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Typewriter enthusiasts savour the joys of pre-digital communication technology, but there is a darker purpose in the use of the machines in the latest Mission Impossible movie. Picture: iStock

A scene in the new Mission Impossible movie shows an office the size of a hangar with thousands of people bashing away on ancient typewriters. What are they doing? For those of us nostalgic about old-school Olivetti Lettera 32s or the Royal range, or the stylish lines of a vintage Olympia Deluxe, there’s much to enjoy, but there’s a darker purpose if Tom Cruise is to accept the challenge of the message that will self-destruct in five seconds.

The arch villain of the film is an artificial intelligence known as ‘The Entity’. And it is doing dastardly things by entering computer networks and rewriting the past.