Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 34: Sat Feb 3

The Ipcress File (Furie, 1965): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6.30pm

This film, part of the John Barry season at BFI Southbank, also screens on February 10th. You can find all the details here.

BFI introduction:
Sidney J Furie’s stylish espionage thriller has its roots in British ‘kitchen sink’ cinema. The Toronto-born director had cut his teeth on unromantic London-set movies (The Young Ones, The Boys, The Leather Boys), so was well-placed to capture on screen Len Deighton’s Harry Palmer, the working-class anti-hero of the British establishment’s spy fraternity. Barry’s stunning score turned an obscure Hungarian instrument, the cimbalom, into the default sound of the Cold War.

Here (and above) is Barry's evocative theme music over the opening credits.