Unfortunately this title is currently unavailable for rental. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause. A tense Len Deighton spy thriller which changed the face of 'special agent' movies. A number of British scientists are leaving Britain. When one such scientist disappears altogether, Harry Palmer, a former .. Read more
| Starring | Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd |
|---|---|
| Director | Sidney J. Furie |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller |
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Unfortunately this title is currently unavailable for rental. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.
A tense Len Deighton spy thriller which changed the face of 'special agent' movies. A number of British scientists are leaving Britain. When one such scientist disappears altogether, Harry Palmer, a former army sergeant, is assigned the task of finding him. Palmer discovers that a mysterious force within the security services is at work and he must identify the double agent.
| Starring | Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd |
|---|---|
| Director | Sidney J. Furie |
| Studio | NETWORK |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 43 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 47 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller |
| Language | English |
| Released | DVD: unknown Blu-ray: 10 Nov 2008 Production year: 1965 |
| Format | DVD |
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Len Deighton's first spy novel had everything except a name for its off-the-peg hero, so producer Harry Saltzman decided on Harry Palmer and cast the virtually unknown Michael Caine in this adaptation. Designed as a counterpart to the Bond movies, which Saltzman also co-produced, the story uncovers KGB operatives in the British Secret Service and enables Caine to talk Bermondsey, wear glasses and cook his own meals, things that Sean Connery would never do. Instead of the Orient Express, it's the Central Line. 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. The flashy camerawork, though once highly praised, now seems rather irksome.
The attempt to present a low-key James Bond (glasses, good at cookery, supermarket shopper) is frustrated by flashy direction and a confused plot. It did herald a new genre though the whole ambiance is now sadly dated, like an old copy of The Sunday Ti
Welcome to Len Deighton's world. A world of postwar begining to swing London, spies, raincoats, and Whitehall Inteligence interdepartmental jostling, with small but effective hand guns and not a bit of CGI or gadgetry in site. But it is what is not there that makes these films and the Ipcress File intriguing. They may hardly be thrilling any more but they carry a black'n'white mystery now that produces real suspense. In the end the technology on dispaly and it's iccumbent horrors have now been done better and sadly to death. But it is the completeness and originality of these characters and their sad lives which enages, the lineage to Dirty Harry and Mr McQueen setting San Fran to rights on frozen food in Bullit so clear. Truth is Michael Caine, did most of it first and not many people know that...
This is special:
Michael Caine is irresistible as Harry Palmer, the 'agent with criminal tendencies' who enjoys rustling up a light dinner to the relaxing strains of Mozart when he's not embroiled in unmasking a sinister double-agent and his brain-washing operation.
The plot is complex without ever getting convoluted, the script dry and laced with crisp irony, the tension never sags, there's a real sense of threat and danger but virtually no violence, and a tangible slinkiness pervades even though there's not a naked thigh in sight. And as for language: "blast" is about the strongest word you'll hear, but you know when they mean business.
Director Sidney J Furie is sure-footed and goes for some of the most exquisite camera angles and frames you're ever likely to encounter, and John Barry's score is an object lesson in cool.
I'm not a nostalgic person, but they really don't make them like that any more.
Movie veteran Michael Caine is looking to bring back his most famous character for one last hurrah. The actor played spy Harry Palmer in three movies in the mid 1960s - The Ipcress File, Funeral In Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain - and he's keen to bring the bespectacled Cold War superagent back to life one more time. He tells WENN, "I have a script called Cold War Requiem, which is Harry retired and he's living out his fantasy in some middle class area in London and the guys who he screwed... Read more