Factual error: Many early mystery movies do not consider fingerprint evidence, even though such evidence has been accepted in US courts since 1911 and in the UK since 1858.
Noman
21st Aug 2023
Common mistakes
20th Sep 2021
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2003)
Factual error: The inspector is suffering from thallium poisoning. However, everyone is using various radiation detection methods to detect the thallium. Natural thallium is not radioactive. Of the artificial thallium, the only with a half-life long enough to last long enough to pose a problem is too weakly radioactive to be a significant hazard.
28th Nov 2020
A Sound of Thunder (2005)
Factual error: The trip goes back 65 million years. This is the late Cretaceous period. The Allosaurus was a Jurassic period dinosaur, which became extinct before the beginning of the Cretaceous period. Granted, the Allosaurus was probably the most powerful predator of its time, the events in this movie take place long after the time of the Allosaurus.
22nd Nov 2019
Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - S7-E1
Factual error: A few drops of acid are dropped on a penny and the liquid bubbles (colorless liquid) as the acid eats its way through the penny. The penny is mostly copper. Any acid that can react with a copper will also produce a bright green to bright blue solution of dissolved copper, which is not the color seen. (00:05:20)
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Suggested correction: Not necessarily. It depends on the acid and its strength. A weak acid may only oxidise copper to a monovalent state (Copper (I)) (which is colourless) rather than its divalent (Copper (II)) state which produces the blue solution.
22nd Nov 2019
Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989)
Dumb Witness - S6-E4
Factual error: Spoiler. Police Sergeant Keeley tells Poirot that Doctor Grainger died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The killer turned the natural gas in the bedroom and did not light the heater. This would result in the room filling with natural gas, not carbon monoxide. (01:17:30)
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Suggested correction: Surely it was coal gas at that time, before we all converted to natural gas?
The product of coal gas is still methane, which is CH4. It may contain tiny volumes of CO but the gas asphyxiation would still have come from methane, not carbon monoxide.
22nd Nov 2019
Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989)
Factual error: Poirot smells and very carefully tastes a drink and says, "Potassium cyanide." It is impossible to distinguish between potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide (the other common cyanide) by this method. In addition, there are another less common cyanides that would smell and taste the same as potassium cyanide. (00:16:01)
22nd Nov 2019
Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989)
The Underdog - S5-E2
Factual error: Lily looks over part of the procedure for the manufacture of Astroprene. There are several problems with the chemical structures shown in step two of the procedure. This step appears to be a simple acid catalyzed rearrangement of the molecule shown. The procedure should begin with a C inside the hexagonal ring and end with the C outside the ring with no other changes. The errors include, among other things, a carbon atom at the lower left of the ring with two lines (bonds) to it. The C should have four bonds (lines), the two shown plus two to hydrogen atoms (H). The bonds to H may be condensed so the C will look something like -CH2 - (the 2 would be a subscript). (00:10:30)
28th Oct 2019
Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989)
Factual error: The basis of the blackmail is based on the Japanese invasion of Manchuria because howitzers were supplied to bombard Shanghai. Shanghai is not in Manchuria. (00:35:41)
15th May 2019
King Solomon's Mines (2004)
Episode #1.1 - S1-E1
Factual error: There is a view of the night sky in southern Africa. However, both the Big and Little Dippers (along with Polaris) are visible. In general, these constellations are not visible in the southern hemisphere, and where they are (North of 1° South latitude) they are very close to the horizon. The Big Dipper (Ursa Major) is to the left of the screen and Polaris (part of the Little Dipper = Ursa Minor) in near the top-center. This occurs shortly after the lion cub scene. (00:44:00)
3rd May 2019
King Solomon's Mines (1985)
Factual error: The movie takes place during or shortly before World War I. At one point, Quatermain and Jessie find a German base. Thus, they are probably in one of the pre-World War I German African colonies (Probably German East Africa or German South West Africa). There is a red, white, and blue French flag flying over the camp instead of a German flag.
3rd May 2019
King Solomon's Mines (1985)
Factual error: Quatermain and Jessie are on the roof of the caboose of the train. The train engineer slams on the brakes because there are elephants on the tracks. Instead of being flung forward as the train slows, Jessie is flung towards the rear.
3rd May 2019
King Solomon's Mines (1937)
Factual error: The date for the solar eclipse is given as Wednesday, June 2, 1882. There was a solar eclipse in Africa that year; however, the date was Wednesday, May 17, 1882.
3rd May 2019
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1999)
Factual error: The group finds an underground sea and there is a flock of pterosaurs flying overhead. The professor identifies the pterosaurs as the missing link between pterodactyls and archaeopteryx. This is not true as archaeopteryx (and other birds) did not descend from pterosaurs but from a branch of theropod dinosaurs.
30th Apr 2019
Journey to the Center of the Earth (II) (2008)
Factual error: One of the women in the group picks up a piece of calcite (Iceland Spar variety). It is obviously calcite because of the very obvious rhombohedral cleavage and other visual indicators. The sample is later identified as ringwoodite. Ringwoodite is cubic with no reported cleavage. Even if it did exhibit cleavage, it would not be rhombodedral.
20th Apr 2019
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
Factual error: There is an explosion in the laboratory supposedly because the professor's assistant added too much aqua regia. Aqua regia will do a lot of things, but in an open furnace it will not explode.
17th Apr 2019
Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
Factual error: While magnesium is the seventh most abundant element in the Earth's crust, it never occurs naturally in the uncombined state because it is too reactive. Therefore, there are never veins of magnesium metal to be ignited. Magnesium metal (uncombined state) will burn if ignited.
17th Apr 2019
Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
Factual error: Diamonds, emeralds, and rubies do not occur together, they form under very different conditions.
14th Nov 2017
The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935)
Factual error: In the movie version during a series of shots of African animals, there is a shot of a tapir. This is incorrect as tapirs are not indigenous to Africa. This is probably also present in the serial version. (00:09:45)
11th Oct 2017
The Mummy (2017)
Factual error: The gold sarcophagus is pulled from a pool of mercury. This is not possible because gold, like many metals, dissolves in mercury. All the gold would have dissolved.
1st Aug 2017
Tarzan the Tiger (1929)
Factual error: There are several repeated shots of a wild tiger roaming Africa. Tigers are not native to Africa.
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