The IPCRESS File The IPCRESS File The IPCRESS File is Len Deighton's first spy novel, published in 1962. It was made into a film in 1965 produced by Harry Saltzman, directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Michael Caine. The novel, which involves Cold War brainwashing, includes scenes in Lebanon and on an atoll for a United States atomic weapon test, as well as information about Joe One, the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb, although these elements did not appear in the film version. The novel is framed as the unnamed protagonist delivering his personal report on "the IPCRESS affair" directly to the
The IPCRESS File headings have a "feature". In "The IPCRESS File" these take the form of each chapter being headed with a quote from a horoscope, which relates to the action in the chapter, though vaguely, as in most horoscopes. The front cover, by Deighton's friend Raymond Hawkey, has been described as "the template for the covers of all subsequent airport novels". A film adaptation starring Michael Caine was released in 1965 and produced by the James Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman, assisted by several prominent members of the Bond production family. The film medium made it difficult to maintain the anonymity of Deighton's