That life has been the subject of a play ("Breaking the Code" by Hugh Whitemore) and several books, and going its own way with an invented set of characters, the Tom Stoppard screenplay "Enigma" explored similar themes of love and deceit and a race against time.
Benedict Cumberbatch cultists aside, theatergoers who saw Derek Jacobi play Alan Turing in 1986 in Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code may balk at seeing a Hollywoodized biopic that covers much the same ground.
Graham Moore’s screenplay is based on Andrew Hodges’ comprehensive 1983 biography Alan Turing: The Enigma , as was Hugh Whitemore’s stage drama “Breaking the Code.”
It’s easy to overrate a dreary, expository drama like the best-known telling of Turing’s story, Hugh Whitemore’s play and teleplay Breaking the Code , in which every line is factual and few are captivating.
The story was masterfully dramatized on London and Broadway stages by the play Breaking the Code, starring the great British actor Derek Jacobi, but the movie delves deeper into the personal life of the subject.