I taped the Ipcress File on VHS and so the picture wasn't all that good.
(spoilers)
There was a scene where Harry gets imprisoned and the guards keep offering him something through the door that he seemed to repeatedly burn his hand on. What was it? I couldn't make it out every time!
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http://www.thewrongtree.com
It's his food he's burning his hands on. A piece of bread or meat, soaked in boiling hot soup, I presume.
The guards use it as a psychological torture. They are starving Harry, and at the same time they are offering him a plate of food, yet it is too hot for him to take it out of the revolving container. (The plate doesn't fit through the hole, he has to grab the food.) They then immediately close the food container again and take away the food.
( *** SPOILERS FOR "V FOR VENDETTA" *** )
Excellent scenes! Reminded me a lot of the prison sequence from "V for Vendetta". Especially when he finally broke out and found himself extremely close to home instead of miles away, as he had been thinking all the time. The effect was almost identical to Eve's escape from her prison cell and turning up in V's sanctuary.
Oh, cheers for that - maybe it was because I recorded the film on video that the picture wasn't that good and I couldn't see what was going on - makes sense!
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http://www.thewrongtree.com
I assumed it was ice cold, perhaps because he refers to the fact that as well as starving they are "freezing" him, but it might well be very hot, though you would think steam would rise if it was hot.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."
The prison cell was cold and damp. If the food was ice cold he would still be able to take it and let it thaw. But very good point about the steam, I guess Caine didn't want to burn his hand for real. :)
"People get it wrong, but in today's world we don't live longer, we just die harder." -Bruce Willis
When he broke out he thought he was in Albania. Then he saw a London bus...
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."