Best history movie trivia of all time

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The Lion in Winter picture

Trivia: Filming was delayed for several weeks after Anthony Hopkins fell from a horse and broke his arm. In several scenes, his armor is concealing a plaster cast. Director Anthony Harvey was stricken with hepatitis, causing further delays in post-production editing. Only Katharine Hepburn's intervention stopped the film's Hollywood backers from handing editing duties off to someone else and from possibly shelving the entire project. (From the director's DVD commentary.)

Jean G

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Druids picture

Trivia: "Vercingétorix" is the original French title. "Druids" is the English title.

megamii

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The Dam Busters picture

Trivia: A (corrected) entry states that a USAAF B-17 'Flying Fortress' bomber is visible in the film. In fact in some prints produced for release in the US irrelevant stock footage of a B17 was randomly cut into the film to make it more acceptable to American audiences. This was a deliberate alteration of the film done very much against the wishes of the producer and director, and it explains the 'error' - the contributor has seen one of the non-canon US prints.

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Quo Vadis picture

Trivia: Galva, the general who claims the emperor's throne after Nero's death, didn't last long as an emperor himself: just four months later, he was murdered by his Pretorian Guardsmen.

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Eight Men Out picture

Trivia: The film is based on the real-life events of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, in which members of the Chicago White Sox were charged with "throwing" the World Series (i.e. losing on purpose). Even though many people believe he wasn't involved, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was banned from baseball and hasn't been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame because of that.

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Witchfinder General picture

Trivia: When Vincent Price, "The King of Hams", once got into an argument with the very promising 25-year-old British director Michael Reeves during this film's shooting, he said: "I've made eighty-seven movies." Reeves responded: "I've made three good ones."

S.Holmes

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The Birth of a Nation picture

Trivia: The film was a favorite of President Woodrow Wilson, a Southerner who was alleged to be a racist, evident through his purging of blacks working in the federal government during the first presidential term.

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Jesus of Nazareth picture

Trivia: Ian McShane was originally down to play the part of Jesus, and ended up being cast as Judas.

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61* (2001)

61* picture

Trivia: For his role as Whitey Ford, rather than having to learn to pitch left-handed, right-handed Anthony Michael Hall wore his uniform number and logo backwards; the image was then flipped.

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Brotherhood of the Wolf picture

Trivia: All of the characters in the film actually existed during the time of Louis XV with the exception of Mani. If you watch the DVD version, you'll see this in the production notes.

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The Greatest Story Ever Told picture

Trivia: This particular biblical epic proved to be so expensive to make and did so badly at the box office, the film company went bankrupt.

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Valkyrie picture

Trivia: One of von Tresckow's aides is played by Philipp von Schulthess, the grandson of Claus von Stauffenberg. In the film, Stauffenberg's wife is pregnant with Philipp's mother.

Cubs Fan

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Waterloo picture

Trivia: All the extras (there were rather a lot of them) were made up of Soviet soldiers.

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Dunkirk picture

Trivia: In reality, Adolf Hitler ordered his commanders and troops to stand down and allow Allied forces to escape at Dunkirk. The German General von Blumentritt is quoted as saying "He (Hitler) then astonished us by speaking with admiration of the British Empire, of the necessity for its existence, and of the civilisation that Britain had brought into the world...He said that all he wanted from Britain was that she should acknowledge Germany's position on the Continent." But the exact reason for the order remains unknown.

Charles Austin Miller

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Hitler's controversial 'halt' order at Dunkirk had nothing to do with chivalry. The most widely accepted reason for the order is that the Wehrmacht Panzer units had been fighting continuously for two weeks, and badly needed some rest in preparation for Fall rot, phase two of the invasion of France. Infantry and air power continued to attack the Dunkirk pocket throughout the evacuation while the armoured units rested.

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Cromwell picture

Trivia: After the execution of Charles I / Alec Guiness, Oliver Cromwell / Richard Harris returns to his home. Sitting by the fire, he is consoled by his wife: he can now put the cares and worries of war and politics behind him, and enjoy a quiet life as a country gentleman. This cosy domesticity is rudely interrupted when some of his old colleagues arrive to tell him tell him that he is now needed to run the country. He protests that, as a country gentleman he would be unfit for such a role, but he reluctantly assumes power. In fact, by the time of Charles I's execution Oliver Cromwell was one of the most powerful political figures and military commanders in Britain, and actively continued commanding armies in Ireland, Scotland and England, and involving himself in government. Although rejecting a suggestion that he should be crowned king (after much deliberation), he was quite willing to take the title of 'Lord Protector' and govern England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales until his death in 1658.

Rob Halliday

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12 Years a Slave picture

Trivia: This was the first film from a black director to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

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Enemy at the Gates picture

Trivia: The film is based upon William Craig's book of the same name, yet the entire movie is based upon a sniper duel that covers no more than two pages of the entire book. German army historical records never mention an elite sniper named "Major Koenig" hunting Vassili Zaitsev at Stalingrad.

Scott215

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