Factual error: The construction of Hadrian's Wall as shown at the end of the film is not historically accurate. A wooden wall was constructed first with a deep ditch on either side. One of the ditches should be visible as the characters approach the wall but it is not. The stone wall shown being constructed was not added until later and then it was constructed in sections. It did not become a continuous stone wall until some years later. In addition, the stone wall shown is not wide enough. Hadrian's Wall is around 2 meters wide at the top and even today you can comfortably walk on top of it.
Factual error: In a scene that is twenty-eight minutes into the movie, one of the characters is seen running up to check out a new Cadillac that had been given to him by the owner of Chess Records. A 'super' appears at the bottom of the screen which reads "1952" in order to set the chronological time. Only problem is, the Cadillac is a 1956 model. Any old car buff, particularly one like myself who writes a weekly column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, would know in a heartbeat that this car was four years ahead of the year indicated on the screen. Bruce Kunz, a.k.a. "The FIN MAN"tm www.thefinman.com. (00:28:20 - 00:29:15)
Factual error: Prince Albert was not really wounded in the assassination attempt depicted near the end of the film. Eyewitness accounts differed as to whether he pushed Victoria down to protect her or simply dived for cover himself, but neither of the two bullets fired struck either of them.
Factual error: In the San Carlos Mission are visible Matarraton trees (Gliricidia sepium). They only grows in the tropics of America (Colombia, Venezuela, Panama), not in Paraguay or its borders with Argentina and Brazil.
Factual error: Early in the movie, the Dauphin receives another letter from Joan (or her writer). The only person who ever wrote to the Dauphin about Joan was Robert du Baudricourt, and he wrote one letter, and it was about Joan, not for her.
Factual error: The Pretorian Guard was not as loyal to the end as shown in the movie. Actually, they were bribed into rebelling against Nero.
Factual error: During the scene where Captian Less finds out his father was sent to Auschwitz by Eichmann, one of the maps on the wall displays a map of Europe. The map, however, is incorrect, and is a modern day map as opposed to how a map would have looked in 1961. At the time, the Czech Republic and Slovakia didn't exist as separate entities, Germany was not unified, Yugoslavia was yet to dissolve and Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova would not have appeared as separate states. (00:43:45 - 00:45:35)
Factual error: The system devised to get the height right was, in the film, said to have been thought of by the 617 Sqn crews following a visit to the theater. In reality it was devised by the 'boffins' at Farnborough.
Suggested correction: See many previously posted 'mistakes' of this type and the standard correction: this is not a documentary and never pretended to be. It is a war drama and many facts were changed to fit the action.
Those correction are often made in fallacy. Dramas based on historical accounts have liberty to change small or inconsequential things, like adding a person that may have never existed, or change a relationship for dramatic purposes. Despite not being a documentary, unless it's a fantasy film, changes in historical facts are mistakes (for example, a drama can't have the Eiffel Tower in London just because it's not a documentary).
Suggested correction: This was the version given in Brickhill's book. The real story wasn't published till many years after the film was made.
Factual error: Near the beginning of the film, there is a reference to Capt. Merriwether Lewis being summoned to the "White House." That scene takes place in 1804. In reality, the Executive Mansion was not called the White House until 1811.
Factual error: When Einstein is crossing a bridge on his way to the university, two German flags (black-red-gold) are flanking the bridge. The scene is set in 1914, so it should instead be the 'German Reichsflagge' which is black-white-red. Only after WW I, in August 1919, was the black-red-golden flag officially used to represent Germany. (00:38:50)
Factual error: Geological surveys of the Normandy beaches were carried out months before the invasion, using divers sent ashore from midget submarines, not geologists a few days before.
Factual error: About 20 minutes in, the group find a Welsh miners' group in the phone book. The character who is making the call speaks the first two digits of the phone number: "0, 1,..." The movie is set in 1984, when the dialling code for that district was "0639" In that year, "01" was the code for London, not Wales.
Factual error: The movie uses a "website" of http://members.aol.juktm.html. This wasn't the correct address in 1998 (it would have had a .com in it). The "website" shown was probably a local file on the computer shown in the movie and the producers didn't want to invest the extra time to make a phony address bar. (00:53:20)
Factual error: The telephone for the phone bank doesn't have a phone jack cord connected into the back of the telephone. (01:15:14)
Factual error: There is a running camera shot at the UN of national flags, the current Canadian flag is displayed but it was first introduced in 1965, the movie scene is suppose to take place in 1964.
Factual error: The narrator near the beginning says Al Capone was born in Italy. He was actually born in Brooklyn NY.
Factual error: The movie is set in Philadelphia, but the bus at the beginning crashes at a crossroad in front of the fast food joint Admiral Submarine, a recognizable location in Brantford, Ontario, where the movie was shot. (00:05:00)
Factual error: When they first meet, Rodrigues tells Blackthorne that aboard his ship there is plenty of food and grog. The problem is that grog was not "invented" until 1740, when it was introduced into the British Navy by Admiral Edward Vernon, who was nicknamed "Old Grog" because of his habit of wearing a grogram coat.
Factual error: During the film, there are extracts of two songs - 'The Spy' and 'Maggie McGill' - from the Doors' fifth album, Morrison Hotel. Great songs, however the film is set in 1968 and Morrison Hotel was not released until 1970.
Factual error: In reality, Captain Bligh was never on board the HMS Pandora, and he was not present at the trial of the mutineers who stayed on Tahiti. At the time he was halfway around the world on a second voyage looking for breadfruit plants.