Continuity mistake: When the body of Glyndwr Michael (Major Martin) is found by fishermen near Huelva, the sun is setting in the west, almost touching the horizon. The shot of the cart wheeling the body towards the town is filmed, judging by the shadows, at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. (01:17:57 - 01:18:53)
Suggested correction: The body of "Major Martin" was found at around 9:30 am on 30 April 1943, so it is not the sun setting that is shown in the film but instead rising in the morning, and thus the body depicted as still being transported on a cart several hours later continues to make chronological sense.
Other mistake: The body of a man is dropped from a plane into the sea with fake documents to mislead Germans. To convince the enemy that he's a soldier, cause of death needs to pass for drowning. The first drowned corpse viewed has no legs, so Firth keeps looking. He's told that a man who took rat poison to end his life is a good fit since the poison is undetectable. However, no mention is made of the fact that there is no sea water in his lungs - something any coroner would discover. (01:43:40)
Suggested correction: Historical fact not a movie mistake! Operation Mincemeat - British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, who killed himself with rat poison, dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed items on him identifying him as Captain William Martin. They put letters on him strongly hinting that the Allies were going to invade Greece and Sardinia instead of Sicily. His body was set adrift off the coast of Spain, knowing it would be washed ashore. The film gets all this right.
Suggested correction: It is a fallacy that drowned people have seawater-filled lungs; usually, there will be a little seawater, which then irritates the lungs, causing inflammation and fluid buildup (pulmonary oedema), which dilutes any seawater traces. Also, by the way, one of the symptoms of phosphine poisoning (I believe the poison he took) is also pulmonary oedema. So it is understandable for one of the UK's top pathologists to choose this man as a possible subject.
Factual error: Several times in the film, the street outside the flat of Jean Leslie is shown. Despite always being depicted at night, if you look carefully, the edges of the road are shown to have two parallel lines running alongside them. These are double yellow lines showing parking is generally prohibited most of the time. The film is set in the 1942/43 period, and double yellow lines were not introduced until the 1950s onwards.
Factual error: When Fleming salutes Cholmondeley and Montague, they return the compliment whilst not wearing their headdress. Members of the British armed forces never salute if they are not wearing a hat, instead they would stand to attention.
Revealing mistake: When the body is in the morgue, his eyes flick left, and then the eyelids move as if to blink.
Factual error: All the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officers appear to wear green branch distinction cloth ('lights') between their rank rings. Green indicated electrical officers. As non-specialist officers, they shouldn't be wearing any lights at all.
