Best drama movie factual errors of 1942

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Casablanca picture

Factual error: When Rick is talking about the German guns shelling near Paris, he describes them as 77's (non-existent) - likely meant the famous 88's used as anti-aircraft and tanks as well as for wheeled guns. [The line was originally "88s" but was changed at the request of the War Dept. so as to not tip the German's hands that we knew about the 88s.] (00:44:25)

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To Be or Not To Be picture

Factual error: This relates to the first movie with this title, the one with Jack Benny in it. About midway in the film there is a scene with Polish pilots in the RAF in a room. It cuts to a brief shot of airplanes flying which obviously purports to show the Polish pilots flying their airplanes. But, the airplanes shown are circa 1935 U. S. Army Air Corps Consolidated two place fighters, never used by the RAF and in fact totally obsolete and never used by any air force during WWII.

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Flying Tigers picture

Factual error: After Pearl Harbor is attacked, all of the radios on the base are tuned in to Roosevelt's "day of infamy" speech. None of the radios were short-wave and FM wasn't widely available, so the likelihood of their hearing a live broadcast was slim to none.

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The Pride of the Yankees picture

Factual error: When the Yankees play Boston, a dirt path is visible going from home to the pitcher's mound. Fenway Park, where the Red Sox play, has never had such a thing.

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Bambi picture

Factual error: When we first see Bambi as an adult, it is meant to be the same year (no revolving of the seasons or such to denote time passing). Yet the adult Bambi seems to be three years old as his antlers have two 'tines' or forks on them. In a male deer's first winter he grows two straight horn-like antlers on his head, which is the first 'tine'. After this the number of tines on the deer's antlers increase one with each year. So, counting the year when Bambi was a fawn and had no antlers, he has the body of a 3-year-old deer. Yet judging by the story's progression and the relative ages of Thumper and Flower (remember, smaller animals mature faster) Bambi is only 2 years old.

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Reap the Wild Wind picture

Factual error: When King Cutler shoots his brother near the end of the film, he uses a revolver, a weapon not produced until the next decade.

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Yankee Doodle Dandy picture

Factual error: Although quite typical for biopics of this era, certain aspects of Cohan's life are glossed over. The movie shows him in a lifelong marriage to his first love. However, he was in fact married in 1899 to Ethel Levy, and after their divorce in 1907 he married Agnes Mary Nolan, who remained his wife until Cohan's death in 1942.

Kevin Hall

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