Revealing mistake: Right after Father Alvito hands Blackthorne the Portuguese-Japanese dictionary, the Jesuit priests leave Blackthorne and his entourage to continue their journey onto the port of Nimazu. You can see the orange-robed clerics walk along a track that was obviously used by wheeled vehicles. You can see grass growing in the middle of the dirt road and none in the grooves. But in an earlier scene Father Alvito stated that only the Emperor was allowed to drive in a wheeled cart which he only did it on rare occasions for ceremonial purposes and for short distances as this would otherwise damage the roads (as the grooves testify). (01:28:00 - 01:30:10)
Revealing mistake: When Von Richthofen is shot down and crash-lands in the combat zone, German and British soldiers arrive and fight for possession of the Red Baron's plane. It is strange, though, that the German soldiers fire British Lee Enfield rifles instead of the German Mauser Gewehr 98.
Revealing mistake: During the transport of the POWs by train (which starts about 26 mins into the film) the number on the side of the engine is visible as 719. About 3 mins (filmwise) into the journey it appears in mirror image. It appears they filmed the train moving from right to left, but throughout the film the train moves from left to right, so the film must have been reversed. It happens twice, the second time 14 min 24 sec after the first. (00:29:34)
Revealing mistake: When the German cruiser Graf Spee is seen leaving Montevideo harbour for the last time it is flying the American Stars and Stripes flag from the aft observation platform tower.
Revealing mistake: When the smudge pot is set off, it's on the ground, smoke coming of the ends. A moment later, along with a huge cloud, if you look at the bottom of the scene, there's an area about five feet wide billowing smoke.
Revealing mistake: When the Remagen bridge is bombed, it is obvious that the bomber planes shown have been taken from several shots (possibly also from an earlier film) and the shots were superimposed. Also, the bombers appear transparent, and the background sky's color is unnaturally strong, too.
Revealing mistake: When Caesar's ship arrives in the Alexandria marketplace, he tells his men to "go marketing" rather than force their way through the crowd with swords. Rufio says "you're not serious?" He then silently mouths along with Caesar's reply, "We shall shop our way to the palace steps." (00:11:30)
Revealing mistake: Near the beginning, after the corporal has burned his finger and tells the other corporal that Lawrence is balmy, O'Toole begins to run up the stairs to meet with a general. After O'Toole is out of view of the camera, you can tell he has stopped running up the stairs by his shadow on the wall not moving, because he knows that the director is about to shout "cut".
Revealing mistake: In the scene where a British soldier (Williams) and Sgt. Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) are in a trench, the British soldier is shot dead by a German sniper. Joe Gunn moves in for a closer look and it can be seen that the "dead" soldier is breathing, his shoulder is moving. (01:15:30)
Revealing mistake: As Sgt. Highway turns the dead body with a cigar in the pocket you can see its right arm move to avoid twisting. (01:38:05)
Revealing mistake: When the defective shell is about to fall, the ground has no sand mounts. Couple shots later, now on the floor, the shell turns around following Chaplin. Watch and you'll see that a sand mount has magically appeared close to the shell to hide the white mechanism that makes the bullet turn.
Revealing mistake: In the scene where there is a air battle between a DC-3 transport, a American Corsair fighter and a Japanese Zero fighter we see some shots where model aircraft were used - it can be seen that there are wires holding the three aircraft up.
Revealing mistake: In the scene where the boy is shot in the leg and the carried away by an unionist soldier you can see more union soldiers storm past them. The bayonets of the soldiers are obviously made of rubber as they are dangling while the rifles are moved up and down by the running soldiers.
Revealing mistake: When they are feeding Annie the Elephant medicine with a wooden spoon, there is obviously no fluid in the spoon.
Revealing mistake: The bayonet used by Private Williams after the death of his Sergeant Major is flexible and made of rubber.
Revealing mistake: Before Warden and Pruitt start the back alley knife fight, vapour is coming from Warden's mouth while he's talking to Pruitt, indicating the outdoor scene was not shot in Hawaii, a warm climate, but probably in California on a cold night.
Revealing mistake: When the US Navy engages the enemy at the blockade on the Yangtze River, during combat scenes, a sailor's (prop) bayonet wiggles on board the San Pablo.
Revealing mistake: When Barry stands at his uncle's dinner table to supposedly "toast" Captain John Quinn for his pending marriage, to Barry's cousin Nora Brady (who Barry is in love with), he throws his glass in Captain Quinn's face instead. However, the glass noticeably breaks before Barry even throws it.
Revealing mistake: When there's a cave-in in the tunnel the POWs are building, you can hear, as the POW is tunnelling out of the cave-in, his trowel hitting the glass that separates him from the camera and crew.
Revealing mistake: When the Russians are in the Finn's trench, you see the Finns stabbing the Russians. If you look carefully, on a few of the Russians you can see protection visible. (00:48:45)