Enigma ***½ (2001, Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Jeremy Northam, Saffron Burrows) – Classic Movie Review 1187

Dougray Scott stars as code-cracker Tom Jericho, who teams up with eager cipher clerk Hester Wallace (Kate Winslet) to investigate the disappearance of a lovely spy message decoder called Claire (Saffron Burrows). Director Michael Apted’s 2001 release is a sprightly, old-style World War Two thriller  about the Enigma code-breakers of Bletchley Park.

Jeremy Northam steals the show in a polished, stylish performance as Wigram, a mystery man dogging Tom and Hester’s every move. He brings an authentic Hitchcock touch to a film that aspires to be Hitchcockian and quite often achieves it.

Sometimes creaky, often fun, Enigma has plenty of high spirits, feisty acting and a fine period sense.

The film is co-produced by Mick Jagger, who provided funding for the film, as well as lending the film’s design department his four-rotor Enigma encoding machine to ensure the historical accuracy as one of the props. Jagger makes a cameo appearance as an RAF officer at a dance.

It was shot in England, Scotland and the Netherlands, with Chicheley Hall standing in for Bletchley Park mansion. Other locations include the Great Central Railway, Loughborough, and Tigh Beg Croft, Oban, Scotland. Interiors were filmed at Elstree Film Studios.

Tom Stoppard writes the screenplay from the novel by Robert Harris. The largely fictional storyline fails to mention the real code-breaker Alan Turing and give credit to the Polish cryptanalysis foundation Cipher Bureau. But the process of encrypting German messages during World War Two and decrypting them with the Enigma is discussed in detail, and the historical event of the Katyn Massacre is highlighted. In real life the only known traitor active at Bletchley Park was British spy John Cairncross, who passed crucial secrets to the Russians.

This was the final film to be scored by John Barry (1933–2011).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1187

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

The scaled-down model of a World War Two U-boat used in the film. The model was donated to the Bletchley Park museum.