Continuity mistake: When the team are about to jump from the cable car into the river, the view from ground level shows a bare road with no snow on it on the right and a line of trees on the left with German trucks parked next to them, but the view from the cable car shows a snow-covered road and no trucks beside the trees. (02:06:00)
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
Directed by: Brian G. Hutton
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Richard Burton, Patrick Wymark, Mary Ure
Plot hole: Why do all the Germans abandon the cable car control room after the alarm has been sounded? If the cable car is critical for access to the castle then you would expect a hard core of SS troops to remain behind to control access and protect the machinery in the event of an attack. (01:42:55)
Factual error: The Germans in the castle are using Bell 47 helicopters which a) were American, not German, and b) weren't even in operation until 1946.
Trivia: The idea of helicopters was not necessarily new in WW2, but effective designs were not made until after the war; there is evidence from some literary sources (one of them being a book named "German Secret Weapons of WW2" or something like that) that the Germans did indeed conduct experiments and designs on this vehicle type.
Trivia: When Mary goes undercover in the castle, her name is Maria Schenck. They are the middle names of Col Stauffenberg, the German officer played by Tom Cruise in Valkyrie, who tried to kill Hitler.
SS-Standartenführer Kramer: Let me remind you, Major, I'm a colonel in the SS and not a lieutenant who you can frighten with your threats.
SS-Sturmbannführer Von Hapen: Your military rank and position are obvious to me, Colonel, and so are your attempts to discredit me with superiors in Berlin.
SS-Standartenführer Kramer: If there is any discredit, you bring it upon yourself. Good night.
Mary Ellison: I nearly froze to death in that damn plane. Why couldn't you have supplied some hot water bottles or an electrically heated suit? I thought you loved me.
Major John Smith: Can't help what you think.
Major John Smith: Lieutenant, in the next 15 minutes we have to create enough confusion to get out of here alive.
Lt. Morris Schaffer: Major, right now you got me about as confused as I ever hope to be.
Question: Mary's attire looks more like 1960s than 1940s. Any info on this?
Question: When Richard Burton is holding his gun on all the people in the meeting and asks if one of the guards could come in and watch them, why doesn't the guard just shoot him?
Answer: When the guard comes in, Burton explains what's going on. Also he is dressed as a German officer so his explanation and actions are plausible.
Question: During the opening dialogue, it is explained that Carnaby's plane was brought down after a raid on Nuremberg. Later in the same scene, it is explained that he was on his way to Egypt when his plane was shot down. Which one was it?
Answer: The way I interpret it is that "following" the raid on Nuremberg, the plane was then on its way to Egypt when it was shot down by the Germans, prompting the mission to rescue Carnaby.
The "saturation bombing of Nuremberg" was a separate raid which should have lured all the fighters away from the Austrian border. The "General's" plane, on its way to Crete, was shot down by a roving Messerschmitt.
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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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