Errors you've noticed in films

[pemma]

I watched The Bank Job today - a film released in 2008 but set in 1971. I noticed when a phone number was given the dialling code was given as 01, despite the 01 prefix for dialling codes only existing since 1995.

Has anyone noticed any similar errors in other films?

Also if anyone else has seen The Bank Job, which type of LU stock did they show? It looked like they possibly tried to find the oldest type in service at the time of filming.

 

[DaleCooper]

IMDb has a list of goofs for most films.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200465/trivia?tab=gf&ref_=tt_trv_gf

The Bank Job seems to have more than its fair share.

 

[EM2]

I watched The Bank Job today - a film released in 2008 but set in 1971. I noticed when a phone number was given the dialling code was given as 01, despite the 01 prefix for dialling codes only existing since 1995.

Has anyone noticed any similar errors in other films?

Also if anyone else has seen The Bank Job, which type of LU stock did they show? It looked like they possibly tried to find the oldest type in service at the time of filming.

Was it a London phone number? They did begin 01 until 071 and 081 were introduced in 1990.
For example, the BBC Saturday morning TV shows (Multi Coloured Swap Shop, Saturday Superstore and Going Live) had the number 01 811 8055.

 

[Bevan Price]

There must be plenty of rail-related continuity errors in films, showing 2 or more different trains on what is supposedly a single journey.

 

[AndrewE]

There must be plenty of rail-related continuity errors in films, showing 2 or more different trains on what is supposedly a single journey.

This could be another record-breaking thread!

 

[Dave1987]

Too many to list. When watching films involving aviation of some kind I have to bite my lip at times because I could pull them apart for their inaccuracies. I remember watching the aircash investigation about the BA 777 that crashed at EGLL Heathrow due to fuel freezing in the fuel filters. Some of the clips they used of an overhead panel were not from a 777 overhead! And that was from series about aviation accidents. The recent series of Sherlock which was filmed based on a 737-800 with the crew supposedly incapacitated and the aircraft on autopilot. The control columns were dancing about like crazy to full extent of the control column which would not happen and if you did that you would not be standing up like she was. And you would undoubtedly over stress the airframe and rip the wings off!

 

[Dave1987]

There must be plenty of rail-related continuity errors in films, showing 2 or more different trains on what is supposedly a single journey.

There was a Silent witness episode that was supposedly on the mainline yet had a ground frame to change the points! Clearly filmed on a preserved line.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Dune (the version with Patrick Stewart and Sting), in the scene where the Guild Navigator arrives to question the Emperor, one of the navigator's aides trips up

 

[EM2]

There was a Silent witness episode that was supposedly on the mainline yet had a ground frame to change the points! Clearly filmed on a preserved line.

Well, there used to be a ground frame at Balham, for the washer road.

 

[DaleCooper]

The thing that always annoys me is when the actor is supposed to be using a soldering iron, you can see they've no idea how to solder. Robert Downey Jr. in Ironman is a prime example.

 

[EM2]

The one that has always got me is 'Heartbeat'. They go to great lengths to have the right Corn Flakes boxes, and accurate prices in the pub, but passenger trains on a North Yorkshire branch line are hauled by a Schools running tender-first.

 

[Kite159]

A few years ago the BBC had some Film Goofs highlighted on a show shown on BBC3 around Christmas time, I'm sure it was hosted by David Mitchell and carried on for 3 or 4 years.

Although some of the goofs which were highlighted seemed to suggest some people sit through watching films at ultra low speed to pick out that a background character suddenly changes their hair style

 

[507021]

There was a film I watched (forgotten the name) where a car changed gear while it was moving in reverse, possibly the worst error I've seen in a film.

 

[pemma]

There was a film I watched (forgotten the name) where a car changed gear while it was moving in reverse, possibly the worst error I've seen in a film.

Perhaps the gear box was fitted incorrectly so the car had one forward gear and five reserve gears?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There's the contrails in the sky in The Railway Children ( I'm talking about the proper one from the 1970s here ).

In Magnificent Men and their Flying Machines, set in 1909, the beach scene in Dover shows Sealink ferries in the background.


...and don't forget Charlton Heston's wrist watch in Ben Hur.

 

[deltic1989]

The one that has always got me is 'Heartbeat'. They go to great lengths to have the right Corn Flakes boxes, and accurate prices in the pub, but passenger trains on a North Yorkshire branch line are hauled by a Schools running tender-first.

Mrs D hates it when I find these, and groans at my "battle cry" ("Objection")

Heartbeat is full of anacronisms (sp?):

Some of the songs that are played in the background are clearly not of 60's origin. Namely, Paranoid - Black Sabbeth turns up once or twice despite it not being released until August 1970, and Lynard Skynard - Free Bird which was recorded on April 3rd 1973 and released in November 1974 (4 Years after the intended time frame).
One episode depicts the moon landing, which took place on July 20th 1969, in the same episode as depicting a steam hauled train, as we all know steam ceased on BR on 11th August 1968 with the Fifteen Guinea Special. Also an A4 in Express Passenger Blue seems to be a regular performer through Aidensfield, a bit overkill for the 4 Mk1's it was hauling.

Other programs and films I have seen that are set in the 60's - 80's don't seem to be able to get rid of those green boxes that cropped up on every street corner in the mid 90's, and in a drama about the great train robbery there was a Mercedes Sprinter, clearly visable in one of the streets they filmed in.

I seem to remember a camera being clearly visable, reflected in a door in Titanic.

In Murdoch Mysteries Insp. Brakenreid can't seem to decide which part of Yorkshire he is from, he has reported being from Sheffield, Barnsley and Doncaster.

 

[507021]

Perhaps the gear box was fitted incorrectly so the car had one forward gear and five reserve gears?

It changed gear a few times going forwards too, which is even more bizarre.

 

[DaleCooper]

Lynard Skynard - Free Bird which was recorded on April 3rd 1973 and released in November 1974 (4 Years after the intended time frame).

... and they were called Lynyrd Skynyrd then.

 

[Calthrop]

The one that has always got me is 'Heartbeat'. They go to great lengths to have the right Corn Flakes boxes, and accurate prices in the pub, but passenger trains on a North Yorkshire branch line are hauled by a Schools running tender-first.

Heartbeat is full of anacronisms (sp?):

One episode depicts the moon landing, which took place on July 20th 1969, in the same episode as depicting a steam hauled train, as we all know steam ceased on BR on 11th August 1968 with the Fifteen Guinea Special. Also an A4 in Express Passenger Blue seems to be a regular performer through Aidensfield, a bit overkill for the 4 Mk1's it was hauling.

In Women In Love, issued 1969 -- the film is set in 1920. There's a sequence of one of the principal male characters racing on horseback, a colliery train. Said train is hauled by a (NCB) "Austerity" 0-6-0ST, fitted with a Giesl ejector.

I feel that I can understand film-makers' point of view as regards more arcane kinds of anachronisms and other inaccuracies, in specialised fields -- such as appropriate rail motive power. They must reckon that 99% of the watching public won't be aware of anything untoward; while the 1% of impassioned nerds will be impossible to please -- they'll always spot some detail which is wrong.

 

[pemma]

A few years ago the BBC had some Film Goofs highlighted on a show shown on BBC3 around Christmas time, I'm sure it was hosted by David Mitchell and carried on for 3 or 4 years.

Although some of the goofs which were highlighted seemed to suggest some people sit through watching films at ultra low speed to pick out that a background character suddenly changes their hair style

Some of the errors noted on the below link fit in with that category. I noticed there was a red London bus shown in a way that made it impossible to see what type of bus it was when watched normally but someone obviously paused or rewound to establish it was a type of bus not in service in 1971.

I also think someone saying a train interior dated from 1973 when the film was set in 1971 is being a bit pedantic. At least it was a train with a 1970s interior. Having a venue playing a record which hadn't been released at the time the film is set is a much bigger error and something much easier to avoid.

IMDb has a list of goofs for most films.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200465/trivia?tab=gf&ref_=tt_trv_gf

The Bank Job seems to have more than its fair share.

 

[DarloRich]

This thread should allow for endless spotterish pedantry

It tends to be inaccuracies with historical events that I dislike

 

[pemma]

Was it a London phone number? They did begin 01 until 071 and 081 were introduced in 1990.
For example, the BBC Saturday morning TV shows (Multi Coloured Swap Shop, Saturday Superstore and Going Live) had the number 01 811 8055.

I can't remember the exact number but they cut to another scene when half of the phone number had been recited which suggested to me the film makers thought there was a risk if they gave a full number that someone might have it as their number either now or in the future. Obviously you can check if a phone number is real currently but you don't know which numbers telephone providers might give for a new landline in the future.

 

[Welly]

The one that has always got me is 'Heartbeat'. They go to great lengths to have the right Corn Flakes boxes, and accurate prices in the pub, but passenger trains on a North Yorkshire branch line are hauled by a Schools running tender-first.

In one episode of The Royal (Heartbeat spinoff), there was a close up of a heart monitor that was designed in 1980! It was unlikely a 1960s cottage hospital would have been so well equipped either.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

The recent film "T2: Trainspotting", like its predecessor, has only fleeting glimpses of trains so naïve railway enthusiasts might be as disappointed with the film as football fans were with "An Evening with Gary Lineker". However T2 did include scenes with a couple of trams.

Much of the action in T2 is set in a pub near Leith docks. Inter city trains are seen hurtling by which is obviously incorrect as the main line through Waverley goes nowhere near Leith.

There is an interesting scene ostensibly set in the disused Leith Central station. Can anybody confirm that this is where it was actually filmed as Wikipedia suggests that very little remains of the old station?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leith_Central_railway_station

Footnote: I've done a bit more research and apparently the "Port Sunshine" pub is Leith in the film is actually the Douglas Hotel in Clydebank, very near the railway line between Clydebank and Yoker. And "Leith Central" railway station is really the derelict Shrubhill tram depot on McDonald Road in the north of Edinburgh.

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/industrial-sites/26131-shrubhill-tram-station-edinburgh.html

 

[GB]

Too many to list. When watching films involving aviation of some kind I have to bite my lip at times because I could pull them apart for their inaccuracies. I remember watching the aircash investigation about the BA 777 that crashed at EGLL Heathrow due to fuel freezing in the fuel filters. Some of the clips they used of an overhead panel were not from a 777 overhead! And that was from series about aviation accidents.

It doesn't really matter in the slightest. Those sort of documentaries are aimed at the masses, not hardcore enthusiasts or commercial pilots, and are designed to get the point across quickly and effectively.

 

[341o2]

In from Russia with Love, the Orient express suddenly changes to a Stanier Black five and BR coaches - I believe this was shot on the Great Central.
Also, when he leaves the train, it looks very like a branch line - single track and ungated crossing

In For Your eyes Only, Bond shoots down Loque, in the first sequence a headlight is smashed, but it is intact in the final sequence.

In Octopussy, the double flanged wheels on Bond's car would not have negotiated pointwork, neither would a signalman divert it into the path of an oncoming train

In the Wrong Box (R L Stephenson) the rooftops of Victorian London sport TV ariels

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of the film crew? is visible dressed in jeans and T-shirt, supposedly 1940's middle East crowd scenes

Indeed in Heartbeat most branch lines were DMU operated by the mid 60's and you don't stop trains standing heroically in the four foot

 

[DarloRich]

It doesn't really matter in the slightest. Those sort of documentaries are aimed at the masses, not hardcore enthusiasts or commercial pilots, and are designed to get the point across quickly and effectively.

Christ man this is no place for logic and "facts"!

 

[MotCO]

There was a film I watched (forgotten the name) where a car changed gear while it was moving in reverse, possibly the worst error I've seen in a film.

I may be wrong, but didn't some 3-wheelers have a switch to change from forward to reverse so that you could actually have more than one gear when reversing? I'm thinking of the Messerschmitt KR200.

On the subject of errors in films, the episode of Prime Suspect 1973 shown last Thursday, there was a rear shot of a Routemaster, complete with rear light clusters added to the 'Dartmaster' versions in the 1990s!

 

[PeterC]

"British Railways" written on the side of a loco in the TV serial of Conrad's The Secret Agent.

A BR double arrow visible on WW2 "Polish" rolling stock in the film The Password is Courage. I'll forgive the TOPS codes.

 

[edwin_m]

Too many to list. When watching films involving aviation of some kind I have to bite my lip at times because I could pull them apart for their inaccuracies. I remember watching the aircash investigation about the BA 777 that crashed at EGLL Heathrow due to fuel freezing in the fuel filters. Some of the clips they used of an overhead panel were not from a 777 overhead! And that was from series about aviation accidents. The recent series of Sherlock which was filmed based on a 737-800 with the crew supposedly incapacitated and the aircraft on autopilot. The control columns were dancing about like crazy to full extent of the control column which would not happen and if you did that you would not be standing up like she was. And you would undoubtedly over stress the airframe and rip the wings off!

There was an aircrash investigation prog on Quest last week (Pilot Fatigue) which looked at some American crashes and I assumed was an American programme dubbed with a British voiceover as many similar stations do when looking for cheap material. But I noticed the investigation lab had UK mains sockets and five minutes later one of the American doctors who was about to be in a crash was reading the Telegraph!