Factual error: Julia Child's address on the envelope that she received from publishing company Alfred A Knopf contains a zip code. The envelope contains a letter informing Julia that Knopf wanted to publish her cookbook. That first cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was first published in 1961. The US Post Office didn't initiate zip codes until 1963.
Factual error: Hugh Jackman says the car he is working on is a '72 classic. It is actually a 1979 Pontiac Firebird.
Factual error: The way surveying is done is plain stupid. Percy Fawcett sets up a transit in the middle of a thick jungle, Henry Costin stands 10 feet in front of him holding the rod in one hand and a notepad in the other, then Percy looks through the transit and somehow reads the geographic coordinates out of thin air. This scene repeats couple of times during the movie.
Factual error: Bunny Yeager photographed Bettie for the January 1955 issue of Playboy, yet, when Bettie first meets Bunny, there is a 1959 Ford convertible in her driveway.
Factual error: Gina is drinking from a 90's Diet Pepsi can when she goes to Basquiat's studio for the meeting with Cynthia and Tom, and of course the film is set in the 80's.
Factual error: When Chris is running from the cabbie he jumps into a train, and in the process gets his scanner stuck in the door, which he loses hold of as the train begins to move. BART trains will not move unless all doors are secure, so this could not have happened. (00:30:00)
Factual error: Approximately three quarters of the way in to the film, there is a close up of a German soldier handing an officer a file of documents. The helmet that the soldier is wearing is a post war 1960s version. This can be determined by the lack of an air vent and rivet on the side of the helmet.
Factual error: In the scene where Swofford is playing the bugle a water tower in the background has an Air Combat Command emblem which is used by the Air Force and would not be seen on a marine base.
Suggested correction: That part of the movie was filmed at a Naval Air Facility in my hometown. That movie theater where they were watching Apocalypse Now was also in the same said NAF.
Factual error: Karen points out to Thelma that she should have given a nasal swab (to detect internal contamination) after being 'cooked', yet on both occasions when Karen is being scrubbed after being contaminated she has blisters all over her face - something which should be avoided when performing decontamination as this can allow contamination to enter the body.
Factual error: Before 1949, when the part of the film set in Hollywood takes place, the famous sign on the mountain read "Hollywoodland", not "Hollywood". The sign had been allowed to deteriorate and during that year, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce offered to remove the last four letters and repair the rest.
Factual error: When Hatsumomo wakes up late to torture little Chiyo again, her kimono is closed the wrong way.
Factual error: When both Erica and Courtney are racing, you can see mountains in the background, although there are no mountains in Houston, their hometown.
Factual error: Many palace scenes in the mini-series are set in the Forbidden City. This is incorrect, as the Forbidden City was built under the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and not completed until about 1420, almost 100 years after Marco Polo's death.
Factual error: In the scene where Chaplin and his wife are traveling to Europe by ship (when they find out Hoover has expelled him from the U.S.), the film shows the French Liner "Normandie" as it is leaving New York. The date shown on the film says September 1952. The "Normandie" however, was destroyed by fire in New York Harbor on February 9, 1942 as it was being converted into a U.S. troop ship for World War II. Incidentally, they filmed the scene on the R.M.S. Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, which in reality is probably the ship that the Chaplins actually took to Europe.
Factual error: Marie Antoinette has moved into her new vacation home following the birth of her daughter. Her friends are visiting, she is walking through the field of wildflowers, and she blows a ladybug off her finger. The camera pans upward to show her gazing at the sky. There is a very obvious vapor-trail from a large airliner cutting through the center of the camera shot, from one side of the screen to the opposite, predating jet-liners by over 150 years. (01:25:25)
Factual error: The Blairs are in a car travelling down the motorway when Tony receives a phone call from a lord. In the background the passing scenery is leafless trees and a bare winter landscape, but the events of the film take place during the English summer.
Factual error: One of the operetta excerpts shown in the movie is the humorous song "This Helmet I Suppose," during which Princess Ida's three brothers are supposed to remove their armor piece by piece, finding it heavy, hot and awkward. Partly as a result of this, the three are soon afterwards quickly and easily defeated in combat. In the film, however, only Arac, the brother singing the verses (played by Richard Temple (played by Timothy Spall)), removes his armor. The others simply stand still. (This might have made the battle scene end differently if it was shown on screen!)
Factual error: The middle third of the film recounts Dr. Thompson meeting Laszlo at the 1972 Superbowl (VI) in Los Angeles, however, in 1972 the game was played in New Orleans.
Factual error: The movie takes place in Connecticut from 1961-1986. All the cars in the movie have license plates on their front bumpers, but Connecticut didn't require front plates until just a few years ago (late 90s-early 00s).
Factual error: When the convictions are overturned, the defendants' solicitor, Gareth Pearce (played by Emma Thompson) is shown arguing their case in court. In England solicitors cannot appear in the higher courts, and in fact a barrister presented the case. However, the film is 'dramatically correct' because it was Gareth Pearce who got them freed, and the barrister in question is far too full of herself without having the honour of being portrayed by Emma T.