Other mistake: When Mary first meets Major Smith in the shed on the alpine pasture she complains that she ‘nearly froze to death in that damn plane' yet when she emerged from her hiding place on the aircraft she was only just putting her gloves on. If she was that cold then she would have had the gloves on already. (00:09:05)
Continuity mistake: When Mary Ure goes to secure the rope over the wooden beam to allow Smith and Schaffer to climb into the castle, she starts by hitting a narrow piece of wood which comes loose. The scene then momentarily cuts to the guys on the cable car. When it cuts back to Mary, the narrow piece of wood is back in place and she is knocking out the much wider piece next to it. (01:05:15)
Continuity mistake: When Burton and the others go up the wooden staircase to approach the radio room, an upright beam is already charred by fire, but this wood only catches fire later when Eastwood throws the first grenade back at the Germans.
Continuity mistake: When Burton kicks Donald Houston off the cable car, they have been fighting on the side of the cable car. However, the next shot of Houston falling shows him falling from the front of it.
Continuity mistake: When Smith is rapelling out of the castle and nearing the bottom, Jones/Carnaby is to the left of Smith but in the next shot he is to the right of Smith. (01:56:50)
Other mistake: In the scene where Smith and Schaffer are riding with the SS in the staff car, after the car hits the snow bank, Smith picks up the SS Colonel and puts him back in the car. The Colonel is wearing a Major's collar tabs.
Continuity mistake: After looking at the Castle, Smith sends Shaffer back to the others to tell them to stay behind the tree line and he goes to the radio to contact London. When he turns to go to the radio his MP40 has the butt extended, but when he gets to the radio it's folded back again.
Other mistake: When Richard Burton is removing the light bulbs to darken the cable car as it approaches the German gunnery team, he screws them clockwise instead of counterclockwise. He is never shown actually removing the bulbs nor do they darken as he is "loosening" them.
Continuity mistake: When Schaffer climbs the rope into the castle, he reaches the top of the rope, grabs the window sill and starts to pull himself in. It then cuts to inside the room where Schaffer can be seen outside holding on to the top of the rope and then grabs the window sill to pull himself in, again.
Continuity mistake: During this sequence at the radio transmitter in Admiral Rolland's headquarters, whilst the Admiral is attempting to regain contact with Smith, Colonel Turner is seen in the background, smoking. At the beginning of the sequence, one shot shows him holding a cigarette between the fingers of his right hand. After a cut back to the Admiral, the next shot shows Turner holding the cigarette in the fingers of his left hand. (00:53:10)
Continuity mistake: At Oberhausen Airfield we see the plane land in clear skies. But when the bus seconds later drives through the fence, it is cloudy and foggy. (01:50:25)
Continuity mistake: The stub of the tree which is cut down by an explosion during the bus escape is very even and clearly cut with a saw.
Continuity mistake: When Eastwood is looking through binoculars at the cable car going up to the castle (the studio model), Burton arrives down the hill and lies beside him and there is no cable car to be seen at the actual castle in the background.
Continuity mistake: As the stolen bus ploughs through the German airfield Smith yells to Schaffer, "Take out the control tower," so Schaffer and Mary point their guns high and start firing. There is a long shot of bullets strafing the control tower, glass shattering and the traffic controller falling backwards as he is hit. It is followed by a quick close-up of him in perfect health, shouting into his radio, then being mowed down by the stream of bullets. (02:20:00)
Continuity mistake: When Major Smith and the others have completed their parachute jump, they find Sgt. Harod dead in the snow. Major Smith says at first Harod broke his neck on landing, but later said to his trusted comrades Harod was murdered after landing. Since he was murdered by a member of the landing party there would be tell-tale footprints of the murderer in the virgin snow around Harod's body, but there are no footprints around him at all.
Character mistake: Before entering the tavern,Smith tells the team to meet outside in a 1/2 hour. When they are sitting at the table just before capture, he says he gave orders for nobody to leave.
Continuity mistake: In her castle room, Mary lays all the sticks of dynamite on their sides in the suitcase. When Smith opens the suitcase in the meeting room after they got the names of the spies, the dynamite is now standing on end.
Factual error: Near the end the Germans have to blow a tree in two pieces but the snow on the road is still there, not affected by the blast. And later when the first Kübelwagen is passing the gap for the chase there are already tracks from other takes.
Factual error: When General Rosemeyer steps out of the helicopter in the courtyard, he salutes Colonel Kramer. Colonel Kramer then returns the salute. A senior officer would never salute a more junior officer first. (00:28:25)
Deliberate mistake: Smith and the team come down the mountain and into the village at dusk, yet it is light out during the entire movie.
Chosen answer: This is not unusual in older films. Earlier costume designers were less attentive to historical accuracy and freely incorporated current fashion trends into period movies. It was just an accepted practice and movie audiences back then were often less discerning and/or unaware of inaccuracies. Today's costumers have greater access to historical information, do more research, and strive for authenticity.
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