The Imitation Game · written by Graham Moore · 2014

Turing spreads old decrypts across the floor and identifies recurring weather and Hitler phrases as known text that can narrow Christopher’s search; Joan finds that morning’s message.

Scene 86 of 130 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Joan Clarke
Alan Turing
Hugh Alexander

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:22 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 86

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 83
The exhausted team says it needs to know what the message will say; Turing asks how they could know, and John points out that known plaintext would make decrypting it unnecessary.
Scene 84
During a beer-hut gathering, Helen explains that her German counterpart’s messages repeatedly begin with ‘CILLY’; Turing sees that predictable text can break Enigma and rushes out.
Scene 85
The team chases Turing through guarded Bletchley grounds into Hut 8.
Scene 86
This scene

86INT. BLETCHLEY PARK - HUT 8 - CONTINUOUS

— Joan runs into the Hut to find that Alan has grabbed a BOX OF PREVIOUSLY DECRYPTED MESSAGES —

— Alan POURS those messages out all over the floor —

JOAN CLARKE

Alan?

— Hugh, John, and Peter enter as Alan spreads the messages out on the floor. (Just like he did in Joan’s flat!)

ALAN TURING

What if Christopher doesn’t have to

search through all the settings?

What if he only had to search the

ones that produce the words we

already know will be in the

message?

HUGH ALEXANDER

Repeated words! Predictable

words...

— They all search the messages with Alan —

— Joan holds up a DECRYPT: It’s the same one she read earlier.

JOAN CLARKE

Like this?

(reading aloud)

“0600 hours. Weather today is

clear. Rain in the evening. Heil

Hitler.”

ALAN TURING

Yes! That’s it!

(looking at message)

They send a weather report at 6AM.

Every day. That means there are

three words we already know will be

in the 6am message. “Weather,”

obviously, and —

HUGH ALEXANDER

— “Heil bloody Hitler.”

ALAN TURING

Heil bloody Hitler.

Joan searches through a PILE, finding:

JOAN CLARKE

Here’s the 6 o’clock message from

this morning.

Joan holds the message as they all run out to: