Factual error: Approximately three quarters of the way in to the film, there is a close up of a German soldier handing an officer a file of documents. The helmet that the soldier is wearing is a post war 1960s version. This can be determined by the lack of an air vent and rivet on the side of the helmet.
Valkyrie (2008)
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp, Carice van Houten
Factual error: In one of the scenes, a bathroom is shown. The tub has modern fixtures, including a hand held massage/rinse nozzle with flexible metal hose.
Factual error: Somewhere in the middle of the film a close-up of a map of Europe is shown. Obviously, it is a map made after 1945. The borders of Rumania, Hungary and Slovakia show this.
Henning von Tresckow: We have to show the world that not all of us are like him. Otherwise, this will always be Hitler's Germany.
Henning von Tresckow: You scared me half to death.
Col. Claus von Stauffenberg: You'll be closer than that before we're finished.
Col. Claus von Stauffenberg: I am involved in high treason with all means available to me. Can I count you in?
Werner von Haeften: For anything, sir. Anything at all.
Col. Claus von Stauffenberg: "Anything" is a *very* dangerous word, Lieutenant.
Question: Why did all of the officers and high-ranking officials put out their cigarettes when Hitler's plane landed at the airfield?
Answer: They are supposed to stand at attention when he arrives and salute when he walks past them. It is considered bad form to salute the Führer (or any leader) with a cigarette in your mouth or hand.
Question: Why did Stauffenberg have to put in his prosthetic eye whenever he had to be in Hitler's presence?
Answer: In real life, Stauffenberg regularly switched from wearing his glass eye and an eye patch. He wore the glass eye when meeting with senior officers, not only Hitler. At other times, he used the eye patch. This was attributed to the glass eye probably being uncomfortable. Presumably, he did not want to appear handicapped or weak to his superiors. He may also have felt the eye patch was a distraction or looked less dignified.
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Answer: Hitler was fanatically anti-tobacco: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/the-nazis-forgotten-anti-smoking-campaign/373766/.
Brian Katcher