Factual error: When John Wayne and Geraldine Page first meet the lead cavalry man and 'Buffalo Baker', you can see in the distance a radio tower on top of the hill/mountain.
Suggested correction: It's not a radio tower. It leans to one side and also the line goes almost to the creek bed. When the troops come back after getting ambushed it's not in the picture anymore.
I'm currently watching the movie and I noticed the radio tower in the background. There are no wires and the tower was not leaning.
Suggested correction: It isn't a tower at all, it's a flaw in the film. As the scene continues, at one point you can see it kind of shake or move a little. It's just a line or flaw on the film itself, it's not a radio tower or anything in the background.
Factual error: When Lt. Dunbar is being interrogated in the Commandant's office you can see a map on the far wall. It is a map of Germany dictated by the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I because it shows E. Prussia separated from Germany and does not include the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia. These annexations were completed before the start of World War II in '39 and certainly before late '44, early '45 when the film took place. It is highly unlikely any German officer would have this map displayed not only because it's inaccurate but because it displayed the territorial losses brought on by the humiliating defeat of World War I.
Factual error: Joseph Cotton spends the second half of the movie trying to get out of Canada, but in the scene at The Cave of the Winds with Jean Peters, he must have forgotten that he was already on the American side of the falls. (00:54:00)
Factual error: As the first wave of Japanese bombers approach the harbor, there is a brief shot of Pearl Harbor. In the background an aircraft can be seen. There were no carriers in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Factual error: In the scene where Marcellus is being shipped off to "Palestine" on the galley - presumably from Ostia the port of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber - he is urged to hurry up his farewell to Diana by the galley captain because "we will miss the tide." This is the Mediterranean - there is no tide to speak of.
Factual error: In the film, Houdini's family name is Schwartz. In reality, it was Weisz.
Factual error: The "Olympic team" sailing on the ship consists of approximately 18 men. The actual 1952 US Olympic team consisted of 286 competitors (245 men and 41 women), plus a large number of coaches, trainers, and so on.
Factual error: If we are to assume that the British cruisers were Dido class with 5.25" guns, the assertion that the Essen would outrange them by 5000 yards is pretty much true. However, in order for the Brits to launch torpedoes, they would have had to close to inside of 20K yards, well within range of their main guns. Thus said, if the British cruisers were any of their 6 inch gun class, there would have been no advantage in range.
Factual error: As the team practices, the film shows the passage of time by using a calendar. The month of July ends on Thursday, the 31st, but August the first is shown to start on Wednesday.
Factual error: The footage of the Murmansk convoy firing at attacking German planes is actually Pacific footage of Kamikaze attacks. The density of the fire was only possible because of the lavish AA available then, unlike the meager AA of convoy escorts.
Factual error: Just after the British flag is raised over the British garrison's camp, we see an interior shot of Brig. General Maitland's field office. There are no American forces involved in this conflict, but at the far right of the screen (visible in widescreen format), the flag hanging behind his desk is, inexplicably, the American Stars and Stripes instead of the British Union Jack. (00:58:30)
Factual error: All of the flight scenes show the AC with the USAF star and stripes logo and the fuselage said "United States Air Force" quite prominently. The Air Force was not created as a separate service until 9/18/1947. Prior to that, the Air Force was part of the Army and known as the US Army Air Corp or US Army Air Force (USAAF). The movie was released 9/3/1953, based on a book written 1944, based on a true story of a flight February 3, 1943 and the Air Transport Command. The ATC was a designation from 1942-1948 only and when the AF was established in late 1947, it was not part of the service. There could not have been a C-47 with "United States Air Force" designation when the book was written, when the real event occurred or when it was portrayed.