Corrected entry: The whole manner in which upper class people speak has been dumbed down for the audience. High society people in the early part of the 20th century had a very refined manner of speaking; whatever they truly meant was masked with something more socially appropriate. For instance, when Rose's mother says something to the effect of: "Here comes that vulgar Brown woman. Let's move before she sits with us," she would have been considered extremely ill-mannered. In reality, she would have given some knowing glances, and said something more like: "It's getting very warm in here. Perhaps we should take a turn on the deck." Her friends, seeing Molly Brown approaching, would know exactly what she really meant. (00:50:40)
Corrected entry: When the kids are "making out" in the car below decks, numerous cars are visible. I used to subscribe to a magazine published by the Vintage Car Collectors' Association. One contributor estimated that, in light of the number of wealthy people on board, there could be as many as about three dozen cars sitting down there (with the wood, fabric, and tires gone, of course). He was refuted by a Titanic history buff who pointed out that two copies of the manifest existed. One went down with the boat and the other survived at the destination. Apparently the only car on board was the Peugeot that drove to the dock as the boat was ready to depart. Added error: that car would have been loaded days or weeks earlier. (01:29:40)
Correction: There is no other car visible in any scenes in the cargo hold. It's crates, suitcases, etc.
Corrected entry: In real life, the stokers in the boiler room wore heavy clothing to shield them from the intense heat, not the simple light clothing they wore in the film. (00:29:40)
Correction: In coal-powered ocean liners, the stokers (the blokes who shovel coal into the boilers), would have worn light T-shirts, or none at all as it was horrendously hot down in the engine rooms. They shoveled coal at a non-stop pace for roughly 8 hours a day, in shifts. If they wore heavy clothing, they would have passed out with dehydration after only a few minutes of work. It was the primary reason stokers were known as "the black gang", from all the coal dust they were covered in.
Corrected entry: The large diamond necklace that Cal gives rose is called the heart of the ocean. Cal says its name in French; La coeur de la mer, which actually translates to: the heart of the SEA.
Correction: While this is true, the French name is a pun on "coeur de la mer" (heart of the sea/sea's heart) and "coeur de la mère" (mother's heart). English could not reproduce this, and had to find a way to add depth and and mystique to the name. "The heart of the ocean" sounds much more glamourous and poetic than "the heart of the sea". This technique is often used to render names and appellations, and should not be considered as a mistranslation.
Corrected entry: When the order is given to turn to starboard to avoid the iceberg, the wheel is spun to port, the opposite direction.
Correction: From Walter Lord's book "The Night Lives On", sequel to "A Night To Remember", page 66: In 1912 a ship's wheel was rigged so that the helmsman turned it to starboard in order to go to port - a holdover from the days when ships were steered by tillers. In 1924 the wheel was rerigged to cater to the instincts of a generation raised on the automobile, but everyone on the Titanic's bridge would have been used to the old way.
Corrected entry: When Jack and Rose finally come aboard the top of the ship after she rescues him they ask the Colonel if there are any boats left and he says "up that way" The woman on the left, who looks kind of pathetic, is then later seen on the life boat with Molly Brown. (They show her face right after Molly says the line "it's your men out there") The life boat with Molly Brown in it was sent out before the scene with the Colonel, meaning that she must have gone on the life boat, swam back onto the ship and then back onto the lifeboat. (02:08:05)
Correction: While they look alike, it is in fact two separate people.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Jack and Cal are trying to persuade Rose to enter a lifeboat, light rain can be seen falling in alternate shots, for example as Cal is saying 'I have an arrangement with an officer on the other side of the ship'. There was no rain during the sinking - it was a calm night. This mistake also shows that the scene was filmed on separate days, as the rain is only seen in some shots.
Correction: I believe the 'rain' to be spitting from the water used in the shot on set. Many of the scenes were filmed in a studio where rain would not occur.
Correction: It is more than likely it is rain - and thus a genuine continuity mistake. All shots taking place on the boat deck during the sinking were shot on the outdoor almost full scale model they used in Baja Studios.
Corrected entry: Just after the officer kills himself, there is a scene where many people are pulling a lifeboat, it falls and a man falls over the boat, almost "bouncing" - it is obvious this boat wasn't made of wood. (02:20:00)
Correction: The man falls onto the boat and bends his knees, then straightens them as he rolls off the boat. Thus giving the appearance of bouncing.
Corrected entry: When Lightoller yells at the passengers "stay back or I'll shoot you all like dogs" keep a close eye on officer Lowe, he is nowhere to be seen, then when Lightoller loads his gun and instructs Lowe to board the life boat he is standing there ready. (02:05:35)
Correction: Officer Lowe can been seen in the shot from behind Lightoller to the right of the screen crouched down and huddled up trying to keep passengers back from the boat.
Corrected entry: When Rose's mother is getting into the lifeboat and Rose runs off to find Jack, she is the only person on the boat whose breath is not freezing. (01:52:10)
Correction: At this stage, none of the people's breath is seen.
Corrected entry: Throughout the whole movie, you can see the outline of hills in the background, even though the Titanic sank in the middle of the Atlantic. (00:30:30)
Corrected entry: When Ruth boards the ship she walks on the plank followed by her maid. Cal and Rose are not seen in the scene. In the next scene Ruth is entering the ship followed by Cal and Rose and then the maid is in view again. (00:22:15)
Corrected entry: When asking Jack about his rootless existence, Rose's mother lifts her wine glass. She holds the glass around the stem. There are two brief shots of Molly and Jack (lasting 5 seconds) and when we see Rose's mother again, she is drinking from the wine glass, but now holding around the cup itself. Yes - she could in theory have put the glass down, changed her grip and lifted it again during the 5 seconds - but much more likely, it is a continuity error.
Correction: More likely doesn't mean absolutely, and 5 seconds is plenty of time to change grip.
Corrected entry: When the alarm sounds that a iceberg is ahead and the officer orders a hard turn to avoid the iceberg, the crew steers hard to the left. However when he reverses the screw [propeller] the underwater footage shows the right screw coming to a stop and then reversing. This would make the ship try to steer to the right by the right screw pushing water forward. thus cancelling out or limiting the effect of the rudder steering left. The left screw would need to be reversed to aid this left turn.
Correction: Except this is what the crew actually did. The Titanic was poorly designed in this manner, where reversing caused much slower turning.
Corrected entry: When the watchtower guys spot the iceberg, the shot cuts to the bridge and the helmsman. The helmsman is directed to come "hard a starboard" which is to the right, and right into the iceberg. The helmsman, however, is shown steering to port/left despite the original command.
Correction: In fact both the command and the helmsman's actions are correct. In 1912, commands were given relative to rudder position, and were, in fact, reversed. This stemmed from the days of non powered vessels, where the tiller would be pushed to the right (starboard) in order to make a port turn. The same is true for Titanic. In order to make a left (port) turn, the front of the rudder would have to point to the starboard (right) side. Although confusing today, this was the correct command in Titanic's day.
Corrected entry: When Titanic cracks in two, one of the funnels is rectangular, not round.
Correction: I've seen this movie well over a dozen times and have reviewed the sinking scene. I can't spot any indication of a change in the funnel shapes. Please provide a time code or advise which one of the funnels becomes rectangular.
Corrected entry: In the dinner scene, Rose points out to Jack "John Jacob" (Astor), the richest man on the ship (and also a real person). During the sinking scene, he is seen holding onto a pole in the grand hall when the glass dome breaks and hundreds of tons of water come rushing in. This is not historically accurate, because he survived and was on a life boat the whole time. (No, he did not get on a life boat afterwards.)
Corrected entry: When Rose is about to board the ship in the beginning of the movie, her maid Trudy is carrying two black and beige hat boxes. These are cardboard hat boxes produced and sold by Ikea in the mid-nineties. (00:21:35 - 00:22:30)
Correction: Black and beige are common colors and the Ikea items are undoubtedly replicas
Corrected entry: Jack claims to have visited the Santa Monica Pier, which did not begin construction until 1916.
Correction: On September 9, 1909, after sixteen months of construction, the Santa Monica Municipal Pier opened to the public.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Jack is about to leave the first class dinner party he was invited to, he tells Rose, "It's time for me to row with the other slaves," etc. He then hands Rose a yellow piece of paper, but when she opens it up to read it, it is then white. (01:04:35 - 01:05:10)
Correction: This has already been corrected, the paper is of an off-white color.
Correction: This is a generalisation about a large section of society. It is not possible to say that all high-society people would act in the same way. It's not a movie mistake to make it easier for the audience to understand, it's not different from having foreigners speak English in their own country to avoid subtitles.
tw_stuart