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 (film) novel was nameless, but in Chapter 5 he remarks, "My name isn't Harry, but in this business it's hard to remember whether it ever had been." In the opening scenes of the film, Palmer is shown to care little for authority, to indulge in quick repartee and to have an interest in good food. Newspaper cuttings shown in Palmer's kitchen are actually cookery articles written for "The Observer" by Deighton, who was an accomplished cook himself. In a scene where Palmer prepares a meal, the hands in close-up are really Deighton's. There were two immediate sequels starring Harry Palmer: "Funeral