Christopher Morcom "Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine"
Alan Turing
Benedict Cumberbatch · 20 quotes
Joan Clarke
Keira Knightley · 8 quotes
Hugh Alexander
Matthew Goode · 4 quotes
John Cairncross
Allen Leech · 3 quotes
Stewart Menzies
Mark Strong · 3 quotes
Most scenes together: Alan Turing & Joan Clarke (6), Alan Turing & Hugh Alexander (4), Alan Turing & John Cairncross (3)
The Imitation Game quotes
Page 1 of 2 Christopher Morcom
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His machine was never perfected, though it generated a whole field of research into what became known as "Turing Machines". Today we call them "computers" (Above quote corrected): Historians estimate that breaking enigma shortened the war by more than two years saving over 14 million lives. It remained a government-held secret for more than 50 years. Turing's work inspired generations of research into what scientists called "TURING MACHINES," Today we call them computers.
Oh, Alan... we're gonna have such a wonderful war together.
Alastair Denniston
Double agents are such bastards. Isolated loners. No attachments to friends or family. Arrogant. Know anybody like that?
Headmaster
[to a young Alan, about his note-passing]
You and your friend solve maths problems during maths class because the maths class is too dull?
If you run the wires across the plugboard matrix diagonally, you'll eliminate rotor positions 500 times faster.
This is actually not an entirely terrible idea.
That's Alan for "thank you."
Detective Nock Right, that's... that's what it's about?
Would you like to play?
Detective Nock Play?
It's a game. A test of sorts. For determining whether something is a... a machine or a human being.
Detective Nock How do I play?
Well, there's a judge and a subject, and... the judge asks questions and, depending on the subject's answers, determines who he is talking with... what he is talking with, and, um... All you have to do is ask me a question.
I have something to tell you... [long pause] I'm a homosexual...
No no, men Joan! Not women!
So what? I had my suspicions. I always did. But we're not like other people. We love each other in our own way, and we can have the life together that we want. You won't be the perfect husband? I can promise you I harbored no intention of being the perfect wife. I'll not be fixing your lamb all day, while you come home from the office, will I? I'll work. You'll work. And we'll have each other's company. We'll have each other's minds. Sounds like a better marriage than most. Because I care for you. And you care for me. And we understand one another more than anyone else ever has.
...I don't.
What?
Care for you. I never did. I just needed you to break Enigma. I've done that now, so you can go.
[slaps him]
I am not going anywhere. I have spent entirely too much of my life worried about what you think of me, or what my parents think of me, or what the boys in Hut 8 or the girls in Hut 3 think, and you know I am done. This work is the most important thing I will ever do. And no one will stop me. Least of all you. [pause] You know what? They were right. Peter. Hugh. John. You really are a monster.
I like solving problems, Commander. And Enigma is the most difficult problem in the world.
Commander Denniston Enigma isn't difficult, it's impossible. The Americans, the Russians, the French, the Germans, everyone thinks Enigma is unbreakable.
Good. Let me try and we'll know for sure, won't we?
They only beat me up because I'm smarter than they are.
Christopher Morcom No, they beat you up because you're different.
My God, you did it. You just defeated Nazism with a crossword puzzle.
There are five people in the world who know the position of every ship in the Atlantic. They are all in this room.
Oh, good God.
Oh, I don't think even He has the power that we do right now.
[getting closer to map]
No. There's going to be an attack on a British passenger convoy. Right there.
God, you're right. Those U-boats are only twenty, thirty minutes away.
Joan Clark
Civilians. Hundreds of them. We can save their lives.
And knock out a whole German fleet in the process.
I'll phone Denniston's office so that he can alert the Admiralty.
No.
Do you think there's enough time to save them?
There should be. If we can get a message to that convoy—
No, no! [grabs and hangs up phone]
What the hell are you doing?
You-you can't call Denniston. You-you can't tell him about the attack.
What are you talking about?
We can have air support over that convoy in ten minutes.
Let the U-boats sink the convoy.
Look, it's been a big day, maybe you're suffering from—
Oh, shut up—
No!
[Alan smashes the phone on the ground. Hugh punches him in the face, knocking him down]
Oh, Hugh! Hugh! Stop! That's enough!
Stop, Hugh!
Peter Hilton John, the attack is in minutes.
Yes, no, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine. [to Hugh] Do you know why people like violence, Hugh? It's because it feels good. Sometimes we can't do what feels good. We have to do what is logical.
What's logical?
The hardest time to lie is when the other person is expecting to be lied to.
What?
If someone's waiting for a lie, you can't just, uh, give them one.
Damn it, Alan's right.
Peter Hilton What?
What would the Germans think if we destroy their U-boats?
Peter Hilton Nothing. They'll be dead.
No. No, you can't be right.
So our convoy suddenly veers off course... a squadron of our air bombers miraculously descends on the coordinates of the U-boats... what will the Germans think?
The Germans will know that we have broken Enigma.
They'll stop all radio communications by midday, and they'll have changed the design of Enigma by the weekend.
Yes.
Two years' work. Everything we've done here will all be for nothing.
There are 500 people in that convoy. Women. Children. We're about to let them die.
Our job isn't to save one passenger convoy, it is to win the war.
Our job was to crack Enigma.
Oh, we've done that. Now for the hard part. Keeping it a secret.
Peter Hilton Carlisle.
What?
Peter Hilton [points to the map]
The convoy you're about to... it's, uh... The HMS Carlisle is one of the ships. We can't act on every piece of intelligence? So fine, we won't. Just this one.
Peter, what's the matter with you?
Peter My brother's... well, he's on the Carlisle. A gunnery ensign.
I'm... I'm so sorry.
Peter Hilton Who the hell do you think you are? This is my brother. He's my big brother, alright, and you have a few minutes to call off his murder.
We can't.
He's right.
Peter Hilton Alan. Joan. Hugh. John. Please, I... the Germans, they won't get suspicious just because we stopped one attack. No one will know. I'm asking you. As your friend. Please.
I'm so sorry.
Peter Hilton You're not God, Alan. You don't get to decide who lives and who dies.
Yes, we do.
Peter Hilton Why?
Because no one else can.
The boys, we're going to get some lunch.
Yes?
I said we're going to get some lunch.
Yes?
Can you hear me?
Yes.
I said we're off to get some lu- [pause] This is starting to get a little bit repetitive.
What is?
I had asked if you wanted to come have lunch with us.
Uhm, no you didn't, you said you were going to get some lunch.
Have I offended you in some way?
Why would you think that?
Would you like to come to lunch with us?
What time's lunch time?
What is?
Lunch.
Oh, I don't like sandwiches.
Never mind.
What's wrong?
What if... what if I don't fancy being with Joan in that way?
Because you're a homosexual? I suspected.
Sh-should I tell her that I've had affairs with men?
You know, in my admittedly limited experience, women tend to be a bit touchy about accidentally marrying homosexuals. Perhaps not spreading this information about might be in your best interest.
I care for her, I truly do, but... I-I just don't know if I can pretend...
You can't tell anyone, Alan. It's illegal. And Denniston is looking for any excuse he can to put you away.
I know.
This has to stay a secret.
No, it takes me eight.
You said to finish under six minutes.
[Alan and Joan meet with Menzies to tell him about keeping the decrypted Enigma intercepts secret]
Why are you telling me this?
We need your help, to keep this a secret from Admiralty, Army, RAF, uh...as no one can know, that we've broken Enigma, not even Dennison.
Who's in the process of having you fired.
You can take care of that.
While we develop a system to help you determine how much intelligence to act on. Which, uh, attacks to stop, which to let through. Statistical analysis, the minimum number of actions it will take, for us to win the war - but the maximum number we can take before the Germans get suspicious.
And you're going to trust of this all to statistics, to maths?
Correct.
And then MI6 can come up with the lies we will tell everyone else.
You'll need a believable alternative source for all the pieces of information that you use.
A false story, so that we can explain how we got our information, that has nothing to do with Enigma, and then you can leak those stories to the Germans.
And then to our own military.
Maintain a conspiracy of lies at the very highest levels of government. [Lights a cigarette]...Sounds right up my alley.