Titanic (1997)

Factual error: All deep sea submersibles that travel to depths of two or three miles fall to the ocean floor with no power on. At the start of the film, you see MIR1 and MIR2 pan past the camera with all their lights on. The lights should be off to conserve electrical power. The journey to the sea bed takes two and a half hours. (00:02:00)

Factual error: It is fairly well known that James Cameron built a virtual full-size replica of the ship for shooting the exterior scenes. However only the starboard side of the ship was constructed in full, facing land (port side only down to B deck); when scenes were required that need to show port side Cameron generally employed a method known as 'flipping.' For example, in the early scenes of the film we see Titanic at 'Southampton' and passengers boarding the port side. This was achieved by reversing the camera angles. All the signs on passing carriages/vans and White Star logos were printed back-to-front so that when the scene was printed it could be reversed, thus showing both sides of the ship. The problem is that in reality the starboard side of Titanic was not a mirror image of the port side. On one side of the forward boat deck there were entrances to the First Class Gymnasium and forward Grand Staircase, while on the other side there were the windows of the Officers' Quarters and the entrance to the Wireless Room. On Cameron's Titanic you get to see the gym etc. on both sides of the ship. (00:20:20)

Factual error: The car which brings Rose and Cal to the docks at Southampton has an RB registration plate. But RB wasn't introduced as a car registration index mark until 1929. (00:20:30)

Factual error: Cal and Rose are supposedly in cabins B52-54-56, but in reality this was the suite booked by JP Morgan, and subsequently believed to be occupied by Chairman Bruce Ismay. (00:22:20)

Factual error: A small one & probably only noticed by dog trainers like me. When the dogs are being brought on board, they are on leather leashes made by J&J Dog Supplies, invented in the 1970s. It is the type of leash preferred by professional trainers, who probably supplied the dogs for the movie, and is distinguished by the "braid" near the snap, rather than by a sewn or riveted section. J&J's website is: www.jandjdog.com. You can see the leashes there. (00:22:50)

Factual error: When the camera pulls back through the pub window to reveal the card players, if you look carefully in the background you will see a steam engine on the dock. Unfortunately the computer generated loco more closely resembles a German tank locomotive rather than a British one, having two domes and several appliances on top of the boiler. British railway engines usually had a single dome, if any, as well as a whistle and safety valve on the boiler, thus having cleaner, uncluttered appearances. There were extremely few locomotives in Britain that had two or more domes, particularly prior to World War I, and the ones that did (which were mostly American imports) were not even remotely similar to the one in the film. It also is shunting what looks like a carriage - again, more closely resembling those of continental Europe. Carriages were rarely seen at docks, except if a train was connecting to a ship, and this was not common until the 1920s. (00:23:10)

Factual error: In the beginning of the film, when Jack is running to the boat on the pier, his rucksack is a Swedish Army rucksack, model 1939, and nowadays widely sold as army surplus. (00:25:10)

Factual error: When Titanic is leaving Southampton she accelerates in few seconds to a incredible fast speed. That was impossible then, when large steamers were helped off by tiny tugboats. In the long shot in fact, you can see the tugboats - no way she could accelerate that fast if being towed. (00:26:40)

Factual error: When Jack and Fabrizio are searching for their cabin, Jack can be heard muttering the cabin number - G60. Not only did G60 not exist, it would have been in Second Class, as third class cabins weren't prefixed with their deck letter. Cabin 60 itself was on F deck and bunked 8 people rather than the small cabin in the movie. (00:27:10)

Factual error: Margaret Brown never went by the name of "Molly" Brown during her lifetime. It was not until after her death that she was referred to as "The unsinkable MOLLY Brown". (00:27:50)

Factual error: Thomas Andrews came from Comber just outside Belfast. He would not have had a Southern Irish accent. (00:32:10)

Factual error: Rose mentions Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's ideas on the male preoccupation with size to Bruce. However this is 1912, and Freud did not publish the work relating to this until 1920 in "Beyond The Pleasure Principle." Also, up until 1919, Freud relied solely on data from women. (00:33:40)

David Mercier

Factual error: Early in the film Jack smokes hand-rolled cigarettes. When he is smoking on the stern deck before Rose is thinking about jumping, he is smoking a mass-produced filter cigarette. Filters in cigarettes didn't exist in 1912. (00:36:05)

Factual error: The lake that Jack told Rose he went ice fishing on when she was threatening to jump is Lake Wissota, a man-made lake in Wisconsin near Chippewa Falls (where Jack grew up). The lake was only filled with water in 1918 when a power company built a dam on the Chippewa River, six years after the Titanic sank. (00:39:05)

Factual error: When DiCaprio is showing off his sketchbook, there is one with a man's hands around a young girl's torso with his hands on hers. This drawing is an exact replica of a photograph by celebrated photographer Sally Mann called "Rodney Plogger at 6:01, 1989." Most likely a tribute of some sort by the director to a fellow artist, but obviously this drawing is out of place in 1912. [From the New York Times Arts and Leisure section, Sunday, November 19, 2000: "The film director James Cameron copied an image from "Immediate Family" and displayed it prominently in "Titanic" without Ms. Mann's permission. The resulting grievance was settled out of court for a substantial sum just weeks before the Academy Awards."] (00:48:45)

Factual error: In the scene just before the spitting lesson when Rose and Jack are strolling on the deck, you can see Pacific ocean shore waves breaking towards the ship. (00:51:45)

Factual error: When Jack describes taking Rose to the Santa Monica Pier, he specifically mentions riding on the roller coaster. Although the pier itself did open in 1909, the land for the amusement portion of the pier was not even purchased until 1916. (00:53:45)

Factual error: When Cal overturns Rose's table, there is a serving cart with modern-day casters. (01:08:10)

liscense2kilt

Factual error: The hymn that they sing at the church service about "those in peril on the sea" has four verses. "Peril on the sea" was written in 1860 but the verses that have "protect them by Thy guarding hand" and "O Spirit whom the Father sent" were not written until 1937, and thus could not have been sung at the service. (01:10:40)

Factual error: When Jack goes up to first class on a Sunday morning, the group is singing the Navy Hymn "Eternal Father." What is impossible is that they are singing the verse written for Aviators. The verse starts "O Spirit, whom the Father sent." They are singing the whole stanza continuing with "to spread abroad the firmament; O Wind of heaven, by thy might; Save all who dare the eagle's flight, And keep them by thy watchful care." The last line "From every peril in the air" can only be heard in the background as Jack is arriving on the scene. The Wright Brothers flew about 8 years before, and this verse was not added until the late 1930s. (01:11:00)