A superior example where the opening sequence of a film sets the whole tone and precedent for a film, can be witnessed in Sidney J. Furie's cerebral spy thriller, The Ipcress File (1965).
Thanks to the success of the James Bond franchise in the sixties, it set into motion the trend for copycat spy adventure movies - Matt Helm, Derek Flint and Modesty Blaise, to name but a few. One standout from the pack was Len Deighton's anonymous working class protagonist, who first appeared in his debut novel, The Ipcress File.
The film adaptation did away with the outlandish and ridiculous stylings of its peers, and focused on some of the mundane and beaurocratic nonsense its freshly christened hero, Harry Palmer, had to contend with amidst the dangerous realm of cold war espionage.
Michael Caine plays our hero and from the very onset, there's nothing glorious about it, as we the viewer are privvy to Palmer's mundane morning routine: waking up, prepping breakfast, browsing the airs and graces, and getting ready for work. What makes this scene steer from just good to great is John Barry's wonderful score. The laidback jazz theme has a novel complexity as the sound of a cymbalom instantly summons stereotypical images of beautiful Russian agents in mink fur coats, poison-tipped umbrellas and trips to Salisbury cathedral. It's complimented with a cheeky trumpet, which would not go amiss in a British Carry On... film. That is a combo that sums up the dichotic world of Harry Palmer to a tee; east meets west.
6 comments:
Hurricane Jocasta!
Big fan of the opening shot ending with him pressing the stop button on his alarm clock.
Tempted to check out that new series of The Ipcress File starrring that fella who played John Shelby. Would not surprise me if it's terrible, though.
Can't trust ITV beyond the Meena era of Emmerdale.
Emmerdale is low key the soap of choice for genre film aficionados.
Eric Pollard in a giallo (The Weekend Murders), a spaghetti western (They Call Him Cemetery), sexploitation (Erotic Inferno) and a swedish porno (Sex in Sweden). Not to mention To Sir, With Love.
Paddy Dingle directing and starring in a grip of horror movies. Best remembered as Podge in Inbred.
And Terry Matthews in one of the G.O.A.T. fake Yank slashers, Slaughter High.
Mind blown @ Paddy having a movie directing career.
Also cool that Rhona's mum is her wot played Leela in Tom Baker era Dr. Who.
She was also Rosa di Marco off Eastenders, innit.
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