Best movie factual errors of 1965

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Shenandoah picture

Factual error: After the birth of the baby, James Stewart and "Doc" Witherspoon are discussing the course of the war. "Doc" relates that he has always lived in Virginia and that his son died at Gettysburg at Little Round Top. No Virginia regiments fought at Little Round Top - only Alabama, Texas, Georgia, and Arkansas regiments.

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The Sons of Katie Elder picture

Factual error: In the final gunfight in Hasting's store, John Elder fires his six-shooting Colt to a total of thirteen or fourteen times, without requiring - or doing any - reloading whatsoever.

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For a Few Dollars More picture

Factual error: The El Paso newspaper is dated Monday June 15 1872. June 15 1872 was a Saturday. (00:48:14)

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The Sound of Music picture

Factual error: The von Trapps are shown walking over the border to Switzerland after a short drive out of the centre of town...except Salzburg is about 200km east of Switzerland. If one walked across the border at Salzburg, you'd be entering Germany, which is where (I believe) the people they were trying to get away from lived. Take a look at a map.

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Suggested correction: Even though the von Trapps were 200km from the Swiss border, in the last 5 mins, they received a car from the sisters at the convent and the sisters disabled the cars of their pursuers.

Captain Von Trapp was clear, when they were about to hide, that they would drive into the mountains in Salzburg (which the movie did a close up on to show it was those mountains specifically) and walk over them on foot confirming the movie is pretending those are mountains into Switzerland. The director himself admitted this when the real Maria Von Trapp complained of this error. He said "In Hollywood you can make up your own geography."

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Battle of the Bulge picture

Factual error: None of the German tanks are accurate representations of German WWII types. They are all post war US variants. ie. M47 Patton Tanks. [Still a mistake, but an elaboration: This is a common problem in depicting German tanks: few, if any, survived the war. The few museum examples wouldn't be released for movie work, and certainly WHERE, some 20 years after the war, would one find a brigade's worth of running Tiger II tanks? Never mind that Kampgruppe Pieper, which Hessler's command is loosely based on, actually used Mark IV and Panther tanks. There was one King Tiger battalion, and it was in reserve well behind KG Peiper. The M47s versus the M24 Chafees (mistakenly called "Shermans" at times) is a fairly accurate comparison of the respective sizes, firepower, and other combat capabilities of the respective tanks. Some other movies, like "Kelly's Heroes", have their "Tigers" mocked-up with sheet metal, wire mesh, and sacking over a different type of tank (in that case, T-34/85s of the Yugoslav army are mocked up as Tiger Is, a fairly decent job).]

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Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines picture

Factual error: Terry-Thomas's plane gets stuck between the carriages of a Paris-bound train (in fact filmed on the single-line track between Bedford and Hitchin). Just before the train plus plane goes into a tunnel you can see the cooling towers of Bedford's Goldington Power Station (circa 1960) behind TT's head. (01:58:20)

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In Harm's Way picture

Factual error: Throughout the film the characters are often seen riding in M151 jeeps (horizontal grill slits) which were not in production until the Vietnam era. Odd because they did have a few correct era Willy's jeeps on the set, usually seen in the background.

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Monster a-Go Go picture

Factual error: The crashed US spacecraft from which the monster emerges is obviously much too small to have carried a human being into space.

tromatic

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The Heroes of Telemark picture

Factual error: The daylight air-raid on the Norwegian Heavy Water plant in 1942 was done by Boeing B17G bombers, with the distinctive chin gun turrets. These planes did not come into service until 1944, when they were introduced to counter the head-on attacks by German fighters.

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Thunderball picture

Factual error: The second blackmail message from SPECTRE tells the British that they must drop the ransom diamonds in a container "off the coast of Burma, in the Mergui archipelago, latitude 20 degrees north, longitude 60 degrees east." Unfortunately, 20 N, 60 E is nowhere near Burma. It's right off the coast of Oman in the Arabian peninsula, all the way on the other side of India from Burma. The actual coordinates for the Mergui archipelago are approximately 13 N 97 E. I guess there wasn't a map handy....

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Doctor Zhivago picture

Factual error: This movie is set in a part of the world that is well known for its harsh cold weather and frigid temperatures. Yet despite countless scenes of people outdoors in what is supposed to be the bitter cold of winter, you never see the vapor from anyone's breath.

HuskyMiller

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Von Ryan's Express picture

Factual error: Sergeant Bostick tells Colonel Ryan he is from the 113th Armored Division. The U.S. Army never had a 113th Armored Division in WW2.

Scott215

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Suggested correction: Is this actually an error? I believe the British Regiment who feature in this film are The Ninth Fusiliers. Well, there never has been a Ninth Fusiliers in the British army, either! For that matter, there never was a Colonel Joseph L Ryan, or a Major Eric Fincham, or a Major Battaglia. While this film is set in the Second World War, it is openly admitted that it is a wholly fictional story. Some Second World War films (A Bridge Too Far; The Longest Day; The Battle Of the Bulge) were made to recreate historical events, and so refer to soldiers and military units who existed. Other Second World War films like this one (Sahara, Escape To Victory, Ice Cold In Alex) while referencing actual events, and, showing sequences of events that are not beyond probability, are still stories. Since this is a fictional, imagined story, is it acceptable for soldiers to serve with fictional regiments or imaginary fighting units?

While some fictional accounts can be taken for granted and not counted as errors (even films based on true stories can have fictional characters), there are limits when setting films in the past. To have a 113th Armored Division is a valid mistake as the highest number in WWII was the 20th Armored Division, unlike Infantry Divisions that went into the 100's. This could almost be the same as giving a character an 8 or 11 number phone number.

Bishop73

The anonymous drive by hit and run "contributor" (not referring to you, Bishop73) may not have seen another post I made about Sgt. Bostick wearing a 4th Armored Division patch on his uniform: he says he is from the 113th A.D. (which never existed) but wears the 4th A.D. patch, which did exist in WW2, but did not see service until France in 1944.

Scott215

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The War Lord picture

Factual error: The main plot of 'The War Lord' is based on a total fallacy. Chrysagon, a nobleman in eleventh century Normandy, falls in love with Bronwyn. She is betrothed to Marc, a villager on Chrysagon's estate. When Bronwyn and Marc marry Chrysagon claims 'Droit Du Seigneur', a law that a lord is allowed to sleep with a lesser man's wife on their wedding night. It is often asserted, even by some medieval historians, that 'Droit Du Seigneur' was legally enforced in the middle ages, but no reference to the practice has ever been found in any surviving medieval law code, legal text book, or historical source. It is first mentioned in the sixteenth century, and then as a discontinued practice from a barbarous past (like human sacrifice or cannibalism) but the earliest accounts of the custom do not provide any verifiable sources, suggesting that it originated in over-active minds of writers of popular romances.

Rob Halliday

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Operation Crossbow picture

Factual error: In a wide shot of a battle, pictured in the background is a cooling tower for a nuclear plant. These did not exist during this time period.

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The Flight of the Phoenix picture

Factual error: Before the damaged plane is dismantled, in some shots the three propeller blades of the port side engine are a mixture of clockwise and anticlockwise type. (The twist along the length of the blade goes the opposite direction depending on the type).

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The Greatest Story Ever Told picture

Factual error: Many of the panoramic scenes in this film capture breathtaking views of mountain ranges completely covered with snow - a geographical feature not to be found in the Holy Land. It is found on occasion, though, in Arizona, where these sequences were actually shot. Other scenes show desert bluffs, mesas and arches that are also not found in the Middle East: they're the distinctive formations of the Arches National Park in Utah, USA.

Jean G

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The Big Job picture

Factual error: When the crooks are on their getaway from the bank raid in the hearse, you can see 1960s cars through the back window when this scene was set in 1950.

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36 Hours picture

Factual error: When an older lady working for the German cause is collecting items from the US Soldier's room (Garner), she picks out a letter with stamps on it that were not issued until 1954 and 1961...even though the year of the movie and scene is only 1944.

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The Hill picture

Factual error: When the prisoners are taking a shower Roberts says to another prisoner as he goes to turn on the water "not that one, it turns on the gas" - a reference to Nazi death camps that used shower rooms to gas people. But this film is set during WW ll when this info was not known by rank and file soldiers - it only became known near or even after the end of the war.

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