The Ipcress File

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

There were spy stories on film before the early 1960’s, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock, which leaned toward the seedy side of a secret agent’s life. However, after the James Bond franchise started, the impression then became what a glamorous life spies had, bordering on superhero status. John le Carre’s stories changed the direction back to the grim view, and in 1965 his The Spy Who Came in from the Cold appeared on screen and so did The Ipcress File. The latter, produced by Harry Saltzman, a producer behind many James Bond flicks, presented an anti-hero as the focus of the story, but kept some of the Bond humor. It also jump-started the career of Michael Caine, the first leading man to wear non-dashing eyeglasses.

The movie’s plot centers on the inability of several top British to continue their work. The latest one is named Dr. Radcliffe (Aubrey Richards). He is kidnapped and his bodyguard is killed during the abduction, which happens on a train (trains are good places for intrigue. Think of North by Northwest, Murder on the Orient Express, even the Bond film, Frome Russia with Love). The secret agent boss is the condescending Colonel Ross (Guy Doleman), who recruits Harry Palmer (Caine) to replace the dead agent. Our first view of Harry is when a loud alarm clock rings, like an alert sounding, waking him. We see blurred vision through his myopic eyes which becomes clear after he puts on the eyeglasses. The shot suggests how reality can be distorted by deceptive people until the perception of them becomes clear.

The musical score is adept at mimicking the feeling of something mysterious that ends in climatic notes suggesting revelation. Think of Henry Mancini’s work in Experiment in Terror and Charade.

Harry lives a modest life except for the surprising fact that he is a gourmet who enjoys a cup of freshly ground coffee made in a French press which hints at his special nature which contrasts with his boring current assignment. He occupies a sleazy stakeout room where he reports boring details of his observations. It is quite a contrast to the exotic locales and adrenalin-pumped Bond or Matt Helm adventures. Harry’s wit appears early when his relief shows up and the man expresses disdain for their boss. Harry says he must do some “wiping” because the tape is “still running.”

The first meeting with Colonel Ross is in a shadowy room, which reflects the covert dealings of these operatives. Those shadows persist throughout the film. As IMDb notes, many camera views appear through half-open doors, over shoulders, or through windows or screens to suggest people are spying on others. In this first scene with Ross the camera is aimed upwards. As IMDb notes, it makes the viewers feel as if they are crouching, looking at things from below. That lurking perspective may be to place the audience in the positions of spies themselves, which, of course, is the feeling Hitchcock conveys in his films that stress the audience’s voyeurism.

Ross’s condescending nature is evident as he immediately chastises Harry for not being secretive enough when he doesn’t close the door as he enters. Harry’s wages are pitiful even for the time, and since he is transferring to a promotion, Ross says he will get him a pittance more. Harry says, in a quietly sarcastic way, that he can now get that “infrared grille” he wanted. The squabbling over wages would never appear in a Bond movie, and the conversation grounds the story in what concerns everyday people. Ross says he is transferring Harry to a spot that can make better use of his talents. Later, we see how telling that remark is. The caustic Ross says that Harry’s new boss, Major Dalby (Nigel Greene), does not have Ross’s “sense of humor.” Harry wittily says, “Yes sir. I will miss that sir.”

The interchange between Ross and Dalby conveys much with action and words. Ross thuds his umbrella and an attaché case on Dalby’s desk, implying he’s upset with Dalby’s work. When the Major says he hopes Ross isn’t suggesting that his section was negligent in Dr. Radcliffe’s disappearance, Ross’s response of “There’s no question of that,” can be taken two ways, which fits in with the secretive nature of their work. He adds menace to his conversation when he threatens that if they don’t get Radcliffe back, their superiors may shut Dalby’s office down. He notes that Harry is a bit “insubordinate” but a good man. Ross downplays that aspect of Harry as we see for his own purposes, which, of course, are hidden here.

When Harry meets Dalby for the first time, he again forgets to shut the door. Could that fact suggest that Harry is more transparent and not as devious as his superiors? Ross’s superior attitude is more subtle, but Dalby’s manner is blunt, harshly threatening Harry if he doesn’t toe the line. He reads from Harry’s personnel file, which labels him, “Insubordinate, insolent. A trickster. Perhaps with criminal tendencies.” Dalby admits that the “last quality may be useful.” What does that say about the fine line between the lawful and the unlawful? Dalby makes sure that Harry understands that he reports to Dalby first, not Ross. Other than the fact that Dalby is his immediate superior, why this rule? Is he being secretive within his own organization, or does he suspect Ross of being a traitor?

Instead of the exotic devices that Q supplies Bond, Palmer just gets a different gun and observes some film footage with other agents of the likely man who has the power to kidnap Radcliffe and sell him to the highest bidder. The assignment is to track down the person, Grantby, known as Bluejay (Frank Gatliff), a deceptively benign name, and his second-in-command, Housemartin (Oliver MacGreevy), and let them know the British government wants to buy the scientist back. At the briefing, Harry develops a friendship with Jock Carswell (Gordon Jackson).

The grumpy Alice (Frida Bamford), with a cigarette dangling from her lips which reinforces her sour disposition, is a sort of anti-Moneypenny employee, not lovely or fun. She instead is a bureaucrat, doling out restrictions and forms. Dalby wants his operatives to fill out a field report every time they make an inquiry. It’s not Harry’s style, so instead of getting bogged down in the numerous leads that Dalby issues (deliberate procrastination?), Harry uses a source at Scotland Yard to find Bluejay who showed up at the same place three times for long enough to get parking tickets. It implies that the man could have been doing some business at the location. (The gray, rainy weather is another attempt to de-romanticize the work).

After acquiring Bluejay’s car license number, Harry stakes out the place where the car shows up. Housemartin appears to put more change in the parking meter, and that allows the astute Harry to follow the man into a science museum library. The studious setting contrasts with the intrigue that transpires, although the science part fits what’s happening to the “brain drain” that England is experiencing. After making contact with Bluejay, the man gives Harry a phone number to call later. Harry’s intelligence is on display as he immediately goes to a phone booth and discovers that the number is invalid. When he tries to stop Bluejay outside, he gets into a fight with Housemartin, who escapes and drives his boss away. The camera films the fight through a car window, suggesting the way one spies on others.

On his way back to his place with his foodie goodies, Harry is clever enough to notice the light on in his flat. He has his gun out and the camera gives us a covert shot through a keyhole in keeping with the spy story. Fellow agent Jean Courtney (Sue Lloyed) is there, holding Harry’s automatic pistol. She notes it’s forbidden to use it, and Harry’s sharp response is that his mother gave it to him for Christmas. He quickly realizes that she is on the job, and she admits that Dalby sent her to assess Harry as a new member of the team (which turns out to be a lie). However, it again shows the suspicious nature of the profession. He asks Jean to put on Mozart as he prepares a fine meal, which points to Harry’s refined tastes despite his otherwise unsavory existence. Jean confirms Harry’s “criminal tendencies” by noting while in the military Harry was illegally exploiting the Germans for profit and was caught. Instead of serving a two-year prison sentence, the intelligence service offered a difficult-to-decline stint as a spy. Here, you either go to jail or work in a job for the government. The story does not offer good alternatives.

Harry’s connections note that Housemartin was arrested, but somebody impersonating Harry and Jock pretended to interrogate the man and killed him. Duplicity and murder are part of the goings on here. Housemartin was in possession of electrical equipment in a suitcase, which the killers took with them. Housemartin was apprehended at an abandoned factory. Harry lies (in this profession it obviously comes in handy he realizes) about his authority on the phone and gets a team to join him at the factory. Dalby shows up and Harry justifies his not following the rules because he thinks the missing scientist is there. Whoever was there cleared out. It seems, suspiciously, like others are always one step ahead of Harry. Harry says that if Radcliffe had been there, he would have been “a hero.” Dalby’s curt response is, “He wasn’t. And you’re not.” There is no larger-than-life super heroism going on here, as in Bond or Marvel films. However, Harry does find a piece of audio tape that did not get destroyed in a stove in the factory. It has “IPCRESS” written on it. When they play the tape all they hear is what sounds like strange, distorted sounds.

Ross appears at the grocery store while Harry buys his food. Ross has trouble navigating his shopping cart among the people there, suggesting that his clandestine life causes him to be out of his element when it comes to the average citizen. He is only there to try and get Harry to photograph the IPCRESS file, and to keep his actions secret from Dalby. He threatens Harry with imprisonment if he doesn’t keep the request private. Dalby didn’t want Harry to report any findings to Ross, and now Ross is acting suspiciously, meeting outside of work, and keeping secrets from Dalby. Harry is caught in the middle of questionable activity by two agents who are supposed to be patriotic government workers. What adds to the duplicity is Harry thinks Jean is working for Ross, and she thinks he is still working for Ross. It doesn’t stop them from becoming intimate despite their suspicions.

Dalby has made contact with Bluejay and they meet at an outdoor band concert to discuss the exchange of cash for Radcliffe. Interestingly, Dalby brings Harry with him, which does not seem necessary. The subsequent rendezvous is at a dark underground garage, which fits the secret activity occurring. Both sides carry automatic weapons as cash is counted while a doctor checks out the sedated Radcliffe. The transaction goes smoothly until Harry sees someone lurking in the shadows and opens fire. Dalby discovers Harry has killed an American agent, who was tailing Bluejay. Again, we do not have a flawless protagonist, and the death indicates the danger of a hidden agenda.

Harry becomes Radcliffe’s bodyguard. The scientist seems physically fine but does not remember anything about his abduction. When he is to give a talk about his area of expertise, he begins to repeat the same words over and over while we hear the sounds that were on the tape Harry discovered. So, we know that he has been brainwashed in a sort of The Manchurian Candidate manner. The scientist appeared healthy on the surface but was defective underneath, adding to the theme of appearances being deceptive.

More devious activity occurs when Harry spots a man smoking a pipe tailing him. Turns out the man is also a CIA agent (Thomas Baptiste) who is suspicious of Harry’s killing of one of his comrades. He says he will continue to follow him and if he concludes that Harry is crooked, he will kill him. These men operate outside the law. Dalby and Ross meet, and Dalby said he assigned Harry the task of exacting repayment from Bluejay for the selling of “damaged goods.” Ross believes that Radcliffe fits the pattern of many other scientists who no longer participate in scientific research. Both Dalby and Ross are cold emotionally as they decide to let Harry suffer his fate if the CIA agent decides to kill him.

The pipe-smoking CIA agent sees Harry talking to Bluejay, which makes Harry seem like he is conspiring with a kidnapper. What is on the surface in this film is not what it seems. At the office, Jock has been doing research, and he found something that discusses “Induction of Psychoneurosis by Conditioned Reflex Under Stress.” He prompts Harry to realize that IPCRESS is an acronym for this type of devious mental manipulation that the scientists have experienced.

The next scene finds Jock shot to death while driving Harry’s agency-issued car. Harry tells Jean that he believes the American agent thought it was Harry in the car and shot Jock. Maybe or maybe not, but in any case we have more false appearances. Jean suggests more hiding when she invites Harry to stay at her place for safety purposes. When Harry goes to his place to gather his belongings, it is obviously dark inside, until Harry turns on the light which reveals a deadly reality. The American agent lies dead on the floor. In Hitchcock fashion, someone is falsely setting Harry up as a guilty person.

Back at the office Harry finds that the IPCRESS file is missing. He calls Dalby to meet in person. He doesn’t trust talking on the phone because he knows that things have degenerated to the point that his world is under attack. When he meets Dalby he says Ross probably stole the file because he wanted him to microfilm it. Dalby says he will take care of the body in the apartment, but he will not protect Harry because he is too “hot.” The spy world exists in this film in the underbelly of society where it is callous and perilous.

Since Dalby told Harry to disappear, he plans on taking a train (not a safe place in these films as we have seen). After he leaves Jean’s apartment she calls Ross. We wonder now if even the woman he has become close to is a false ally. Another shot through a window shows a hand clearing the view of Harry on the platform. Danger seems to be lurking behind every supposedly safe corner.

Dalby tells Ross about the dead American agent in Harry’s flat. Ross says that there is a high casualty rate in Dalby’s department, to which Dalby says, “I wonder why?” Again, the sinister acts seem to anticipate Harry’s every move and the implication behind Dalby’s words is that he suspects Ross is behind the nasty business.

As suspected, Harry is abducted from the train. He is rendered unconscious, and when he wakes he finds himself in a cell. He has not been the only victim there because there are scratches on the wall, which suggests that his fate is not a positive one. He pries loose a metal clip from his cot and adds scratches to the wall which indicate he is there for several days. A captor looks through yet another peep hole, adding to the spy motif. Harry experiences cold. He has little food and drink, as he can’t touch the overheated cup in a revolving opening which tempts and then removes sustenance.

Grantby (Bleujay) is there saying they are in his home country of Albania, but at this point, can one trust anything someone says? Harry doesn’t have his glasses, and we see images through his eyes, and the blurring shows a distorted reality.

They don’t let Harry sleep and subject him to the loud, disorienting sound found on the IPCRESS tape. He experiences pulsing videos on all four walls in a room where he is bound in a chair. The purpose is to break his resistance so he will suffer the same fate as the scientists. After the bombarding sounds and images, lulling colors and sounds follow. Bluejay’s hypnotic voice tells Harry to forget about the IPCRESS file, and even his own name. The sense of one’s own identity is at risk in this totalitarian space.

Harry is clever and distracts the conditioning on him by using pain by rubbing his wrist against the leather restraints. They put padding on the restraints, but Harry uses the metal clip he secretly holds in his hand to create pain, an act of deception of his own. However, he can’t maintain his resistance and drops the bloody piece of metal in the conditioning room. Bluejay says when a voice says, “Now listen to me. Listen to me,” he is to obey that voice. Bluejay tries to set up Harry as the fall guy who killed agents and stole the IPCRESS file to be sold to his country’s enemies. Bluejay orders Harry not to remember any of this programming until he hears the voice.

Harry escapes, and in keeping with all the false information in the story, he is in London, not Albania. He calls Dalby. We find that it is Dalby who is the traitor as he has Bluejay with him. For Ross’s sake, Dalby had to pretend (more deception) that he was trying to find out about the problem with the scientists. Dalby tells Harry the triggering words and orders him to call Ross and tell him to meet him at the warehouse where he had been held, which has been abandoned by the IPCRESS team. (There is a red lampshade next to Dalby in this scene. As IMDb points out, Dalby is associated with red in many scenes. Other examples are: in the park, the military band members wear red outfits and play "The Thin Red Line", which Dalby likes; his sports car has a red interior; he stands next to firefighting equipment in the last scene, and there is a red bucket near him when we see he is the villain. Along with his sinister mustache, the film paints him as a devil figure, and red can associate him with the Soviet Union in existence at the time).

 Bluejay said he would have liked more sessions with Harry. So, when Dalby shows up at the warehouse, Harry is not conditioned enough to blindly follow his programming. He suspects Dalby as much as Ross. We see him now spying through an open door while he was the one being observed in the past, indicating that the situation has shifted. It is interesting that he tells Dalby to stand under the light. Yes, he wants to see him, but it also implies wanting to bring the truth out in the open. When Ross shows up, he disarms him and says he knows one of them is a traitor. He discovers that Jean was working for Ross, not Dalby, as we already know.

Dalby then uses the words, “Now listen to me,” and tells him to shoot Ross. Harry wavers, slams his hand against some movie projector equipment (interesting that this shot, in a movie, shows how film can be used for dangerous purposes). This act which breaks the trance, and he then shoots and kills Dalby as the man pulls out a gun. Harry is angry at Ross for using his insubordinate nature to reveal Dalby’s double-agent status. Ross’s response is, “That’s what you’re paid for.” Considering what a small sum that is, we see what little compensation Harry, the working-class spy, must settle for despite the perilous nature of the job.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

This film, released in 1965, directed by Martin Ritt, and based on John le Carré’s novel, starts with a shot of the barbed wire atop the Berlin Wall. Ritt gives us an image which emphasizes the divide between not only East and West Berlin, but the separation between eastern and western cultures, and their respective economic systems, communism and capitalism. The barbed wire symbolizes how dangerous and ragged the divide was during the Cold War. As the story progresses, the notion that those on one side of the fence hold a moral advantage over the other comes into question.

Alec Leamas (Richard Burton), a British spy who is head of intelligence in Berlin, waits at Checkpoint Charlie on the western side of the wall. He is expecting an East German agent, Karl Riemick, to escape to the west. However, the agent is killed, as have other agents, by the East German counter-espionage head, Mundt (Peter van Eyck). Back in London, Leamas’ boss, Control (Cyril Cusack), tells him that spies have to live without “sympathy.” But, one can’t stay outdoors all the time. Everyone has to “come in from the cold.” Leamas protests, not wanting a desk job. But, Control wants to assign him one more job to get Mundt, and asks him to stay “out in the cold a little longer.” Control says that even though one’s country is peaceful, their work requires them to do disagreeable things. In order to succeed, they must be as ruthless as their enemies. He asks Leamas if he still drinks alcohol. In this scene, even though we do not yet know Control’s plan, we realize that the West is equated with the East in an ethically downward spiral. And, Leamas will be an exploited tool in the process.

We next witness a disheveled Leamas at the Labor Exchange (unemployment office). It appears that he has been fired as a secret agent and has left several subsequent jobs. He is drinking heavily and needs money. He begins work at a reference library where he meets Nan Perry (Claire Bloom) who he discovers is a member of the British communist party. She says that one must believe in something, and even though she is an atheist, she believes in an ideology. Leamas voices the despair in following one political movement or the other when he says that in the clash between capitalism and communism, “it’s the innocents who suffer.” The two, however, become lovers.

Leamas spends time in jail after assaulting a grocer named Patmore (Bernard Lee) because the man won’t continue to extend Leamas credit on his purchases. (There is an ironic bit of casting here, since Lee played “M” in the early James Bond movies, where good and evil are very distinct forces). Leamas appears ready to be recruited by the other side. He meets with Control at the house of agent George Smiley (Rupert Davies). Leamas’ assignment is to provide enough information that will make Mundt’s deputy, Fiedler (Oskar Werner), who is Jewish and hates the ex-Nazi, accuse his superior of being a spy. A man named Ashe (Michael Hordern) approaches Leamas and there is another meeting with his superior, Dick Carlton (Robert Hardy). Leamas makes it clear that he despises his old bosses and is ready to give up information for money. The meeting with Ashe is at a restaurant that has drawings on the walls which depict people having sex in various positions. And, the meeting with Carlton is at a strip club. Also, Ashe is a homosexual, and at the time the movie was made, his sexual preference was seen as depraved. The settings for these dealings are made to emphasize the sleaziness of the activities of these men as they try to buy traitors.

But the business of these men on both sides gets even more despicable. Leamas thought he was only supposed to go to Holland to be interrogated and divulge information about the payment of funds to an unknown agent in an operation called Rolling Stone. Leamas was told that the plan was to implicate Mundt as a double agent working for British intelligence. But, Leamas was left out in the “cold” concerning aspects of the plan because, as we later learn, London went public with Leamas’ disappearance, making him look like a defector, and thus sought after by the authorities. He cannot return home from Holland, and must now go to East Germany and be interrogated by Fiedler. (It is interesting that the plane on which Leamas is a passenger is called “The Flying Dutchman,” a bad omen, since it suggests those who are condemned for their sins). During their meetings, Fiedler asks Leamas questions similar to those posed by Nan about his beliefs. Leamas’ sarcastic reply about adhering to an ideology is “I reserve the right to be ignorant. That’s the Western way of life.” He may be playing the part of a collaborator, but his statements echo the cynicism about the tactics employed in the Cold War. Fiedler echoes Leamas’ early statement about the fate of “innocents” caught in the middle of this war, but adds his own twist. He says, “Innocent people die every day. They might as well do it for a reason.” This statement is chilling in that it reverberates with the activities carried on in the present, where guiltless people are killed by terrorists because of their self-righteous knowledge that their way is the only right way. Perhaps Fiedler should reflect on how his Jewish kin were murdered for an evil “reason.” In contrast, Leamas’ statement about being ignorant of a so-called right way is more benevolent, if the only choices offered are both destructive.

From the evidence Leamas supplies, Fiedler concludes that the German named agent drawing from bank funds must be German in fact to avoid suspicion. That because Control was the only one handling the agent, he must be of importance. Mundt was in the countries at the time there were withdrawals from the banks. Leamas says it is impossible for him, as the head of German counter-espionage, not to know that Mundt was a double agent. Of course, his adamant attitude only convinces Fiedler that Leamas is on the level. Mundt returns and arrests both Fielder and Leamas, but Fielder has enough proof to put Mundt in front of a tribunal.

At this hearing, Fielder presents evidence that shows how Mundt promoted Riemick, who could then supply the British with better and better intelligence. Also, Control met Riemick alone. He relates that when Mundt was in England as part of a diplomatic mission, he killed someone and yet escaped the country despite the authorities being on high alert. Fiedler hypothesizes that Mundt was turned into a western asset in exchange for his freedom. Fiedler had suspected Riemick, and Mundt killed him before he could be broken and implicated him. However, Mundt’s representative questions Leamas, who supposedly collaborated for money because he was broke. He was followed to Smiley’s house, and George Smiley later visited Nan (who Leamas made clear to Control was not be involved). Nan, who thought she was going to East Germany in an exchange program, is introduced as a surprise witness. Ignorant of the reason for the proceedings, she admits that Smiley, a known British agent, visited her and purchased the lease for her apartment for one thousand pounds, because she was involved with Leamas. At this point Leamas admits to the plan to implicate Mundt, and urges that Nan be let go as she was not part of any conspiracy. Fiedler is arrested and will be executed for his conspiring to get rid of Mundt. As he is taken away, he tells Leamas that he is protecting Mundt. Leamas now realizes that the real objective was to get rid of Fielder, and that Mundt was, indeed, Control’s Rolling Stone double agent.

In the night, Mundt frees Leamas and Nan, saying he will blame Fiedler’s sympathizers for their escape, rooting out those who suspected him of being a British agent. On the way to escape over the wall, Leamas explains how he was sent to discredit Mundt, and she was used to discredit Leamas. All this double-dealing “to kill the Jew.” By making Fiedler a Jew and Mundt an ex-Nazi, the story indicts western interests for having now joined themselves with their hated enemies to kill a member of race the former enemy tried to exterminate. Leamas explains the current way of things in his speech to Nan:

"What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not. They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me. Little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong? Yesterday I would've killed Mundt because I thought him evil and an enemy, but not today. Today he's evil and my friend. London needs him. They need him so that the great moronic masses you admire so much can sleep soundly in their flea-bitten beds again. They need him for the safety of ordinary crummy people like you and me."

When Nan questions Leamas how he can ally himself with people who would hatch such a plot, he tells her that history has shown communism has not provided anything better.  "There's a few million bodies on that path," he says. As they begin to scale the wall spotlights reveal their escape. Nan is shot and killed, because her knowledge of Mundt’s complicity with England makes her a liability. Leamas now understands the scope of the treachery surrounding him and goes back down on the east side to join the slain Nan. He is also killed.

It is fitting that these two should die at the wall that divides the two worlds shown in the film. For both of them at this time neither the east nor the west can be called home.

What is your favorite Richard Burton role?

The next film is Doubt.