic English spy thriller,Caine at his best...
Review: To me this is the perfect english spy thriller .. early Michael Caine(love those hornrimmed glasses...) A thinking mans spy movie..excellent characterizations..one doublecross after another ..a film made when we still had a cold war.. British upper class , when your club ment everything..A must see..Ranks with THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD as the best of the genre..
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