Foreword Do you ever start a post/message and then realise halfway through it's more complicated than you initially thought and/or you get so horrifically sidetracked by a discrepancy? This post has one of those, but I didn't want to split it into 2 posts. (further note: tables made using this)
I always find it interesting when there are through-lines in films I've chosen to watch via a scattergun letterboxd watchlist roulette. The last few have had the following sets of comms intercepts/encryptions.
Mission: Impossible (1996): Job 314
Max, it seems, has two unique gifts -- a capacity for anonymity and for corrupting susceptible agents. This time he's gotten to someone on the inside - he's put himself in a position to buy our NOC list. An operation he referred to as "Job 314". The job he thought Golitsyn was doing tonight.
This was the only film here I'd seen before, probably around the time it came out. I still remembered the solution to this, and found it such a clever thing relying on parsing speech.
EXPAND FOR: The protagonist figuring out the solution with some egregious Usenet use
| Screenplay | Stolen from Final Shooting Script 16th August 1995 |
|---|---|
| [vis.] | ETHAN TYPES IN job 314 |
| ETHAN | Job. Job 3:14. March fourteen. Job 31 March. |
| [vis.] | The computer replies: SEARCHING STRING NOT FOUND |
| [vis.] | ETHAN tries again: max.com |
| [Cont.] | The answer: SEARCH STRING NOT FOUND |
| [vis.] | He tries a few more, quickly -- "job," "jobs," "joblist.com," but nothing comes up. He tries something else -- "scroll usenet groups." |
| [Cont.] | The computer scrolls names of bulletin boards at a dizzying speed, by the hundreds. That's not going anywhere. |
| [vis.] | ETHAN pauses, slaking his bottomless thirst and trying to figure out what permutation of "job 314" he should add to the others on his computer screen. He MUMBLES. |
| ETHAN | Job three fourteen. Job -- |
| [note] | (a realization, the Biblical pronunciation) |
| ETHAN | It's Job! |
| [vis.] | He rummages around on the desk, checks the bookshelf and finds a Gideon Bible. He turns to Job 3:14 and reads the Bible passage "Kings and Counsellors..." |
| [Cont.] | He thinks for another moment, then punches back into the Internet and under the command "Select Usenet Group" he types: |
| [Cont.] | BIBLE |
| [vis.] | The computer replies: 126 ENTRIES FOUND, SPECIFY GROUP |
| ETHAN | BOOK OF JOB |
| [vis.] | The computer presents a multi-colored screen of religious icons and artwork with an accompanying message: |
| [Cont.] | WELCOME TO THE BOOK OF JOB DISCUSSION GROUP. WHICH CHAPTER AND VERSE DO YOU WISH TO POST YOUR ENTRY UNDER? |
| [vis.] | ETHAN types his answer "Job 3:14" and the screen presents a "stickie" for him to write his message on. He does: |
| ETHAN | Max -- Goods tainted. Consider extremely hazardous. DO NOT USE. Fate will be that of kings and counsellors who built for themselves palaces now lying in ruins. Must meet to discuss a.s.a.p. |
I just have such a soft spot for early net usage in media. The whole scene, including some amazing graphics, can be seen on YT here
A Better Tomorrow (1986): Intercepted co-ordinates
The third I saw, which made me want to post this, but realised upon getting the screenshots it's not a code, it's just a dictionary to help translate across a different alphabet/language to unpick a location of (what they believe to be) upcoming criminal activities. Side note: this was a great film, highly recommended.
EXPAND FOR: Screen capture of the handwritten note
This note is a tailored trap: staged to set Kit (Leslie Cheung's character) up for an ambush. As is traditional with these sorts of young police archetypes - he gets in trouble because he won't leave (the situation) alone.
Manhunter (1986): Book codes (and a rabbit hole)
I offer you one hundred prayers for your safety. Find help in John 6:22, 8:16 9:1; Luke 1:7, 3:1; Galatians 6:11. 15:2; Acts 3:3; Revelations 18:1; Jonah 6:8...
This is the entry that nerd-sniped me as when I was trying to grab the text to share, I realised that the content varied across script versions, book and other remakes with the same source vary in terms of how this is solved.
EXPAND FOR: Initial decode strategy and explanation of a 'book code' (from the film I watched)
| # | Text from Screenplay (2nd Draft of 20th July 1984) |
|---|---|
| BOWMAN | The numbers aren't right for a jailhouse alphabet code. It's a book code. (beat). And your message has to go out in it, or he'll know it's not Lecter talking to him. |
| CRAWFORD | Book code? |
| BOWMAN | One hundred prayers could be the page number. The paired numbers scriptural references could be line and letter. But what book? |
| CRAWFORD | Not the Bible? |
| BOWMAN | No. Galatians 15:2? Galatians has only 6 chapters. The same with Jonah 6:8 - Jonah has four chapters. Lecter wasn't using a bible. |
| GRAHAM | Then the Tooth Fairy named the book in the part Lecter tore out. |
| [DB] | [there's further dialogue here I've edited out for this post] |
| BOWMAN | It has to be a book the Tooth Fairy would know Lecter has in his cell. |
| GRAHAM | He'd know it from articles he's read about Lecter... |
| CRAWFORD | Willingham, when he tossed his cell, took Polaroids so they could get everything back in place... |
| BOWMAN | Have him meet me with pictures of Lecter's books |
| CRAWFORD | Where? |
| BOWMAN | Library of Congress. |
What I wanted to do, was to find the original source text for the book code so I could compare them, or preferably a link to someone online who had done that - surely, I thought, someone must have? I mean, people like serial killer/thriller media(!) People like codes! But maybe this is one of those things lost to time in the old web, not surfacing because of how searches work now.
What is the book used to decode this - and what's the message?
EXPAND FOR: This introduction of the coded message within Thomas Harris' book, 'Red Dragon':
So, we establish the message goes on a lot longer than the quote in the film. But what could it be from?
EXPAND FOR: how the book discusses potential book code sources (ch.14)
“What have the papers carried about that, Jack? About Lecter’s books.”
“That he has medical books, psychology books, cookbooks.”
Breaking the code: the reveal
EXPAND FOR: Except of actual film dialogue
| # | As per film |
|---|---|
| CRAWFORD | Listen, Bowman just broke the code that Lektor used in the Tattler personal ad. It was the State of Maryland statutes. You need to know what it said right now? |
| GRAHAM | What? |
| CRAWFORD | Listen to me, everything's OK, I've taken care of it. |
| GRAHAM | What is it, Jack? |
| CRAWFORD | Bastard gave him your home address. It said 'Graham home, 3860 DeSoto Highway, Captiva, Florida. Save yourself, kill them all.' |
But wait, the script I was using to grab dialogue in my initial set up for this post is different!
EXPAND FOR: Excerpt of Michael Mann's Second Draft of 20th July 1984:
| # | Screenplay (2nd Draft) |
|---|---|
| CRAWFORD (V.O) | Will, Bowman just broke the code. It was a James Beard cook book. You need to know what it says right now. |
| GRAHAM | What'd it say? |
| CRAWFORD | I'll tell you in a second. Now listen to me: everything is okay, I'm taking care of it, so stay on the phone when I tell you |
| GRAHAM | Tell me now |
| CRAWFORD | It says: Graham home, 3860 DeSoto Highway, Marathon, Florida. Save yourself. Kill them all. (beat) It's your home address, Will. The bastard gave him your home address. |
OK - what does the book say? EXPAND FOR: reveal within the original book (Thomas Harris' 'Red Dragon')
"Okay, Lloyd." Crawford's feet searched for his slippers.
"It says, 'Graham home, Marathon, Florida. Save yourself. Kill them all.'"
"Goddammit. Gotta go."
"I know."
Crawford went to his den without stopping for his robe. He called Florida twice, the airport once, then called Graham at his hotel.
"Will, Bowman just broke the code."
"What did it say?"
"I'll tell you in a second. Now, listen to me. Everything is okay. I've taken care of it, so stay on the phone when I tell you."
"Tell me now."
"It's your home address. Lecter gave the bastard your home address."
That's unhelpful: it doesn't cover the cypher at all.
(I also start finding other differences between the info versions, including an added variance from how the info is set up earlier in the film/book. In the film, we have this, which is similar enough to reveal, although some details are transposed.
The book set up is: here, under this cut)
“It doesn't give the address of his house.”
“What does it have?”
“Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tenth and Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. Oh, and Post Office Box 3680, Marathon, Florida.”
“That's fine, you're an angel.”
“You're welcome.”
Further cross-referencing with the book itself, I note that the script of 2002's Red Dragon follows the dialogue much more closely. Finally - I find a reference on one of those continuity error sites (for my sins) to the character length in the encrypted message. That film must actually show it. I go hunting for clips, finding myself increasingly ridiculous (I'm not even that interested in the plot/films! This is so far away from what my original post premise was - Why have I done this to myself?)
It seems 'Red Dragon' leant into the code-breaking process, creating an on-screen version of the encrypted message. EXPAND FOR: screenshot
(via Youtube)This is *exactly* what I was after. I resign myself to grabbing the film so I can see if there are visuals that link to the solving that weren't itemised in the script itself as available online.
And there we have it. 'Red Dragon' shows the decoding on-screen, including the book they're using. EXPAND FOR: screenshot
(this would have been so much easier if the script I could find was more detailed)So, somewhere between the 2nd draft script and the final cut of Manhunter, the book used to code the message was changed. I assume there's references in the original novel to this one being available/one of the potential sources, given how clearly it's used. Given how long I've spent on this so far, there's little reason not to check and see and... here's the intro to Lecter on screen, asleep with a book (the book, I presume) on their chest.
Tune in next time for, who knows, to be honest. I think I might boot up some games as a palate cleanser