Absolutely brilliant

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

What struck me from the start when I first saw this film 50 years ago was its dominating stylishness. 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. It's not credible. The stylishness is overdone in artifice and far-fetched methods bordering on absurdity, but it's the book that here goes off into incredibility. The enemy nation for which the spies are working is never mentioned, but Albania is, and Albania was at the time a satellite of Communist China, and it's more credible that China could have contrived an espionage intrigue like this and with those means than Russia.On the whole, it's almost a masterpiece, and it was a great joy to see it again after 50 years and get even more impressed than the first time above all by its artistic qualities.

The film is tedious and deals with the brainwashing of scientists. Guess what? You had to be brainwashed after viewing this film.What's going on with the British scientists? They're leaving in record numbers and this Ipcress File reveals what is going on.Michael Caine is actually numb here as the Agent Palmer. There is deceit and treachery along the way. Caine is blamed for the accidental killing of an American agent and another one from the U.S. is found dead in his apartment.We're dealing with his new boss as he has been transferred within the agency. The new one's veneer makes you think that we're not dealing with someone who is on the up and up.Double agents abound here within the treachery. We see Caine able to overcome hypnotic trances and ultimately win the day. Unfortunately, the people does not.

"The Ipcress File" was produced at the height of the James Bond craze. However, while also a British secret agent, The Ipcress File's Harry Palmer is entirely different sort of character altogether. An Army Sergeant convicted of racketeering, Palmer has been given the choice of working for British Intelligence or going to prison. He is a working-class James Bond with a cockney accent. Harry Palmer lives in a modest flat in London and, rather than driving around in an posh Aston Martin, one gets the distinct impression that he probably commutes to the grubby office from which he works on the bus.There is nothing glamorous about Palmer's associates, either. All are either civil-servant bureaucrats or stuffy military types. 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. Don't expect massive explosions, spectacular car chases or eye-popping special effects. Instead, The Ipcress File is an intelligent film about intelligent people, none of whom can necessarily be trusted. In Harry Palmer's world, brains count far more than brawn. This is one spy thriller that is well worth going out of one's way to see.

A critical sequence takes place early in "The Ipcress File", one of the best spy movies of the 1960's. Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, a sergeant in army intelligence, gets out of bed, goes to the kitchen and makes his morning cup of coffee. The camera follows him as he grinds the beans, spoons out the coffee, and finally adds boiling water. Later in the film he makes an omelette, expertly breaking the eggs with one hand while chatting to a female colleague. These are important scenes in "The Ipcress File"; they establish the character's point of difference. Spy films proliferated in the 60's, inspired by the Cold War and the success of the James Bond films. Each new entry in the genre presented a bit of business that would help it stand out from the crowd. Bond may have had his Aston Martin and his debonair style but Harry Palmer had his horn-rimmed glasses and his domestic virtues. Harry Palmer is good at what he does but invariably rubs his superiors the wrong way. He is posted to British Counter-Intelligence to track down Dr. Radcliffe, a scientist who has been kidnapped by an international group of criminals who will try to sell him to the highest bidder – East or West. Palmer is under the command of Major Dalby played by Nigel Green, but finds his previous boss, the snobbish Colonel Ross, played by Guy Dolman, still hovering on the scene. Double agents and brainwashing were two of the favourite plot devices of movies from the period, and "The Ipcress File" ticks both items on the checklist. When the missing scientist is returned, it is discovered that he has been brainwashed. The claims for the effectiveness of brainwashing in movies have become more preposterous over time. Although the techniques on view in "The Ipcress File" are not the most far-fetched, they are nonetheless the least convincing aspects of the film. They consist of a high-pitched noise and cheap disco effects projected onto the subject strapped to a chair inside a metal container. Michael Caine plays Palmer with that same air of insolence that he brought to nearly all his roles in the first half of his career. The film also strips away any glamour espionage may have had. The operatives spend a great deal of time filling out forms – L101's and Motor Pool Requisitions. "Mostly it's just legwork", explains Jock, a colleague Palmer befriends played by Gordon Jackson.A noticeable feature of the film is the camera work. After nearly 50 years, this appears as eccentric rather than chic. Many scenes are shot with the view obscured by what appears to be the nearest piece of furniture. Other scenes are shot at gravity defying angles. Although these effects now seem quaint and overly self-conscious, "The Ipcress File" is still a sharply told tale. It seemed that no British spy movie of the period was complete without a John Barry score. Barry was very experimental during the 60's, and produced one brilliant score after another including this one for "The Ipcress File" with effective use of the cimbalom in the main theme.Even if "The Ipcress File" doesn't qualify for classic status, Caine is still a good reason to watch this film, he gave it a unique edge back then that still makes it easy to watch today.