The Imitation Game 2014

     This film is based on real events beginning in 1939 at Bletchley Park, England.  Alan Turing was a genius at math and he is asked to work on solving the Enigma Machine used by the Germans to send their coded messages during WWII.  He selects other very intelligent people to work with him.  Alan begins to construct a machine that was a forerunner for the computer.  He feels this will be the fastest way to break the code but the other members of the team feel this is taking too long and they need him on the code work.  Alan is under tremendous pressure and a one-month deadline to get this job done.

     Alan Turing didn’t have any social skills and that caused him to be teased in school plus not very well liked as an adult.  Joan Clarke is the one woman on the team and she is thought to be a secretarial candidate when she arrives to try out for the code team.  There is a lot of tension because breaking the code can save many lives.  Even after the codes are solved, the team can't allow the Germans to know they have broken the code.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

114 min, Bio directed by Morten Tyldum with Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance, Mark Strong, James Northcote, Tom Goodman-Hill.

Note:  Imdb 8.1 out of 10, 89% critic 92% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*.

Special Note:  Allen Leech in the role of John Carincross is played by Tom Branson, the Irish chauffeur on Downton Abbey.  Tom Goodman-Hill is acting as Sergeant Staehl and he is in the role of Mr. Grove on Mr. Selfridge.