THE MOVIES OF MY LIFE PROJECT PHASE ONE: The Ipcress File (1965)

As I mentioned what seems like ages ago, I’ve only seen the third Harry Palmer film, Billion Dollar Brain (there are three theatrical films, two made-for-TV movies, and one film, Blue Ice--which features series star Michael Caine as a former spy named Harry, that is unofficially considered part of the canon).  When I was doing the Better In The Dark podcast, my friend and co-host Derrick Ferguson and I looked very hard for the others in the series to no avail.  This is the first time I’m seeing this first Harry Palmer entry, and I’m glad to report it holds up.

The story goes that this was Harry Saltzman’s ‘anti-Bond’ series, and boy does it show.  Right up front, this movie is about how plodding and unglamorous the spy life is; in the world of Harry Palmer, this is just a job, complete with desks and paper work and dull days spent in an attic doing surveillance.  Hell, unlike the super-slick and stylish Maurice Binder title sequences of the Bond films, we get the movie’s credits over footage of Palmer literally making his morning coffee!  This is spy movie as police procedural, not as power fantasy/travelogue.  And it’s to the credit of the script and especially the direction of Sidney J. Furie that it remains engaging throughout its almost two-hour running time.

Oh, about Furie--this guy directs the Hell out of this movie.  My prior exposure to Furie’s work was not kind; this is the fellow who directed Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, after all.  But if the story isn’t heightened or stylized, the feel of the film is.  As I got deeper into the plot, the more convinced I was that Furie was being influenced by film noir conventions.  Even mundane scenes are drenched in deep black shadow, and every shot is just slightly off-kilter .  Furie delights in shooting his actors through objects--the closest thing we get to an action sequence is purposely shot through the windows of a telephone booth--to keep us from losing sight of the fact that this is work.  Even the romantic subplot, if you can call it that, between Caine and Sue Lloyd is done in this chilly, matter-of-fact way with dutch angles and long swaths of blackness that somehow is approriate given the world we’re presented in this film.

I will admit that the plot probably isn’t the clearest thing in the world, and a big twist in the last act was telegraphed far too early for it to work as a shock.  But it’s an interesting film that pulls the trick of being more grounded than what passed for spy cinema in its age and seeming somehow all that stranger than the fantasy world we’re presented by the Bonds and Flints and Helms of the era.

It’s funny; when I first saw Billion Dollar Brain, I thought Ken Russell was a bizarre choice for a more realistic spy series.  Now that I’ve seen The Ipcress File, I realize he was exactly the type of director this series embraced.

Needless to say, I’m happy the Poll chose this, and I highly recommend this film--especially for spy culture nuts like me.

Now onto 1966....

THE MOVIES OF MY LIFE PHASE ONE: Candidates for 1966

Well, it’s time to enter the Terrible Twos, as I run the poll for which film I’ve never seen from my second year of life I get to watch and report on.

I know, I know...after I finish writing this, I will watch The Ipcress File and report on it.  As a Spy Culture Kid, I’m actively looking forward to it.

Anyway, your choices are:

THE REPTILE

I love Hammer Films, but I haven’t seen all of them, particularly the stranger ones that didn’t show up as often on TV.  Sure, I am well versed in the Dracula and Frankenstein films, but I don’t think I ever saw this movie about Jacqueline Pearce transforming into....well, a reptile that eats people’s faces.  And since I had a thing for Pearce when she was playing Servalan in Blake’s 7 (Imagine Star Trek, only the United Federation of Planets is the bad guy), I’m intrigued to see this earlier effort of hers.

ASSAULT ON A QUEEN

I can’t believe there is no trailer available for this Frank Sinatra vehicle about a crew looking to rob the Queen Mary ocean liner utilizing a WWII U-boat.  It was adapted by Ron Serling from a novel by Jack Finney.  The name caught my eye, and the poster looked kinda neat. That’s about it, really.

BANG BANG YOU’RE DEAD

To me, Tony Randall will always be Felix Ungar, the character he played for three seasons on Gary Marshall’s sitcom adaptation of The Odd Couple.  I think he’s Felix pretty much to everybody of my generation...and yet, before he stepped into the role of his lifetime, Tony Randall had a freakin’ weird career.  When he wasn’t playing mystical Asians or Hercule Poirot, he was playing the straight man in this spy spoof that was originally called Our Man In Marrakesh.  I’m fascinated by this phase of Randall’s career, and its connection to Spy Culture makes me want to see it Badly.

HOW TO STEAL A MILLION

Here’s an example of a genre I think has kind of disappeared from the cultural zeitgeist: the romantic intrigue movie.  The template for this may very well be Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief, but I may be wrong: you take two attractive leads, one or both of which may be a little...on the edge morally, get them involved in some crazy espionage-or-heist scenario that requires them to get into various, slightly risque hijinx, and let the chips fall where they may.  The romantic intrigue genre survived into the 70‘s, but it was a good ‘date night’ compliment to the spy mania that was running rampant through the mid 60‘s.  This one features Peter O’Toole, an actor I’ve always liked, the iconic Audrey Hepburn and Eli Wallach.  I’ve not seen many of these films, and this seemed like an okay one to pick up on the genre with.

You have until Friday afternoon to head over to my Twitter Page and make your choice; I’m sorry this one was a little late.  I will report in on the winner sometime over the next week.

...and I promise I will cover The Ipcress File before this week is out.

THE MOVIES OF MY LIFE PHASE ONE: Candidates for 1965

Well, it’s time to start the poll for which movie I’ve never seen before from 1965 I have to watch and report on next week.  I sincerely hope the results of this year comes off better than the last one.  Here are your choices for my first birthday....

DIE, MONSTER, DIE!

I thought this was the first time someone tried to adapt H.P. Lovecraft to film, but it turns out it followed The Haunted Palace, which I did see (and it was released in 1963, before I was born).  This one I haven’t.  It’s a British production featuring Boris Karloff in the twilight of his life, and it’s supposed to be pretty ooky.  I am fascinated with how various filmmakers approached Lovecraft’s singularly odd prose, especially with practical special effects, and I’m intrigued to see how this adaptation of ‘The Color Out of Space’ was handled.


THE IPCRESS FILES

There were three things I grew up on as a little kid: monster movies, comic books and spy culture...so expect a lot of spy movies in the next few years’ choices.  This is the first film featuring Michael Caine as the hero of Len Deighton’s spy thrillers--the character is unnamed in the books, but the series names him Harry Palmer.  While the third film in the series, The Billion Dollar Brain, is readily available (I’ve seen it twice), the first two are relatively hard to find.  I’ve never seen this one, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen of Harry Palmer so far, so I’d like to see where it all began.

THE TENTH VICTIM

Robert Sheckley was a science fiction writer who had a wickedly good sense of humor.  This is the first film to adapt one of his works, a tale of a world where war has been replaced by a reality TV show where people hunt each other.  Not surprisingly, this was given a kind of spy-culure-y spin by Elio Petri.  It features Ursula Andress, who wears a gun-loaded bra and at one point engages in a weird sexy dance.  It sure is...60‘s.  This appeals to my spy culture affinity, as well as my fondness for Sheckley’s prose.

FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL KILL!

Here’s another of my blind spots....I have never seen a Russ Meyers film.  As a man who portrays a guru of Grindhouse Cinema on The Honeywell Experiment, I recognize how ashamed I should be of this.  I plan of rectifying this, and the Movies of My Life Project can be the excuse for me to do so.  And if I’m going to start with one, I might as well start with one of the most famous of his works, featuring one of the most famous of his muses, Tura Santana.  In an inversion of the poll for last year, this is the only film shot in black and white.

You have one week to head over to my Twitter Page and make your choice.  I will report in on the winner sometime over Thanksgiving weekend.

They Don’t Make Trailers Like That Anymore: DANGER: DIABOLIK! (1968)

This Mario Bava-directed, Dino DiLaurentiis-produced joint is one of the coolest movies to come out of the late 60‘s, and an essential film if you want to understand the two 60‘s trends of psychedelic cinema and spy culture.  Unfortunately, it’s gained an unjust reputation as one of the worst films of all time due to it being the subject of the last experiment on the original run of MST3K (you screwed the pooch on this one, guys) and I will fight anyone who tells me it is.  It’s truly a comic book movie before comic book movies became codified, and is an extremely satisfying experience.

I think you should watch it right now and come back here; I’m not sure, but I think there’s a version of it floating around on YouTube you could be grooving on now instead of hearing me bang on about it.  It’s okay; I’ll wait.

indistinct humming

Okay, you back?  Now check out this trailer, which starts with an explosion.  Okay, it’s an explosion of a miniature, but it still sets the stage for what is to come--some crazy visuals, some action and more Marisa Mel than any man could handle.  The editor of this trailer knew there were two things he needed to sell--the expressiveness of leading man John Phillip Law’s eyes and the hotness of Mel, who may very well be the sexiest thing ever to stride across the silver screen (and I’ll fight anyone over this opinion as well), and tragically died of throat cancer in 1992.  The narrator comes out selling, and doesn’t stop for a moment in this two minute pitch to convince you this is the Coolest Thing Ever.

Now this trailer commits a sin that was very common of trailers of its time and takes far too much of its second half from the end of the film.  But I’m almost willing to forgive it, as the final shot of the trailer, with Law winking at us, followed by his maniacal laughter, is an awfully compelling place to end.

Oh, and for a bonus, here’s Spike Jonez’ video for The Beastie Boy’s ‘Body Movin’.  Apparently, Spike and I share a similar taste in movies.  Just saying is all.