The Imitation Game · written by Graham Moore · 2014

The team completes Christopher and powers it up, but nobody knows how long it will take to find that day’s Enigma settings.

Scene 70 of 130 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

John Cairncross
Peter Hilton
Alan Turing
Hugh Alexander

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:01 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 70

At Bletchley Park, Alan Turing must persuade a skeptical team to build a machine that can break Enigma before the war is lost, while concealing the self the law condemns.

Scenes 1–12
Turing is investigated as a guarded outsider in 1951, then enters Bletchley in 1939 looking for the puzzle he can solve.
Scenes 13–30
He sees the scale of Enigma, believes a machine can solve it, and grows isolated from colleagues who make little progress.
Scenes 31–50
Churchill’s order gives Turing authority and his half-built machine advances toward sustained work.
Just before
Scene 67
Young Alan and Christopher exchange encrypted notes in class; Alan retrieves one from the bin after the teacher discards it.
Scene 68
Alan deciphers Christopher’s note calling him his dearest friend.
Scene 69
Joan improves Turing’s machine calculations, and Hugh contributes a diagonal wiring change that speeds up the search; Hugh begins working with them.
Scene 70
This scene

70INT. BLETCHLEY PARK - HUT 11 - DAY

Alan and the team (Hugh, John, Peter) stand in a half-circle around the now-completed Christopher.

An ELECTRICAL ASSISTANT feeds fresh Enigma messages into one end of the machine.

The men look at each other, feeling the importance of the moment.

JOHN CAIRNCROSS

(to Alan)

You nervous?

Alan takes a gulp and CONNECTS the final bit of electrical wiring...

... AND THE VERY FIRST “DIGITAL COMPUTER” IN HISTORY COMES TO LIFE.

ON THE MACHINE: GEARS ARE SPINNING, CURRENT IS RACING THROUGH THE WIRES.

The CLACKING SOUND it makes is UNBELIEVABLY LOUD.

PETER HILTON

(yelling over the machine)

Christ!! What happens now?!

ALAN TURING

It should tell us the day’s Enigma

settings!!

HUGH ALEXANDER

How long?!?

ON ALAN: He’s not sure...

The team shares a look: Is this really going to work?