Errors you've noticed in films

[Howardh]

Not sure it's an error as such, but in the Italian Job the mini's were driving up the coaches ramp on an Italian motorway which was still being built - note the lack of road markings, the lack of other traffic and the tell-tale signs that it had just been laid. Also to get on and off the autostrada they would have had to go through a toll!!

 

[deltic1989]

Watching an episode of Murdoch Mysteries last night, Det. Murdoch had occasion to visit the wilderness in order to solve a murder.
Seemingly he travelled outwards behind a GWR 2-6-0 (couldn't tell the class from the angle, though from the size may have been a King), and came home behind a BR standard 2MT with BR tender crest, and a rake of lovely maroon Mk1's in tow.
Not bad for a programme set in 19th century Canada.

 

[trainmania100]

TV programmes set in the modern day, using rail scenes such as train crashes, using privatised locos
I guess it's not really an error but if your a rail enthusiast youd know that your more likely to get mowed down by a hst or an electrostar
A casualty episode where two men were stealing electrical cable from what would seem a mainline, a class 47 hauled express with mk1s comes rattling down and details throwing everything on its side
Emmerdale Aaron's boyfriend crashes his car, leaving it overturned on the rails. A class 31 comes thundering down the line.

 

[Rail Ranger]

In the Great Escape "Tunnel King" Danny is throwing a wobbly inside the tunnel and his friend says "Look at those lights in the tunnel Danny. Just like Blackpool at the height of the season" when everyone knows that the illuminations are at the end of the season.

 

[krus_aragon]

Not sure it's an error as such, but in the Italian Job the mini's were driving up the coaches ramp on an Italian motorway which was still being built - note the lack of road markings, the lack of other traffic and the tell-tale signs that it had just been laid. Also to get on and off the autostrada they would have had to go through a toll!!

Perhaps the toll booths were also under construction?

 

[IanD]

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

I think there was a thread on RailUKforums where someone confused Robert Webb with David Mitchell.

 

[Calthrop]

In the Great Escape "Tunnel King" Danny is throwing a wobbly inside the tunnel and his friend says "Look at those lights in the tunnel Danny. Just like Blackpool at the height of the season" when everyone knows that the illuminations are at the end of the season.

Danny's from Poland, anyway; and fairly unsophisticated IIRC -- one figures that Blackpool would mean nothing to him ! (This is, admittedly, an absurd nitpick -- it's a thing which could very well have been said in that situation in real life.)

 

[northwichcat]

In the Great Escape "Tunnel King" Danny is throwing a wobbly inside the tunnel and his friend says "Look at those lights in the tunnel Danny. Just like Blackpool at the height of the season" when everyone knows that the illuminations are at the end of the season.

That might have got more accurate with time. The illuminations are still a popular attraction in Blackpool but going to a beach in Lancashire is not as popular as it was, with the number of cheap flights to countries like Spain.

 

[steamybrian]

The classic British Transport documentary film of 1954 "Elizabethan Express" illustrating the express between Kings Cross- Edinburgh has the first 30 seconds of the film illustrating Victoria station.

 

[Geezertronic]

http://www.moviemistakes.com/

Good for a check on a possible movie error and to submit one if not already

 

[Butts]

How about Captain America where they somehow found the only US Army Unit in World War 2 that contained no smokers

 

[Spartacus]

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.

Going back to Heartbeat, I know in the early days they used to have a flock of sheep specifically for the show which were swapped with the usual local ones for filming, as the breeds kept had changed since the 60s: I'm sure more people would have noticed the locomotive inaccuracies than sheep ones!

I can kind of forgive Heartbeat some things though, it started in 1992, supposedly in the year 1964 I think, and carried on for another 18 years: even using the most conservative estimates there's no way it remained in the 60s!

 

[Calthrop]

Going back to Heartbeat, I know in the early days they used to have a flock of sheep specifically for the show which were swapped with the usual local ones for filming, as the breeds kept had changed since the 60s: I'm sure more people would have noticed the locomotive inaccuracies than sheep ones!

Good grief ! Meticulous about sheep authenticity, sloppy about motive power ditto; re the makers of the series, "straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel" comes to mind -- something like that, anyway.

 

[deltic1989]

I can kind of forgive Heartbeat some things though, it started in 1992, supposedly in the year 1964 I think, and carried on for another 18 years: even using the most conservative estimates there's no way it remained in the 60s!

Though if the timeframe did stray into the 70's Ashfordly's bobbies would have been kept very busy with the amount of un-taxed vehicles, as even in the last series the tax discs all expired on Dec 31 1969.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

In "Night train to Lisbon" Jeremy Irons' character finds a train ticket from Bern to Lisbon in a book on a service which is due to leave in 15 mins time. So he takes it and promptly arrives in the Portugese capital.

There is a posh overnight hotel train from Madrid to Lisbon taking 10-12 hours, but Bern is much, much further away. The journey is theoretically possible but involves multiple changes and would take a couple of days minimum. Clearly the author & director have no idea about European and/or railway geography.

There is also a mistake in the chess club scenes where the positions of the knights and bishops are reversed.

 

[jbg]

Cockleshell Hero's, shows a black locomotive at a level crossing with a BR emblem on the tender.

 

[jbg]

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

No, it was his comedy partner Robert Webb.

 

[jbg]

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.

In the "Winds of War", there is a scene where two of the characters are riding on an open-top bus in 1939, when they pass what looks like the top of a Daimler fleetline....

 

[jbg]

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

And what's wrong with that?

 

[Calthrop]

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

jbg asks; "And what's wrong with that?"

I'm not PeterC; but -- The Secret Agent is set in the 1880s.

Cockleshell Hero's, shows a black locomotive at a level crossing with a BR emblem on the tender.

With World War 2 less distant in time, than the film of Conrad's tale: perhaps a touch of "just-very-slightly-alternative history" might be considered... say, nationalisation having taken place in 1938, not '48? Or, as a wartime emergency measure to cope with the increased traffic, its having been commanded for locomotives of the type concerned, to be built new, for work on all companies' lines -- the locos not belonging to the individual companies, but to a central administration... I believe that this kind of thing is known as "fanwanking".

 

[TheEdge]

The Imitation Game;

1939, London Kings Cross staffed by staff wearing LMS uniforms, a train formed of Mk1s with modern OHL for a train to Bletchley.

Also in that film a shocking lack of understanding how U-Boat wolf packs worked, kind of important to the film.

 

[Kite159]

No, it was his comedy partner Robert Webb.

I was close enough

 

[jbg]

I was close enough

And this forum is just about Submarines.

 

[ninhog]

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.

At one point during the Bank Job, a bus drives past during a scene set on the roof of an opposite building and if you're quick enough, you notice that it has fluorescent strip lights on the interior...

 

[IanD]

No, it was his comedy partner Robert Webb.

Already mentioned in post 36.

 

[jbg]

Already mentioned in post 36.

So we are supposed to read every single post after the one we are commenting on first?

 

[IanD]

So we are supposed to read every single post after the one we are commenting on first?

It would make sense, yes. Otherwise, we would have muppets repeating things which have already been said and the threads would be even longer and full of more pointless posts than they already are.

 

[jbg]

It would make sense, yes. Otherwise, we would have muppets repeating things which have already been said and the threads would be even longer and full of more pointless posts than they already are.

Like what you just posted is.

 

[DaleCooper]

So we are supposed to read every single post after the one we are commenting on first?

There is a certain degree of etiquette involved:

If you inadvertently repeat an earlier post simply apologise.

Like what you just posted is.

If you ask a question as you did in #56 don't complain when you receive an answer.

 

[jbg]

There is a certain degree of etiquette involved:

If you inadvertently repeat an earlier post simply apologise.



If you ask a question as you did in #56 don't complain when you receive an answer.

So "it would make sense" to read a whole 20+ page thread before commenting? Some people may have nowt better to do.

However, in the grand scheme of things, the person who got it wrong in the first place, seems not to agree with you.