11:33 PM The Ipcress File (film) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Ipcress File (film)The Ipcress File is a 1965 British espionage film directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Michael Caine and featuring Guy Doleman and Nigel Green. The screenplay by Bill Canaway and James Doran was based on Len Deighton's novel, The IPCRESS File (1962). It has won critical acclaim and a BAFTA award for best British film. In 1999 it was included at number 59 on the BFI list of the 100 best British films of the 20th century.
Main cast
PlotA scientist called Radcliffe is kidnapped and his security escort killed. Harry Palmer, a British Army sergeant with a criminal past now working for a Ministry of Defence organisation, is summoned by his boss, Colonel Ross, and transferred to a section of the organisation headed by Major Dalby. Ross suspects that Radcliffe's disappearance is connected to a plot: sixteen top British scientists have inexplicably left their jobs at the peak of their careers. He threatens Dalby that his group will go if Radcliffe cannot be recovered. Palmer is then introduced as a replacement for the dead security escort. At his first departmental meeting, Palmer befriends Jock Carswell. Dalby briefs his agents, saying that they suspect Eric Grantby and his chief of staff, codenamed "Housemartin". Using a Scotland Yard contact, Palmer locates Grantby, who gives him a phone number, but it does not work. When Palmer tries to stop Grantby, Housemartin attacks him and the two get away. Housemartin is arrested, but before Palmer and Carswell can question him, he is killed by men impersonating them. Suspecting that Radcliffe is being held in a certain disused factory, Palmer orders a search, but nothing is found except a piece of audiotape marked "IPCRESS" that produces a meaningless noise when played. Dalby then points out that the paper on which Grantby wrote the phone number is the programme for an upcoming military band concert. There they encounter Grantby and a deal is struck for Radcliffe's return. The exchange goes as planned, but as they are leaving, Palmer sees a man in the shadows and shoots him. It turns out to be a CIA agent who has also been following Grantby. Subsequently, another CIA operative threatens to kill Palmer if he discovers that the death was not a mistake. Some days later, it becomes clear that while Radcliffe is physically unharmed, his mind has been affected and he can no longer function as a scientist. Carswell discovers a book titled "Induction of Psychoneuroses by Conditioned Reflex under Stress": IPCRESS, which he believes explains what has happened to Radcliffe and the other scientists. Carswell borrows Palmer's car to test his theory on Radcliffe, but is killed before reaching him. Believing that he himself must have been the intended target, Palmer goes home to collect his belongings, and there discovers the body of the second CIA agent. When he returns to the office, the IPCRESS file is missing from his desk. Certain that he is being set up, Palmer tells Dalby what has happened and that he suspects Ross took the file, which Ross had previously asked him to microfilm. Dalby tells him to leave town for a while. On the train to Paris, Palmer is kidnapped and wakes up imprisoned in a cell in Albania. After several days without sleep, food and warmth, Grantby reveals himself as his kidnapper. Having read the file, Palmer realises that they are preparing to brainwash him. He uses pain to distract himself, but after many sessions under stress from disorientating images and loud, meaningless electronic sounds, he succumbs. Grantby then instills a trigger phrase that will make Palmer follow any commands given to him. Palmer eventually manages to escape to the street, and learns he is actually in London. He phones Dalby, who is in Grantby's company at the time. Dalby uses the trigger phrase and gets Palmer to call Ross to the warehouse. As Dalby and Ross arrive, Palmer holds them both at gunpoint. Dalby accuses Ross of killing Carswell; Ross tells Palmer that he had been suspicious of Dalby and was investigating him. Dalby uses the trigger phrase again and commands Palmer to "Shoot the traitor now". Palmer wavers; his hand strikes against a piece of metal and the pain reminds him of his conditioning. Dalby goes for his gun and Palmer shoots him. Ross remarks that in choosing Palmer for the assignment, he had hoped that Palmer's tendency to insubordination would be useful. When Palmer reproaches Ross for endangering him, he is told that it is part of his job. =====================================
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