Ipcress File

UPC: 013131092592

Studio: Anchor Bay

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Questionable for Children]

Summary: Michael Caine made his first appearance as novelist Len Deighton's bespectacled British-spy Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File. Palmer has no real love of espionage, but he doesn't really know any other life. With studied insolence, he takes on the case of locating missing doctor Radcliffe (Aubrey Richards), who has in his possession a valuable file that would prove injurious to the Free World should it fall in the wrong hands. The government also fears that Radcliffe will be brainwashed by the enemy, as has happened to two previous British scientists. While Palmer is off doing everyone else's dirty work, his superior, Nigel Green, is making a deal with duplicitous information "broker" Frank Gatliff to win Radcliffe's release. The price for this would seem to be Palmer, who is captured by the enemy and subjected to a grueling brainwashing session. Palmer escapes, whereupon he confronts a traitor in his midst in the climactic exchange of gunfire. Advertised as "The Thinking Man's Goldfinger, The Ipcress File offered a far more realistic view of the morally ambivalent world of espionage than did the like-vintage James Bond films. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Thriller

Awards: Best Art Direction for a Color British Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best British Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Color Cinematography in a British Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Director – Directors Guild of America

Features: Widescreen presentation [2.35:1] enhanced for 16x9 TVs
Audio commentary with director Sidney J. Furie and editor Peter Hunt
Theatrical trailer
Still gallery
Talent bios

Ipcress File

Format: DVD

Release Date: 10/12/1999

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 107 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Program Start/Train Station [2:59]
2. Main Titles [3:57]
3. Stakeout [1:58]
4. Ministry of Defense [11:19]
5. A Briefing on Radcliffe [5:07]
6. Scotland Yard [2:09]
7. Quiet Please [7:51]
8. Harry Has a Visitor [5:23]
9. Housemartin Is Dead [2:39]
10. Palmer's TX82 [5:21]
11. The Ipcress File [3:57]
12. Palmer Removes His Glasses [3:25]
13. Bandstand at Three O'Clock [9:41]
14. Dr. Radcliffe's Symposium [2:49]
15. A Brain Drain [2:15]
16. Slighty Dishonest [:49]
17. Framing Palmer [7:54]
18. Riding the Rails [2:18]
19. Mental Torture [13:23]
20. Palmer Breaks Out [3:59]
21. "Shoot the Traitor!" [7:02]
22. End Credits [:48]

Karl Williams

Advertised as "The Thinking Man's Goldfinger," The Ipcress File (1965) was widely considered one of the best Cold War spy films. Based on the novel of the same name by best-selling author Len Deighton, the film's plot was a ludicrous mishmash involving psychedelic brainwashing of the U.K.'s top scientists. Just as in the long-running series of James Bond spy thrillers, however, what set The Ipcress File apart were top-notch production values (particularly director Sidney J. Furie's magnificent use of the extreme widescreen properties of Techniscope) and a riveting central character. Michael Caine became an international movie star on the basis of three performances in only three years, in Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), and Alfie (1966). It's easy to see why Caine's portrayal of reluctant sleuth Harry Palmer so captivated audiences, as Caine played him with a reserved elegance that barely masked Palmer's lower-class Cockney roots and seething anti-authority attitude. The comparisons to Bond didn't end with the marketing of The Ipcress File. The film was brought to the screen by Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman, and many long-time Bond regulars did fine work on The Ipcress File, including composer John Barry and editor Peter Hunt, who cut the first three Bond features and eventually went on to direct On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The opening sequence of The Ipcress File was an extended, tongue-in-cheek reference to Bond, setting up Palmer as an anti- 007 "common man" who woke up alone, was nearly blind as a bat, and needed coffee to wake up in the morning. The Ipcress File was quickly followed by two sequels, Funeral in Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967). Caine returned to play Palmer once again in 1995 with two made-for-American-television movies, Bullet to Beijing and Midnight in St. Petersburg. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Douglas Blackwell  Actor 
Richard Burrell  Actor 
Michael Murray  Actor 
Max Faulkner  Actor 
Paul Chapman  Actor 
Tony Caunter  Actor 
David Glover  Actor 
Anthony Baird  Actor 
John Barry  Composer (Music Score) 
Sidney J. Furie  Director 
Ronald Kinnoch  Executive Producer 
Harry Saltzman  Producer 
Bill Canaway  Screenwriter 
James Doran  Screenwriter 
Charles Kasher  Executive Producer 
Michael Caine  Actor 
Nigel Green  Actor 
Guy Doleman  Actor 
Sue Lloyd  Actor 
Gordon Jackson  Actor 
Aubrey Richards  Actor 
Frank Gatliff  Actor 
Thomas Baptiste  Actor 
Oliver Macgreevy  Actor 
Freda Bamford  Actor 
Pauline Winter  Actor 
Stanley Meadows  Actor 
Peter Ashmore  Actor 
Glynn Edwards  Actor 

Country: UK