Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

clanciai 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.

atlasmb Sandwiched between Michael Caine's performances in the amazing "Zulu" and the culturally significant "Alfie", "The Ipcress File" is a real disappointment. Make no mistake--Michael Caine turns in a solid performance. And the camera work, shot from first person POV, is often inspired.But other aspects of this film are off-putting or uninspiring. The musical score often serves as a jarring contrast to the action on screen, instead of supporting it. Worst of all, the story is fairly boring (the identity of the bad guy is telegraphed quite obviously via dialogue early on). One commenter at IMDb called the pace of the film "urgent", but I found its sluggish pace one of its worst features.I see how the Harry Palmer character could be fun to watch, with his idiosyncratic attention to some details and his interest in cooking, but in the film, he doesn't really seem inspired by his passions, except women.The plot about mind control was done infinitely better in "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) and would be done better in "The Parallax View" (1974) and "A Clockwork Orange" (1971).The introduction of Harry Palmer as a film character (though he's no Bond or Marlowe or Spade) is notable, but it does not elevate this film above mediocrity, I am sorry to say.

SnoopyStyle There is a suspicious brain drain in Britain. Scientist Radcliffe is kidnapped off of a train. Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is stuck doing mind-numbing surveillance. His boss Colonel Ross pulls him out after 2 months in the doghouse and transfers him to counter-intelligence headed by paperwork-obsessed Major Dalby. Unconventional Palmer tracks Radcliffe to a warehouse. Radcliffe isn't there but there is a tape labeled IPCRESS. Dalby tells him to open an Ipcress File.I love the style. I love the bureaucratic side of espionage. I also love Michael Caine's cool demeanor. I love the first two thirds of the movie. The last act is questionable. It's a bit too cheesy. There isn't enough tension. It needs some more action. Also I'm not sure why the conspirators do what they do. It feels different from the first parts of the movie.

storyguide-axel A scientist disappears from a train, a man dies. Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is one of many investigators on the case, looking for a man named Grantby. He follows a lead to a library where he gets the feeling that something big is at stake here. After a fight with one of Grantby's goons, he returns to his captain with the bad news that he has been unsuccessful. The captain is for obvious reasons, not pleased.In an abandoned warehouse, Palmer finds a small piece of tape with the name IPCRESS on, but at this point in the movie, has no idea what it means, if anything. Later on, though, he learns that it is an abbreviation of "Induction of Psychoneuroses by Conditioned Reflex Under Stress". When a scientist suddenly appears, with a strange memory loss, all the dots are about to get connected.The Ipcress File is an old movie, but not so old that you are bored by the plot, dialogue or even images. It starts out with a mysterious disappearance from a train and a murder. Who did this and for what reasons? Then we meet a young Michael Caine, this time playing an agent called Harry Palmer, who is taken from his job on a stakeout, to investigating the murder and disappearance. He is no James Bond, and thank you very much for that. In Harry Palmer we meet a real person with real routines, real emotions and who can speak like a real person without a single one-liner. For these very reasons, this is a very satisfying movie.I quite liked this movie, and while the colors are a bit faded and the dialogue a bit stiff, it actually felt contemporary, and the plot itself is as relevant today as it was back in 1965. The drama is not big car chases or rivers of blood, it is the drama between people, people that feel real and with real relationships. Also, the Harry Palmer character is not without humor, especially in the scenes with the young Jean (Sue Lloyd) who has been asked by her superior to learn more about Palmer.As far as agent movies go, this is one of the better that I have seen in a while. If you are thinking of seeing Skyfall… don't… go rent this movie instead. You'll be the better person for it.