The King's man is a comic book film adaptation. It contains quite a few
historical figures, sometimes a bit comic like Tom Hollander playing
King George, Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas. The following clip
is inspired by the Zimmermann Telegram episode
in world war 1. The German proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the US would enter the war.
The telegram was an important reason why the US entered eventually the war.
The history changing telegram was decoded by British intelligence in ``Room 40". The telegram can be found
here in the National archives.
It had been coded by the 0075 cypher. This is a code of 10000 words and phrases numbered 0000 to 9999.
Since the numbers were randomly chosen and additionally a Cesar cypher applied, a frequency analysis is less possible.
Like illustrated in the movie, where Polly uses additional information from traffic sent by Code 0075,
also in the real story, additional code groups from other messages had to be used.
The movie is quite nice. Top cast. Very strong war poetry of Wilfred Owen woven into the movie.
The end sentence of the quoted poem is inscribed in the scene below in the church:
"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks. Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge. Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs.
And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots. But limped on, blood-shod.
All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime ... Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace.
Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face. His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin.
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood. Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs. Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud of vile,
incurable sores on innocent tongues. My friend, you would not tell with such high zest. To children ardent for some desperate glory.
The old lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori."