NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were obtained directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (October 2020): Kino have transferred Sidney J. Furie's The Ipcress File to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "2K Restoration". The 2008 ITV was one of their early Blu-rays  - MPEG2 with lossy audio. It's weaker qualities are more apparent in-motion than in the comparative stills below. The Kino 1080P is a significant improvement - smoother, a better support of grain, the image is darker and it is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate - more than 50% higher than that of the ITV. It still has a thick look and is far more film-like.

NOTE: We have added 50 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino give the option of a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround bump or a lossless 2.0 channel - both 16-bit and both in the original English language. The surround has some modest separations - frequently gunfire but occasionally automobiles. There are effects related to the genre and a brilliant score by the iconic John Barry (Inside Moves, The Whisperers, Boom, Deadfall, The Chase, Midnight Cowboy, Dances With Wolves and the Bond themes among his many credits) with lone string chords adding further flavour to the viewing experience. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.  

The Kino Blu-ray offers two commentaries - the 1998 LaserDisc one with director Sidney J. Furie and editor Peter Hunt. The second is a new one by Troy Howarth and Daniel Kremer (author of Sidney J. Furie: Life and Films.) The discuss Sidney J. Furie at length - how he is underrated and the keen visuals elements of the film including the many frame-within-frame refracted images throughout. I loved it - Kremer understandably talks with confidence about the production and I always appreciate Howarth (accurately introduced as a European-cult cinema aficionado.) There is the same 20-minute interview with Michael Caine as found on the Network 2006 DVD, and there is a 11-minute interview with Production Designer Ken Adam, an episode of Trailer From Hell with Howard Rodman, trailers and radio spots.

Sidney J. Furie's The Ipcress File is a wonderful Len Deighton spy thriller and the director has crafted a real gem - debatably his best film. It has a unique atmosphere - encouraged by the frequent obtuse camera angles and the solitary-evoking Barry score. Caine is wonderful - a real defining role for the 32-year old actor. The Kino Blu-ray is at their usual complete standard - strong a/v and two commentaries. This is a very worthwhile positioning in the digital library.

***

NOTE: I can confirm that the ITV Blu-ray is region free and will play on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

There are two major problems with the Network DVD image - the first is the obvious contrast boosting (badly blown out whites) and the second, perhaps even more unsightly, is that it appears to have been vertically compressed - with faces, especially noticeable, appearing quite distorted and unnatural (harder to distinguish at times due to the many obtuse camera angles used in the film.) The single-layered Blu-ray is hardly stellar but looks quite remarkable beside the standard-def image. Colors are more true and detail a fairly big leap in improvement but there is still some noise while grain is not wholly as visible as some might appreciate. Still, visually this is easily the best digital representation of The Ipcress File - a wonderfully 'real' spy drama. Contrast is also not pristine but significantly improves upon the dual-layered DVD release. The Blu-ray leans to a soft palette but looks far more faithful in my opinion.

Audio-wise the DVD's mono was quite strong and the Blu-ray has an undemonstrative 5.1 bump and a 2.0 channel option as well. This is not as action-infused (especially the first 2/3rds of the film) as a typical genre example but there is a bit of separation and subtleties. I wouldn't say the 2.0 channel is an overly-obvious superiority over the fine SD mono but enthusiasts who prefer (fake) bumps have the option to indulge in the surround. The Network as no subtitles offered where the ITV Blu-ray has removable English.

Extras are where the DVD vaults to a big advantage - not enough to forgive the feature image quality but certainly for some, especially Caine fans, to consider double-dipping. I really enjoyed the commentary track with director Sidney J. Furie and editor Peter Hunt (of James Bond fame.) Canadian Furie is not afraid to voice his displeasure with Ipcress Producer Harry Saltzman (also of Bond fame) and Hunt backs him up quite a bit. They don't follow much of what is transpiring onscreen but have a lovely chat reminiscing with a few choice anecdotes. Disc one of the DVD also offers a short theatrical trailer. We then get a second DVD disc with a 21 minute interview with Michael Caine and another with production designer Sir Ken Adam for 10 minutes. There is an amusing spoof with a 'Michael Caine Goes 'Stella' - Comedy Sketch by Phil Cornwell running just under 5 minutes and Candid Caine - a 45 minute 'Self Portrait' documentary made in 1969. The DVD is capped off by some crisp US radio spots and a huge stills gallery. The Blu-ray only has an HD Photo Gallery and HD trailer (both playable on any Blu-ray machine).

Great film - solid and pure spy drama devoid of the silliness that we see caked on in all Hollywood productions - give me this over Quantum of Solace any day of the week.  So the Blu-ray is definitely the best way to go for home viewing but the DVD has some great extras. Both releases are reasonable and have some merit - I endorse the Blu-ray and for those keen on supplements - the DVD is more than worth the money in my opinion.    

Gary W. Tooze