Continuity mistake: SPOILER: The boy, Roger, finds a glove in a secret drawer in Mr. Holmes' room. The glove is lying perfectly flat in the drawer. It had supposedly been there for years unknown to Mr. Holmes. Later, in a flashback scene, it shows Dr. Watson putting the glove in the drawer. When he puts the glove in the secret drawer, it is not laid flat in the drawer - it has an obvious upward bend in the glove. Since the glove had been in the drawer, untouched, for years, it should have still had that upward bend.
Suggested correction: Although we are only shown Watson putting the glove in the drawer once there is no reason to suggest he may not have looked at it again before he left for good. More compellingly, Watson placed the glove in the drawer whilst the bureau was in place in Holmes' quarters in London, and it was not discovered until a quarter of a century later having been moved at some point to Holmes' house in Sussex. This journey could also easily have displaced the gloves position to some degree. The weight of papers contained in the drawer above may have also aided in flattening the glove out over the years.
Factual error: There are several scenes in a field of barley. Tramlines are seen. Tramlines in crops were invented in 1975 to allow tractors and sprayers to drive up and down fields. Sunset Song is set around 1914, 61 years before tramlines were invented.
Continuity mistake: Théo shows up in class unannounced. The teacher tells him to sit next to "that girl", mistaking Daniel for one. The classmates of course have a cackle at that; the girl at the desk behind Daniel's laughs holding a pen in her left hand at first, right hand at the cut. (00:08:50)
Revealing mistake: When Rachel has a red turban on and is supposed to be bald, you can see her hair under the turban.
Continuity mistake: When Penelope is sunbathing whilst Paul is on his laptop, she is face down with her head touching the lounger, but in the next shot, her head is suddenly raised above the lounger, then back to leaning against the lounger in the next shot.
Other mistake: The town is Mt Barker. The red and blue ribbons on the sheep pen say Mt Baker.
Continuity mistake: Ilya is standing across from and about midway between Chris and Alicia. He spears the shovel into the ground, but it unintentionally falls over to his right (mostly off-screen). The next view of the shovel shows it has fallen to Ilya's left. (The entire shovel is to the right of Chris, which would be too far regardless of which direction the shovel's handle fell.) In the next view, the shovel's blade is opposite Chris' left foot and later the angle is different. (00:36:30)
Character mistake: The protagonist is reading the review of his book "Bitter Tulips." The influential literary critic publication apparently has zero proofreading, since the article says that the novel "can be described as AN failed experiment." (00:45:00)
Continuity mistake: Before the last race while all the teams are ready to go, the sun in the background is below the trees but in the next shot the sun is shining on the runners.
Continuity mistake: When the young boy loads his bow and arrow while talking to his older brother, he does this twice without firing it. (00:53:55)
Factual error: The timeline is completely wrong. The film begins in 1902, at which point Gertrude Bell has just left Oxford and is about to go to Persia. In fact, Bell was 34 in 1902 and went to Persia ten years earlier, in 1892. By 1902 she had already been travelling for a decade.
Visible crew/equipment: When Davis comes out from the train with the headphones on in the subway just before starting to dance, a cameraman filming the scene can be briefly seen reflected on the train door's glass. (01:08:00)
Factual error: Summer and Carmen are at the saloon and catch on the local news the report of the kidnapping. The scene is set in Tuscany, Italy, but the news anchor is Spanish actress Paz Vega, speaking with an obvious accent and mispronouncing words. To make the whole situation even more absurd, she is supposed to portray a native Italian speaker, "Giulia Carni": the last name is Italian sounding but nonexistent in reality, and the headline used for the news report, "Nonna-napper", "kidnapper of grandmother" has such an awkward and unnatural sound and feel in Italian and for an Italian audience, that nobody ever would use it. (00:37:50)
Factual error: Throughout the film, the helmet plates worn by the London Policemen are the 1930's pattern with the George V cypher in the centre. In 1912/13 they would have repeated the officer's collar number in the centre. The helmets themselves are also British military pattern blue cloth helmets with Police fittings added, rather than the correct Police pattern ones.
Continuity mistake: During the fight scene with the contract killer in the apartment building, the killer's coat catches fire. As the scene and fight continues, the coat is no longer on fire. (01:16:30)
Factual error: Numerous military personnel salute while bare-headed in the film. British military personnel only ever salute while wearing headdress.
Other mistake: When Otto Preminger calls Trumbo from his car to announce that Trumbo's real name would be credited for Exodus, Preminger tells him to look at the front page of the New York Times. The problem is that Trumbo has already picked up the paper from his counter and is reading before Preminger even tells him which newspaper features the article.
Revealing mistake: At the cocktail party in his honor, Rita Richards introduces herself. Joaquin Phoenix's scotch is in a transparent plastic cup, and you notice what happens in most movies, here with particular clarity; when he brings it to his mouth, he does not take even a sip, but just pretends. (00:06:05)
Factual error: The movie is set in the late 90s but in the parking lot scenes, the pair are surrounded by cars as new as 2012.
Revealing mistake: At the very beginning of the movie when Billy is getting his hands wrapped as Eli is taping his right glove, part of the H in his fighter tattoo has been rubbed off from when his arm was resting on the chair while they wrapped his hands. (00:02:40)