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List Price: $24.98 | | Label: Starz / Anchor Bay
Salesrank: 63501
Released: October 12, 1999 |
| Our Price: $567.00 |
| Used Price: $57.69 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
In the spy-crazed film world of the 1960s, Len Deighton's antihero Harry Palmer burst onto the scene as an antidote to the James Bond films. Here was a British spy who had a working-class accent and horn-rimmed glasses and above all really didn't want to be a spy in the first place. As portrayed by Michael Caine, Palmer was the perfect antithesis to Sean Connery's 007. Unlike that of his globetrotting spy cousin, Palmer's beat is cold, rainy, dreary London, where he spends his days and nights in unheated flats spying on subversives. He does charm one lady, but she's no Pussy Galore, just a civil servant he works with, sent to keep an eye on him. Eventually he's assigned to get to the bottom of the kidnapping and subsequent "brain draining" of a nuclear physicist, all the while being reminded by his superiors that it's this or prison. Things begin to get pretty hairy for Harry. Produced by Harry Saltzman in his spare time between Bond movies, the film also features a haunting score by another Bond veteran, composer John Barry. --Kristian St. Clair
The Ipcress File Reviews:
Ipcress File DVD 
2009-12-23 - Michael Caine has a cult following almost for this DVD and the other two that go with it.
I enjoyed it and then sold it on the Internet.
the albanian, the decoy, the mole
2009-07-17 - The good old days of deception and brainwashing. The zenith of the obscure and analytical secret services of the eastern block.
His name is Harry Palmer: he's cocky, defiant and effective. He thinks he has one mission; actually he has two.
A Treat for Bond Purists
2009-01-20 - If you're a James Bond fanatic, you'll probably enjoy THE IPCRESS FILE. Not that there's any similarities between Ian Fleming's Bond and Len Deighton's nameless spy (given the name Harry Palmer during the filming by star Michael Caine), but rather that this tense and enjoyable thriller features the talents of at least five 007 alumni. There's co-producer Harry Saltzman, music composer extrodinaire John Barry, editor Peter Hunt, art director Ken Adam and production designer Peter Murton.
IPCRESS has all the elements of a good Hitchcock thriller, along with some of the suprise twists. John Barry delivers one of his best scores, and Michael Caine is joined by a superb supporitng cast, including Nigel Green, Gordon Jackson and Guy Doleman.
"Spy High"
2008-09-20 - Maurice Micklewhite (Michael Caine) has always been one of my favorite actors. I saw this 007 Era movie when it was first released and watched it again more recently. It is a FAB movie. It has lost nothing over time and can even be more appreciated today. Caine is very magnetic as the oh so sexy but slightly nerdy instrument of espionage. A great, suspenseful movie that is effective without all the 007 gimmicks.
Palmer, Harry Palmer... 
2007-04-20 - 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.
