By Niall McArdle
Benedict Cumerbatch is a genius. Calm yourselves, Cumberbitches.
- source: Black Bear Films
Not just any genius, mind, but Alan Turing, the father of the computer. During the war Turing worked with a group of genius – and rather tweedy-looking – mathematicians at Bletchley Park to crack the code of the Enigma, the machine the Nazis used to send encrypted messages. Breaking the code helped turn the tide of the war.
- source: The Weinstein Company
- source: BBC
The Imitation Game looks brimful with plummy and stuffy English types and enough striped V neck pullovers to cover all of Cambridge. Expect lots of cups of tea. The film also addresses Turing’s homosexuality (in 1952 he was arrested for it and lost his security clearance).
The film also stars Keira Knightley’s cheekbones and Tywin Lannister (obviously recovered from that little incident on the toilet).
This is not the first time the story of Bletchley Park has been brought to the screen. Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet starred in Enigma (based on a novel by Robert Harris).
In 1996 Derek Jacobi played Turing in a BBC biopic that also featured Prunella Scales and playwright Harold Pinter.
Of course, the Brits wouldn’t have got their hands on the machine had it not been for Matthew McConaughey. Heh-heh.
Turing is also the subject of a musical tribute from elctronic avant garde act Pet Shop Boys
The Fluff Is Raging 
Looks a bit too close to ‘Enigma’ for comfort I reckon Niall. I think I will stay happy enough with the 2001 production. (Until they show it on telly of course…)
Cheers, Pete.
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i quite enjoyed Enigma (haven’t seen it since it was in the cinema). Did you know that Dougray Scott was supposed to be Wolverine?
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I didn’t Niall, but even if he had been, I doubt I would have bothered to watch it!
I liked Scott in ‘To Kill A King’ though, excellent as Fairfax.
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I saw Enigma a while ago and quite liked it, it’s a good story that no doubt would be told and re-told again in the future.
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Hmmm, I would check this out at some stage. So, that toilet incident wasn’t nearly as brutal as we were led to believe?
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i’m not sure; i don’t think The Imitation Game is going to cover it; he was arrested in 1952
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