The Thomas Beale Cipher (2010 Video) User Reviews

Very stylish....but what about the ending?

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 7 January 2013]

"The Thomas Beale Cipher" is an incredibly stylish and arresting film. It has a lot going for it and I can't wait to see more stuff from these people. On the other hand, it seems incomplete and the ending left me a bit cold...but it's still worth your time.

The story is about a fictional codebreaker and the story begins during WWII--where the main character became famous for his invaluable work. Now, however, he's in search of cracking a code--a code that could lead to a HUGE treasure in gold. The problem is, someone is after him. Why and who they are, I haven't a clue.

The film is told using some of the strangest and most creative animation I have ever seen--and I have reviewed a lot of independent animated shorts. This one uses the look of wallpaper, tweed and other textures to tell a story about intrigue and suspense. It also has about the strangest animated eyes I've seen on characters. This all works together very well--creating a visual treat that works even better thanks to great music (making for a REALLY tense mood) and nice narration. The overall picture is really cool. But, unfortunately, the ending seemed very vague.

Film has visual flair but insubstantial plot

[jennyhor2004 · 6/10 · 8 February 2012]

An unusual collage-type animated film that's based on the legend about the three cypher-texts that supposedly reveal the location of a treasure chest of gold and silver worth millions of dollars, "The Thomas Beale Cipher" is quite fiendish to watch and requires repeated viewings to understand and to find 14 supposed clues. Protagonist Professor Whie, a noted cryptographer on the run as a suspected Nazi spy, is on the trail of this chest and boards a train but shadowy figures claiming to be FBI are hunting him and he must evade them. An ingenious sequence of overhead luggage improbably slamming into one another and then attacking the agents saves White's hide and enables him to flee. That's pretty much all there is to the plot.

The film has the look of an aged historical document and the animation technique used appears to be rotoscope with cut-outs of material and real human eyes to give the film a fresh, rough-hewn look. Bits of fabric like tweed or carpet cut out into shapes of people or objects recall textures of materials once used on clothes or objects and add particular historical flavour. Main and minor characters alike look real yet slightly eccentric and one train passenger looks downright steam-punk weird. A beautiful woman looking out the window may be a stereotypical film-noir mystery dame. Characters wear clothes of flat floral or herringbone pattern and Professor White's glasses reproduce numbered code at various points in the short as his thoughts through his eyes lay out a hilarious plan of escape and deception.

The plot proceeds with the benefit of voice-over narration by White which allows the film to delve into a bit of flashback history about the treasure and Thomas Beale himself. The story is told with the use of first- and second-person points of view: White addresses the young woman (and the audience) and although the lady does nothing other than smoke and look out the window, she is in fact an active participant in White's scheme.

Disappointingly the film ends with White rushing into the hills while senior agent Black glares at him from the departing train. One hopes a sequel might be made but the short is so self-contained that I doubt that possibility. There are several sight gags – one funny one being where White hides behind a newspaper whose back page is emblazoned with his portrait, in itself probably a familiar trick disguise from Hollywood films - and ingenious camera angles and points of view that take advantage of the train-carriage setting with the overhead luggage section.

For such a good-looking film, the plot is insubstantial and the whole work would benefit from an expansion into a 30-minute piece with a few more, less complicated clues as to the characters' nature and motivations, and how White and Black are related to each other.

No I haven't worked out what the clues are but interested readers can Google thomas + beale + cipher + Facebook to find the Facebook page where people discuss the clues and a solution by Czech computer student Miroslav Sustek has been posted.

A victory of design, style, and animation – although the internal cipher device encouraged a closeness that I didn't think benefited a first viewing

[bob the moo · 7 March 2015]

Coming into this film, I had not read anything in particular about the real life cipher which this animation uses as it basis, but I had read that the short film itself contains a series of clues to its own internal cipher to be solved. This aspect of the film I will come back to, because to the majority of viewers what we have here is a semi- noir spy film which is centered around a tension moment on a train. In this train is one Professor White – once a feted academic and key member of a code-breaking organization, is now suspected of being a German spy and is on the run. We learn however that his obsession with solving the Thomas Beale mystery may be somehow connected to all this, although the detail of his fall from grace and his current situation is not really fleshed out.

Instead what we get is a few scenes which are quite contained but very engaging in their style. As a scene played straight, it is actually pretty good; a Poirot-style train carriage, a bit of backstory, a time-pressure as agents work their way towards White, and so on. The device employed to distract the agents is perhaps far-fetched and does rely on a calculation that even Guy Ritche's Sherlock might figure wasn't worth trying, but it nicely fits with the tension of the scene as it plays out over 30 or so seconds. As a narrative it is simple perhaps, but it is effective and does leave you wanting more of the same.

The main reason for this is the design of the short – not just the animation, but the whole package. Normally I watch the end credits of short films to see if I recognize any names, however in this case the credits were as much part of the film as the main body because the design and movement doesn't stop there. The whole piece is animated over live-action, an effect I quite like, but in this case has the additional appeal of having the look of fabrics, changing images, and outlines. The score for the piece also greatly helps the sense of drama, and it builds well. Likewise the voice-work from White gives the material a gravitas and urgency that I liked. So, although it is a case of the design and style being more important than the narrative, I will not pretend to mind since it does it so well.

Ironically although the narrative is relatively simple, the film reportedly contains a lot more detail that will be lost to most viewers (myself included). Even if you do not know that there are internal clues here, you will see at least some of the numbers that float through the film, appearing in one view, or maybe just for a few frames. I spotted a few of them but after a couple I found that I was focusing on looking for more, and not actually letting the film play out. I guess the intention was that it would be something picked up on to draw repeat viewings, although reading the solution (involving using a children's book by Graeme Base) makes me wonder who would really be bothered. To be fair, not knowing it is there, probably you only notice a few odd numbers as you watch it the first time, and only later get drawn in – I guess for me it was something I had to make sure I did not focus on since I already knew of it before seeing the film.

So, for me, I did find the narrative to be a bit truncated, even if it had the benefit of then wanting more; and I didn't get much from the internal cipher, however I did enjoy the energy, the style, the design and the overall construct of the short.

seductive

[Kirpianuscus · 17 November 2019]

I love it for design and animation and flavor of nostalgia more than for story itself. A film in old fashion manner in each detail. A cipher in a train and his thoughts. And the lovely tools for define his world, story and victory. All is seductive in this case. In same measure than a crime novel can be so well writed than you ignore the crime itself for the force of each line of it.