Enigma

[Bertie Wooster]

Apologies if this has already been discussed!

Watched this on DVD on Saturday evening, the film based on the book by Richard Harris about the WWII Code Breakers at Bletchley Park, the forerunner of GCHQ.

Excellent film, full of period detail, good costumes, etc. But not a patch on the book which is so much better, I think. A great WWII movie, highly recommended.

 

[Kishtu]

Robert Harris not Richard Harris, y' giddy kipper!!!

but yes it was a good film.... even the cat sat and watched it quietly!

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Oops, and Richard Harris WAS Oliver Cromwell?!

I meant Robert? Or was it Keith Harris, no that was Orville!

 

[Smithy]

No that was Oliver Reed

Thanks for the heads up on this one, that's on the to rent list from the shop.

 

[Doctor Strange]

An okay film, not great, but reasonably well done. Not entirely historically accurate, but a good intro for folks who don't know very much about the Enigma machine or Bletchley Park codebreaking. Excellent costumes and sets, dependably good direction by Michael Apted.

Disclaimer: Of course, I'll watch Kate Winslet in anything.

 

[Smyat]

It is, at least, better than U-571, which has the wrong country stealing the Enigma machine. lol

 

[Ecuador Jim]

It's fftopic: but it seemed to me that U-571 was loosely based on a raid made by Lt. Albert David to capture a German U-boat before the crew had the chance to scuttle her. The Enigma machine was a bonus. After the machine had been duplicated, the main challenge was to obtain newer code books which set the ciphers for Enigma. Anyway the raid was conducted from a "Jeep Carrier" (small aircraft carrier), not a submarine. You can see the captured sub at Great Lakes Naval Training Center (unless they moved it)

 

[Smyat]

U-571 simply hijacked the story from the Brits who did it to some more Hollywoodgenic 'Murricans.

There were other Enigma captures later in the war, but the first and the one the movie portrays was by our limey cousins. There really wasn't any justification for this lapse by the filmmakers.

 

[Warden]

Sorry did not float my boat.

Costumes great, set great although it is a shame they did not use the 'real' Bletchely Park, but what ruined it for me was the story line, just not believeable. Certainly in restricted war time Britian

Harry

 

[Smithy]

It's fftopic: but it seemed to me that U-571 was loosely based on a raid made by Lt. Albert David to capture a German U-boat before the crew had the chance to scuttle her. The Enigma machine was a bonus. After the machine had been duplicated, the main challenge was to obtain newer code books which set the ciphers for Enigma. Anyway the raid was conducted from a "Jeep Carrier" (small aircraft carrier), not a submarine. You can see the captured sub at Great Lakes Naval Training Center (unless they moved it)

fftopic: as well but Smyat's right, the movie was a total hijacking of an incredibly courageous deed by men of HMS Bulldog. In fact it so incensed the British (and IMO rightly so) that it was complained about in the House of Commons. Even though it was fiction it was a slight to the men who were the first to capture the Enigma.

Back on topic...

Sounds as if the movie Enigma is a bit of a let down. If so then it's the second one of Harris's books to be let down by a film adaptation. His brilliant Fatherland novel was butchered by the film based on it, complete with happier ending. That's one novel which still needs a movie adaptation that does it justice.

 

[Sharpsburg]

Finally saw this flick the other night, thanks to netflix. I never would have thought it would be so easy to just walk off with an Enigma machine in the middle of a war! Or, "hey, the filing cabinet is unlocked - help yourself to some top secret uncoded messages!" Thank God it was only a movie or we'd all be speaking German!

Mary

 

[Talbot]

Antiques roadshow had an interesting episode the other week, where a member of the public presented a u-boat chronometer. It was from U-571 and was owned by a descendant of the commander of the Enigma raid who acquired it. Handed down. Needless to say the owner valued the provenance and didn't care about the monetary value.

My wife had to close my mouth for me.