1 Topic by Higgins

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Topic: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Time for the continuation of our Covid-groupwatchings

This time, it‘s

THE IPCRESS FILE
https://share-your-photo.com/img/90fa45e341.jpg


London Summertime:       20:00
Paris Summertime:           21:00
New York local time          15:00
LA local time                    12:00


PLEASE  KEEP IN MIND THAT WE ARE ALL STARTING 10 MINUTES LATER !

The 19:00 deadline is set so that everybody has enough time to find their DVDs/Blu Rays, boot their players and get ready for playing the movie
WE ARE STARTING PRECISELY AT 19:10

- Please make sure that everybody has their BluRay/DVD/VCR ready and start the player latest 19:00 GMT to get done with all the dodgy menus.
- PAUSE YOUR PLAYER
- HIT PLAY PRECISELY AT 19:10.
I‘ll post some timecodes during the thread just in case that somebody has messed it up

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-------Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!------

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2 Reply by Golrush007

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Two lines that I have heard used to describe 'The Ipcress File' are 'The poor man's Bond' and 'The thinking man's Goldfinger'.

Interesting comments both, and there is certainly some sort of shared DNA between Bond and Ipcress given the number of key crew members that worked on both Ipcress and the Bond films. However comparisons between the Bond films and the Palmer films probably aren't all that helpful, a bit like trying to compare Fleming and Le Carre's approaches to the espionage novel. I love both Bond and Palmer (mostly in The Ipcress File, although the other two in the original trilogy are both enjoyable films in their own right.) The Ipcress File is possibly my favourite film in the sub-genre of the 'more serious' spy thriller.

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3 Reply by Number24

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

I think Harry Palmer is better described as "The poor Bond" than "The poor man's Bond". Or perhaps the working class Bond?

4 Reply by emtiem

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Golrush007 wrote:

Two lines that I have heard used to describe 'The Ipcress File' are 'The poor man's Bond' and 'The thinking man's Goldfinger'.

Interesting comments both, and there is certainly some sort of shared DNA between Bond and Ipcress given the number of key crew members that worked on both Ipcress and the Bond films. However comparisons between the Bond films and the Palmer films probably aren't all that helpful, a bit like trying to compare Fleming and Le Carre's approaches to the espionage novel. I love both Bond and Palmer (mostly in The Ipcress File, although the other two in the original trilogy are both enjoyable films in their own right.) The Ipcress File is possibly my favourite film in the sub-genre of the 'more serious' spy thriller.


Oh I think they're certainly comparable and very similar because both of them glamourise and slightly fetishise a male spy character. Ipcress is perhaps a little more sly because it tries to make you think it's making him seem gritty and real, but really it's about how cool Harry Palmer is. Caine does the geek-chic thing thirty years early and looks great in his specs and mac, and it's all about how he loves jazz and classical and cooking and birds etc. and how cool he is for doing so. And he's every bit as charismatic as Connery. Bond and Palmer are slightly different flavours because one lives the high life and makes it look cool, and the other makes the low life seem cool with lots of stylish angles on industrial wastelands and offices with ceilings (the cinematographer is really obsessed with ceilings!), but really they're just two sides of the same thing.

Personally, even though I can see Ipcress is the better-made -and more important- film of the two, I much prefer Funeral In Berlin: I like the settings more and the plot is just a much better, nicely complex spy plot. I tend to switch off towards the end of Ipcress with all of the torture stuff: it kinds of stalls a bit there for me and I don't find the ending all that satisfying.

5 Reply by Shady Tree

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

emtiem wrote:

Oh I think they're certainly comparable and very similar because both of them glamourise and slightly fetishise a male spy character. Ipcress is perhaps a little more sly because it tries to make you think it's making him seem gritty and real, but really it's about how cool Harry Palmer is. Caine does the geek-chic thing thirty years early and looks great in his specs and mac, and it's all about how he loves jazz and classical and cooking and birds etc. and how cool he is for doing so. And he's every bit as charismatic as Connery. Bond and Palmer are slightly different flavours because one lives the high life and makes it look cool, and the other makes the low life seem cool with lots of stylish angles on industrial wastelands and offices with ceilings (the cinematographer is really obsessed with ceilings!), but really they're just two sides of the same thing.

From my memory of it I'd agree with that. The differences are clear but, from alternative angles, they both capture/help create sixties notions of cool, with the same DNA.

And a highlight of The Ipcress File in defining that cool is the John Barry score.


I won't be around tomorrow but look forward to watching this one again soon.

Last edited by Shady Tree (12th Jul 2020 20:28)

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6 Reply by Gymkata

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

it's looking like I'm going to have to miss this.  We're scrambling for a software release and kinda under the gun.

Current rankings:
OHMSS>FRWL>CR>TSWLM>YOLT>MR>SF>FYEO>GE>OP>DN>
TWINE>TND>QOS>TB>TMWTGG>GF>LALD>TLD>AVTAK>SP>DAF>LTK>DAD
Bond rankings: Lazenby>Moore>Connery>Craig>Brosnan>Dalton

7 Reply by Barbel

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

I'll be there!

John Barry’s score for “The Ipcress File” is built around one main theme subtitled “A Man Alone” and mainly played on a Hungarian instrument called a cimbalom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimbalom
His idea here was twofold- (1) to use Anton Karas’ score for “The Third Man”, played on zither, as his model and (b) to emphasize the main character, Harry Palmer, rather than the action as he normally would do with a Bond picture.
The OST contains many tracks not in the film, and the film contains many cues not on the OST so I won’t be giving my usual running commentary on the music.... unless I can't resist.
On a personal note, I’ve been following this series (books and films) as long as I’ve been following the Bonds and I love them dearly. Deighton is a fantastic writer and Michael Caine is the embodiment of his main character. For more on this, see https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/46150/th … ry-palmer/

8 Reply by Barbel

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Harry Saltzman, of course, didn't like the music- just as he hadn't liked "Goldfinger" and wouldn't like "Diamonds Are Forever".  ajb007/rolleyes
He also didn't like the director and attempted to stop him communicating with Barry- they got round this by meeting in coffee shops etc.

9 Reply by The Spy Who Never Dies

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

I should be there too, unless something unexpected crops up.

10 Reply by Mr Snow

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Barbel wrote:

Harry Saltzman, of course, didn't like the music- just as he hadn't liked "Goldfinger" and wouldn't like "Diamonds Are Forever".  ajb007/rolleyes
He also didn't like the director and attempted to stop him communicating with Barry- they got round this by meeting in coffee shops etc.

Diamonds Are Forever is as good as it gets as far as the main James Bond theme goes in my opinion.

Listening to the main theme from The Ipcress File, parts of it remind me very much of a few scenes from Thunderball.  Especially some of the underwater scenes and possibly MKKBB.  Maybe I'm reading too much in to it but they were both released in 1965 and to me anyway, I hear similarities - not that that's a bad thing.  The Thunderball soundtrack is the best Bond soundtrack ever - again, just my opinion.

"Everyone knows rock n' roll attained perfection in 1974; It's a scientific fact". -  Homer J Simpson

11 Reply by Shady Tree

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Mr Snow wrote:
Barbel wrote:

Harry Saltzman, of course, didn't like the music- just as he hadn't liked "Goldfinger" and wouldn't like "Diamonds Are Forever".  ajb007/rolleyes
He also didn't like the director and attempted to stop him communicating with Barry- they got round this by meeting in coffee shops etc.

Diamonds Are Forever is as good as it gets as far as the main James Bond theme goes in my opinion.

Listening to the main theme from The Ipcress File, parts of it remind me very much of a few scenes from Thunderball.  Especially some of the underwater scenes and possibly MKKBB.  Maybe I'm reading too much in to it but they were both released in 1965 and to me anyway, I hear similarities - not that that's a bad thing.  The Thunderball soundtrack is the best Bond soundtrack ever - again, just my opinion.

I know what you mean about the similarities with a layer or two in the TB soundtrack: a dialled down but haunting MKBB-style 'swing' in the main theme and, to my ear, some of the same vibe as the suspenseful music attending the 'stealth scenes' at Shrublands.

Last edited by Shady Tree (12th Jul 2020 20:30)

Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 50 years.

12 Reply by Shady Tree

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Barbel wrote:

Harry Saltzman, of course, didn't like the music- just as he hadn't liked "Goldfinger" and wouldn't like "Diamonds Are Forever".  ajb007/rolleyes
He also didn't like the director and attempted to stop him communicating with Barry- they got round this by meeting in coffee shops etc.

Haha! There's something a little hip (and proto-'geek chic') even about the idea of those covert coffee shop meetings!

Last edited by Shady Tree (10th Jul 2020 08:31)

Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 50 years.

13 Reply by emtiem

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Saltzman must've been a decent producer as he made quite a few good films, but you almost never hear any stories about him that he comes out well in. And his all-red outfits do seem a bit... bonkers.

14 Reply by CoolHandBond

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

When Ipcress was released, Michael Caine was dubbed 003 and a half by the press.

Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.

15 Reply by Barbel

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

And not a lot of people know that.

16 Reply by Golrush007

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Barbel wrote:

On a personal note, I’ve been following this series (books and films) as long as I’ve been following the Bonds and I love them dearly. Deighton is a fantastic writer and Michael Caine is the embodiment of his main character. For more on this, see https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/46150/th … ry-palmer/

I definitely agree that Deighton is a superb writer. Of the 'Palmer' books I've only read The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin, but I've also read the first two trilogies of the Bernard Samson series and think they are fantastic. I've had Horse Under Water sitting here waiting to be read for a while now, and I almost picked it up and read it last month but ended up going for Spy Sinker instead. Horse Under Water should get its turn soon I think.

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17 Reply by Barbel

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

https://i.postimg.cc/jC3wXBD6/IMG-20200710-160915.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/HcZx67kW/IMG-20200710-160933.jpg

Sorry, great photographer I am not.

18 Reply by emtiem

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Golrush007 wrote:
Barbel wrote:

On a personal note, I’ve been following this series (books and films) as long as I’ve been following the Bonds and I love them dearly. Deighton is a fantastic writer and Michael Caine is the embodiment of his main character. For more on this, see https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/46150/th … ry-palmer/

I definitely agree that Deighton is a superb writer. Of the 'Palmer' books I've only read The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin, but I've also read the first two trilogies of the Bernard Samson series and think they are fantastic. I've had Horse Under Water sitting here waiting to be read for a while now, and I almost picked it up and read it last month but ended up going for Spy Sinker instead. Horse Under Water should get its turn soon I think.

I remember trying Horse years ago because I heard it would have been the fourth Palmer movie, but I found it very dull and I'm not sure I finished it. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind for it.

19 Reply by Number24

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Sadly the Wi-fi in the house I'm in today isn't strong enough to work in the room where the TV is, so sadly (for me) I can't join you tonight. Have fun!

20 Reply by Golrush007

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Barbel wrote:

https://i.postimg.cc/jC3wXBD6/IMG-20200710-160915.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/HcZx67kW/IMG-20200710-160933.jpg
Sorry, great photographer I am not.

Good Deighton collection there, Barbel. I’d love to add some of those UK hardbacks to my own collection, which is all over the place at the moment in terms of editions.

https://i.postimg.cc/hhppPc3X/8-F8583-F8-5-EB6-4-DE5-B099-AE9095983-ED9.jpg

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21 Reply by Barbel

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Well, I've been collecting them for a long time. Yours isn't bad at all either.

22 Reply by Higgins

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Time reference:
https://greenwichmeantime.com/

40 minutes till loading up
50 minutes till watching

President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

-------Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!------

Higgins's Website

23 Reply by Higgins

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Time reference:
https://greenwichmeantime.com/

10 minutes till loading up
20 minutes till watching

President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

-------Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!------

Higgins's Website

24 Reply by SpectreOfDefeat

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Finally managed to join in with one of these. Reporting for duty, everyone...

25 Reply by Higgins

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Re: FRIDAY, 10th July 19:00 GMT: Let‘s watch THE IPCRESS FILE together!!

Please load your players now.

We start in 10 minutes

I don‘t want to do another soloflight  ajb007/embarrassed

President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

-------Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!------

Higgins's Website