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Anachronisms (5) |
Audio/visual unsynchronised (1) |
Character error (2) |
Errors in geography (1) |
Factual errors (12)
Anachronisms
The events of the movie take place form 1942-1945. In the scenes set in London we see bombing raids being carried out by the Luftwaffe. However, bombing raids of the scale seen in the movie after May 1941 did not happen in London.
The door to the jewelry store features a style of deadbolt lock that wouldn't be introduced until decades later.
The frying pan Marianne uses to serve Max's breakfast eggs is a modern one with a stainless steel base clearly visible. The taps in Max and Marianne's bathroom are Supataps which were not invented until the 1950s.
There seems to be some confusion about the aircraft shot down into Marianne and Max's back yard in London. It is a very well done representation of a He-177, a poorly-known four-engined (in two nacelles) Nazi bomber - this aircraft did bomb London in 1944 and one was shot down by a RAF night fighter and crashed. So, statements that the aircraft shown in the film is a 'B-17' or even a Nazi aircraft that didn't bomb London, or that the Luftwaffe didn't bomb London at this period are goofs.
The alarm clock in the bedroom, the one to show 23.07 hours, had a smooth flowing second hand indicating an electronic mechanism, which were not available until mid 70's.
Audio/visual unsynchronised
As Max walks down the hall of the cafe he tells a Moroccan waiter "There's some noise back there... I think someone is choking". Before the waiter rounds the corner to see the legs of the Nazi officer you hear the commotion and shock in the waiters voice.
Character error
The British Colonel states that the traitor has to be executed immediately by the hand of her husband. Yet, when he is arguing with Max in front of the airplane Max just tried to steal, he bitterly complains that Max should not have killed the German spy network ("we could have interrogated them," he says). The same would apply to Marianne: she has much to say. Incidentally, during World War II, the British routinely "turned" all agents they captured on British soil. Those who refused to cooperate were either executed or imprisoned.
At a Casablanca sidewalk cafe, Max spots a German officer who once interrogated him and therefore knows him. He alerts Marianne by telling her the German is at "6 o'clock," which isn't correct. The German is clearly at Marianne's "12 o'clock," and because Max is partly turned at the table, with Marianne somewhat to his right, he's at Max's "8 o'clock."
Errors in geography
Max and Marianne left Casablanca one evening to go and sit on the dunes in the desert. I know Casablanca very well, having lived there for five years. The desert is at least two days' drive away so this would be impossible. Also you cannot easily get to the top of the dunes like they did, you would need (a) a guide and (b) a camel.
Factual errors
When Max (Brad Pitt) is at the party at his home, after speaking with Frank he walks over to Margaret and says "Stand down flight Lieutenant" He mispronounces Lieutenant. In Canada its pronounced "lef-tenant" not "loo-tenant" as it is in the United States military. All Canadian Forces Lieutenant's either Navy, Army or Air Force are all pronounced this way.
Several SS officers are seen wearing the famed Hugo Boss designed Black SS Uniform of the 1930s with the Swastika left arm band. This Uniform was discontinued at the beginning of the war in 1939 and all SS uniforms were the field green and grey like the Wehrmacht / Army.
As a Canadian officer flying with the RAF, Brad Pitt's character would have worn a RAF sheepskin flying jacket, rather than the USAAF leather flying jacket that he wears.
The Lysander Pilot salutes with no hat on. Not done in British & Commonwealth militaries.
In the assassination scene Brad Pitt cocks back his Sten gun bolt and then the bolt slams shut. A Sten gun operates from an open bolt therefore the bolt would not have slammed shut. The trigger pull shuts the bolt and fires the weapon. It will not fire from a closed bolt.If the operator releases the trigger before the magazine is empty the bolt remains open.Many sub machine guns operate in this manner for simplicity and increased airflow to facilitate cooling.
During the house party the curtains were open and the doors open to the back garden. This would contravene the wartime blackout regulations.
During WWII cars in Britain had white paint added to the edge of their wings / fenders to aid visibility to other road users as the car headlights were masked. The cars in the film were not painted this way.
The bombers attacking London in the house party scene are Heinkel He 177s which never bombed England and wouldn't have seen combat after 1943 due to allied air superiority.
The German bomber just missing Max's & Marianne's house was a four-engine plane. Problem is, the Luftwaffe had no four-engine bombers in its arsenal.
In one scene we see the tail of a crashed German bomber, however it is not a actually German bomber but actually an American built B-17 Flying Fortress. The Luftwaffe operated very few B-17s. All of which had been captured and where used for training and recon. It is unlikely that a captured B-17 would be used for a routine bombing raid by the German Luftwaffe.
In the raid on the prison/police station, a vehicle is shown with the registration ending in 76 to signify the department. This two digit system did not come into operation in France until 1950.
The movie starts in 1942. A year later in the bedroom scene in London, BP is in bed waiting for "the call" and reading a Graham Greene book (Brighton Rock) that wasn't published until 1947. As others here have correctly written, WW2 wasn't over untill 1945.