It's cunning, calculated and still works, thanks to some droll humour, John Barry's marvellously twangy score, Sidney J Furie's energetic direction and spot-on performances by Guy Doleman and Nigel Green as bowler-hatted spooks.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 8, 2024

The Ipcress File was reasonably entertaining while I was watching it, but after it was over I felt I'd been had.

| Jul 27, 2021

James Bond popularized the spy flick in the 1960s, but The Ipcress File is one film that goes slightly against the grain.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 6, 2020

Described as a sexpionage, though completely devoid of onscreen sex, it's comparable to a James Bond picture.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Aug 24, 2020

[Sidney] Furie is a sensitive director and the film is not a total sell-out.

| Mar 31, 2020

It does smack a little of Bond-style technical gimmickry. But the spectacular violence and playboy-style sex of the Bond series has been avoided without any loss of entertainment value.

| Jul 16, 2019

The Iperess File is a thriller set in a recognisable London where espionage is a seedy business conducted, not by impregnable Bonds, but by men as scared and venal as anyone else.

| Jun 18, 2018

An easy film to criticise; but also an easy film to be amused by, at least as far as its central performances, its minor jokes, and its London locations are concerned.

| Jan 22, 2018

Michael Caine is the epitome of Sixties cool in his first outing as the secret agent Harry Palmer.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 24, 2015

Check out the scene where Caine and Green discuss the merits of button mushrooms and you'll appreciate that, as the actors have an excellent grasp of character, so the screenwriters have a superb eye for detail.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 20, 2010

The best part of the film is Caine's characterization.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 20, 2010

Ipcress proves again that one of the primal pleasures of moviegoing is a tingling, no-nonsense suspense yarn enlivened by honest good humor.

| Apr 20, 2010

Caine skillfully resists any temptation he may have had to pep up the proceedings. In fact, his consistent underplaying adds considerably to the pull of the picture.

| Mar 26, 2009

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 21, 2008

Embora inferior a Funeral em Berlim, que contaria com um roteiro melhor, o primeiro filme da srie ainda funciona graas direo de Furie, atuao irnica de Caine e forma curiosamente montona com que o cotidiano da espionagem retratado.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 26, 2007

Caine's the coolest anti-007 ever ...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 8, 2006

Caine, Zulu under his belt and Alfie ahead, is the cheeky working class but aspirational bright spark hero par excellence, captured at the exact moment he became a star.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 1, 2006

Deighton's plot is a mild headache of deceit and double-dealing that glides stylishly and with much wit around Caine's Sergeant Palmer, a cocky London bachelor and middle-ranking scion of the MoD's counter-espionage department.

| Feb 9, 2006

The coolest secret agent of them all

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 25, 2006

Caine's star-quality and absolute ease in front of the camera are fully formed.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 14, 2006