The Ipcress File (1965)

(This post is part of the 9th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon, hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts)
The debut of the TV shows Danger Man in 1960 and The Avengers in 1961 would mark the beginning of a spy craze in the United Kingdom. In 1962 Dr. No, the first movie in the James Bond series, would bring the spy craze to the United States. On both sides of the Pond there would be a plethora of TV shows and movies capitalizing on the craze for secret agents. Many of the Bond imitators that sprang up during the spy craze were nearly superhuman, battling larger than life villains and boasting expense accounts that would put Jed Clampett to shame. There was one spy from Sixties movies who broke with the rest. Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) was decidedly working class. He was so near-sighted that he was nearly blind without his glasses. Although he was a formidable opponent, it was not unusual for him to come out on the losing end of fights. He was also cynical and somewhat disillusioned with life. Harry Palmer made his film debut in The Ipcress File (1965), which would be followed by the movies Funeral in Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967).

The Ipcress File was based on the novel The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton. It was Mr. Deighton's debut novel. The novel centred on an unnamed, cynical, working class intelligence officer who finds himself investigating the disappearance of several important figures. The investigation ultimately involves American testing of a neutron bomb and mind control. Len Deighton was hired by Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, producers of the James Bond movies, to write the screenplay for the second James Bond movie, From Russia with Love (1963). When Len Deighton failed to make any headway on the script, he was let go from the movie. Regardless, he sold the film rights to The IPCRESS File to Eon Productions.

That The IPCRESS File should appeal to Harry Saltzman should come as no surprise. He had produced some pivotal kitchen sink dramas before producing the Bond movies, including Look Back in Anger (1958), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), and The Entertainer (1960). Indeed, Sir Michael Caine: The Biography by William Hall quotes Harry Saltzman as having said, "Let me explain: James Bond had spawned a lot of stupid clones of Superman secret agent heroes. But Deighton had created a spy who was a loser. A real person. He doesn't get up and have champagne and caviar for breakfast, and he doesn't hop into bed with every beautiful woman that comes by. He worries about how to pay the rent at the end of the month."

Indeed, in the film The Ipcress File Harry Palmer is a very different sort of spy from James Bond. While Bond had an upper class upbringing and attended Eton, Harry had a working class background. While Bond was a Commander in the Royal Navy, Harry was a mere Sergeant. While Bond has an extravagant expense account, Harry receives a modest pay cheque. While Bond had an array of gadgets provided to him by Q, all Harry has is his gun and his wits. Indeed, while Bond drives an Aston Martin, Harry drives a blue Ford Zodiac. It is perhaps Harry's superior Major Dalby who sums up Harry best when he reads from Harry's B107 in The Ipcress File, "Insubordinate. Insolent. A trickster. Perhaps with criminal tendencies." Indeed, the only reason Harry became a spy was to avoid being put in military prison for theft.

Harry Saltzman gave a copy of the novel The IPCRESS File to screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, best known for his work on such Hammer Horrors as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958--known in the US as Horror of Dracula), and The Mummy (1959). It was Jimmy Sangster who suggested  that Mr. Saltzman take a look at the movie The Leather Boys (1964), directed by a young director named Sidney J. Furie. Previously Sidney J. Furie had directed the horror movie Dr. Blood's Coffin (1961) and the Cliff Richard vehicles The Young Ones (1961) and Wonderful Life (1964). Producer Walter Shenson had offered Mr. Furie what would become A Hard Day's Night (1964), but he declined it. The cinematographer on The Ipcress File was Otto Heller, who had earlier shot such classics as The Lady Killers (1955) and Peeping Tom (1960). Others who worked on The Ipcress File were veterans of the James Bond movies: Ken Adam, who had served as production designer on Dr. No and Goldfinger (1964); composer John Barry, who composed the scores for Dr. No, From Russia with Love; and Goldfinger; Peter R. Hunt, who had edited the James Bond films; and yet others.

With regards to the screenplay, Jimmy Sangster very much wanted to write it, but he and Harry Saltzman could never come to an agreement on the time frame as to when it would be completed. Ken Hughes, who had written several screenplays since 1953, wrote a screenplay for The Ipcress File that Harry Saltzman rejected. In the end the screenplay was written by Bill Canaway and James Doran. Bill Canaway was a  novelist who also wrote the screenplay for the movie Sammy Going South (1963). James Doran had worked primarily in television.

While it might seem odd to think of anyone else but Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, Christopher Plummer was initially considered for the role of the protagonist of The Ipcress File. Christopher Plummer turned the role down as he had received a higher paying offer to star in The Sound of Music (1965). Harry Saltzman had seen Michael Caine as Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead in Zulu (1964). It was only a few days after seeing the movie that he met Michael Caine in a restaurant. In sharp contrast to his upper crust character in Zulu, Mr. Caine wore a polo-neck sweater and spoke with a Cockney accent. He had found his working class spy.

It would ultimately be Michael Caine who would choose the name of the protagonist of The Ipcress File. In the novel The IPCRESS File, the protagonist is never given a name, although he is called "Harry" once and cannot remember if he ever used that name. Of course, for the movie the production team felt that their hero needed a name, something common and unremarkable. Michael Caine told Harry Saltzman about a dull boy he had known at school named "Palmer." Harry Saltzman then asked Michael Caine about a first name (according to some accounts he asked, "What is the dullest name you can think of?"). Inadvertently and meaning no insult to Harry Saltzman, Michael Caine blurted out, "Harry." Michael Caine realized he had made a bit of a faux pas, but fortunately Harry Saltzman was amused rather than insulted. Len Deighton's unnamed working class spy then became "Harry Palmer."

Making The Ipcress File did not always proceed smoothly. Director Sidney Furie and producer Harry Saltzman had a number of clashes while making the film. Mr. Furie was not particularly fond of the movie's script, so much so that he set fire to it on the first day of shooting. Harry Saltzman hated Sidney Furie's framing technique so much that he banned him from the editing room. At one point, while on location at Shepherd's Bush in West Londin, Sidney Furie was convinced he was going to be fired from the picture and hopped on a bus. Fortunately, he was persuaded to return to the set.

Despite any difficulties that arose during The Ipcress File, the film proved to be a success. It received mostly positive reviews on both sides of the Pond. It also did very well at the box office, guaranteeing there would be a second Harry Palmer movie (Funeral in Berlin in 1966). It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film and Ken Adam won the BAFTA Award for Best British Art Direction, Colour.

The key to the success of The Ipcress File may well be the character of Harry Palmer himself. In contrast to the many James Bond clones, not only is Harry Palmer strictly working class and far from superhuman, but he is an intellectual who loves cooking, books, and classical music. About the only thing he has in common with James Bond is, to paraphrase fellow spy Jean Courtney (Sue Lloyd) in the film, that he likes girls. Harry Palmer was a much more human character than many of the superspies so prevalent during the spy craze of the Sixties.

Not only is Harry Palmer a very different character from other fictional spies of the era, but overall The Ipcress File is a very different movie. The Ipcress File looks more like Harry Saltzman's earlier kitchen sink dramas than a Bond movie. The London of The Ipcress File is not Swinging London, but a darker, seedier London,complete with smog and rundown buildings. Harry's flat is a far cry from the bachelor pads featured in other spy movies of the time.

While The Ipcress File looks like a kitchen sink drama, it feels very much like a film noir. Harry Palmer exists in a world of espionage where it can be difficult to know whom to trust and whom not to. Even Harry's co-workers can be suspect. And just as many of the best film noirs are police procedurals, The Ipcress File could be described as an "espionage procedural." Indeed, much of Harry's time is spent on leg work and paper work. Even the various intelligence departments sometimes find it difficult to cooperate with each other. For Harry Palmer, being a spy is hardly glamorous.

The Ipcress File would have a lasting impact. It differed from the Bondian spy dramas that were dominant at the time and set a precedent for a more realistic spy drama. It led to two sequels, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain, in the Sixties, followed by the TV movies Bullet to Beijing and Midnight in St. Petersburg in the Nineties. A six part mini-series, The Ipcress File, debuted on ITV this year, with Joe Cole playing Harry Palmer.

Today The Ipcress File is considered a classic. In 1999 it ranked at no. 59 on the BFI's list of the Top 100 British Films. Its influence would also prove to be far reaching, from television shows such as Callan to movies such as The Bourne Identity (2002). Harry Palmer may not be as influential as James Bond, but in many respects he would also have a huge impact.