How secret was the Secret Communication System? Why so little mention of it by Hedy for so long? Was it only to preserve her Hollywood image? Did the government confiscate it, as some argue, given that she was classified as an alien? The following exchanges from
The Imitation Game are offered as possible scenarios–conspiracy theories, if you will–as to how the Dark State may have played a role in this matter. Having cracked the German Enigma code, Alan Turing and his fellow de-coders are given an ominous debriefing by Stewart Menzies, Chief of MI-6.
13:50
Commander Denniston: This is Stewart Menzies, MI-6.
Decoder: There are only five divisions of military intelligence. There is no MI-6.
Menzies: Exactly. That’s the spirit.
“[Towards the end: 1:37]
Having cracked the Enigma code and shortened the war by two years in many historians’ estimates, the decoding crew are debriefed:
Menzies: You’ve one thing left to do before your service to your government is concluded.
Joan: What’s that?
Menzies: Burn everything.
Alexander: Burn? Why?
Menzies: You were told when you started this was a top-secret program, did you think we were joking?
Alexander: But the war is over.
Turing: This war is. But there’ll be others. And we know how to break a code that everybody else believes is unbreakable.
Menzies: Precisely. Tear it down. Light it up. Sweep away the ashes.
None of you have ever met before. None of you have ever even heard the word Enigma.
Have a safe trip home. Behave.
With a bit of luck, you’ll never have to see me or one another again for the rest of your lives.
[Implied Threat: Reveal what you’ve accomplished and you will be hanged for high treason!]
A good movie plot: The standard line that your invention was rejected as impractical was a cover story to give researchers more time to perfect it: “Keep it under wraps, Ms. Lamarr (or whatever your name is).”
