The Ipcress File (film)
| The Ipcress File | |
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Original British 1965 quad film poster
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| Directed by | Sidney J. Furie |
| Produced by | Harry Saltzman |
| Screenplay by |
Bill Canaway James Doran |
| Based on |
The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton |
| Starring | Michael Caine |
| Music by | John Barry |
| Cinematography | Otto Heller |
| Edited by | Peter R. Hunt |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Rank Organisation (UK) Universal Pictures (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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109 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3,000,000 (US/Canada rentals) |
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.
A top 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 told that he is being transferred to a section of the organisation headed by Major Dalby.
Ross suspects that Radcliffe's disappearance is part of a deliberate plot: sixteen top British scientists have inexplicably ceased to function, leaving their jobs at the peak of their careers. He threatens Dalby that his organisation will go if it can't get Radcliffe back. 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 Ashley Grantby, codenamed "Bluejay", and his chief of staff, codenamed "Housemartin". Using a Scotland Yard contact, Palmer locates Grantby, who gives him a contact number. It doesn't work when Palmer rings it, and when he tries to stop Grantby, Housemartin attacks him and the two get away.
Later, Carswell and Palmer learn that Housemartin has been arrested, but by the time they reach the police station, they find that men impersonating them have killed him. Suspecting that Radcliffe may be being held in a disused factory near where Housemartin was picked up, Palmer orders a search, but they find only a piece of audiotape marked 'IPCRESS' that produces a meaningless noise when played.
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Wikipedia