Factual error: While Bridger is watching the film of the Mafia boss following Beckerman he signals for the film to be stopped so he can look at the close up shot of the man. He is watching a 16mm film shown through a bog standard projector - stop a film like that for more than two seconds without closing down the projector shutter (this doesn't happen - if it did the screen would darken instantly) and it will melt and catch fire. This doesn't happen.
Factual error: Krakatoa is west of Java.
Factual error: Near the end of the film Butch is complaining about the living conditions they have to endure - jungles, swamps, snakes, night work - and Sundance sarcastically retorts "Bitch, bitch, bitch!" In 1908 the term meant just what it literally means: "Female dog." It did not adopt its current meaning of "complain" until much later. At the time the film is set - outside the context of "female dog" - it was considered to be a serious obscenity, and it would not have been used to describe something as ordinary as someone moaning about his living conditions.
Factual error: At the end of the 'Goodbye' the men all board a train which leaves along a track on a seaside pier. The shot changes from this stylised vision to a shot of an Edwardian Lady alone on a railway platform. In the background is a 1970s, ie. modern, diesel train.
Factual error: The door of the garage next to the house is of the aluminum up-and-over type, not available until the late 1960's.
Factual error: Bill Kempt rigs the sapphire asteroid with rocket motors to divert it toward the Moon. The motors are old and cranky, and to ensure that they fire on time he must, at some risk, lash himself to the rock and manually start the ignition. Upon lighting the engines he has several seconds to cut himself free, but in the scene he's shown swinging weightlessly as he snips the cable. If the asteroid is accelerating, he ought not to be weightless, but rather should be hanging behind the rock on his tether.
Factual error: Virgil's birthdate is given as 1935, but the flashbacks to his childhood have many mid-60's vehicles on the streets.
Factual error: In the 19th Street Parade, it shows the Budweiser Clydesdales pulling their famous wagon. Even though this movie is set in 1897, Budweiser did not start using Clydesdales until April 1933 when the sons gave their father, August Busch Sr., the owner of Budweiser, a 6 team team of Clydesdales to celebrate the end of Prohibition.
Factual error: As director Ronald Neame himself points out in his commentary to the DVD, immediately after Sandy has been heating a piece of bread in the fireplace, she grabs the end of the fork on which it is placed and does not burn herself. (00:19:00)
Factual error: Lou Erding qualifies his car (42) in third, yet prior to engine startup, the famous "position pole" shows 42 as starting in 20th.
Factual error: Of all the characters, major and minor, who ever speak German in Switzerland, not one speaks Swiss German. The accents are very different (Swiss German can be almost incomprehensible to speakers of High German), and there's also different vocabulary. While some of the characters might just be non-Swiss speakers of German, at least the underlings at Piz Gloria should be speaking Schwyzerdeutsch.
Factual error: When the Confederates enter the plaza to be greeted by the Mexican authorities, the Stars and Bars are raised below the Mexican Flag. However, during Maximilian's reign, the Mexican Flag was completely different from the flag shown.
Factual error: During the celebrations for the end of World War II, cars can be seen in the background that were made long after 1945. Also in this scene in the shot of Piccadilly Circus, the BMC {British Motor Corporation} rosette logo can be seen among the adverts. BMC wasn't formed until 1952.
Factual error: Campbell is armed with what is described by Wayne as a "buffalo gun", a large bore rifle known for its power and substantial recoil. Campbell shoots a wild turkey with the gun and causes the meat to be severely damaged. Wayne comments, "Too much gun" emphasizing the power of the gun. However, when Campbell shoots the turkey with this "buffalo gun" there is no visible recoil.
Factual error: In the opening scene, a German buzz-bomb is shown falling on WWII London. In the background, a nuclear power plant can easily be seen. A double mistake of sorts, as there never have been any nuclear power plants near London, even after they were invented.
Factual error: The Saint picks up a newspaper, and reads an article that is, according to the headline, about the murder of the Englishman he met the previous night. However, if you actually translate the Italian in the body of the article, it is talking about an industrial fire on a ship.
Factual error: In nearly every scene depicting someone or something in weightlessness (zero gravity), objects tend to start moving randomly without any initial propulsive force or, when already in motion, to been seen to randomly change direction of movement with no outside force acting upon them. Both of these are impossible in a true zero-G environment.
Factual error: Purdy is always wearing a bra with hook and eye in the back. These bras were not patented until 1911, much later than when the movie is depicted. (01:12:20)
Factual error: If 2 spacecraft are travelling towards each other's planets, at the same speed, it would still take 6 weeks to get to each other's planet. They kept saying they must've turned back cause only 3 weeks elapsed.
Suggested correction: Where do you get it would take 6 weeks to travel to the other planet? Throughout the film they're constantly saying it's a 3-week trip to the planet and a 3-week trip back home, for a 6-week round trip.
Factual error: Zeus' wife is Hera not Juno. Juno is the wife of Jupiter, god of Roman mythology, not Greek.