Factual error: In Poirot's study, Lord Pearson shows the big piece of mineral, saying "You're left holding a a nugget of top-grade 24-carat silver." That's a laughable blunder, from a top level banker and investor about to do a massive mining deal even. Silver purity is expressed in millesimal fineness. (00:11:30)
Factual error: The episode is set at a precise date (it's even a plot point); 8/2/1935. But at the beginning Poirot and Hastings are playing Monopoly, and right there on the board you can distinctly read; "Trade Mark - Pat.app. For Nº 3796-36." As signaled by the last 2 digits, it's a 1936 edition (the UK localization of the game). (00:01:40)
The Adventure of the Western Star - S2-E9
Factual error: Assuming the episode is in line with the others of the season and it is set in 1935, a few vehicles shown are slightly too recent. The plane waiting for South Africa is a Beechcraft Model 18 (first produced in 1937), the train going to Yardly has a SR Q locomotor first produced in 1938, and the truck that slows Japp down before getting to the airport is a Bedford M-Type, a model first produced in 1939 (the specific one used in this episode is from 1947).
The Kidnapped Prime Minister - S2-E8
Factual error: The calendar behind Japp in Scotland Yard places November 13 as a Tuesday, but that is wrong for 1935, when the story is set (the whole season consistently goes with 1935 historical facts, Poirot in this episode makes a reference to "the Dutch", and the newspaper page Hastings shows up with at the end of the episode talks about the notorious gangster's death, happened that year). It was a Wednesday in 1935, to be Tuesday it should have been 1934. (00:34:00)
The Kidnapped Prime Minister - S2-E8
Factual error: At the end of the episode, during the fitting of the jacket with monsieur Fingler (last role of character actor Milo Sperber), Hastings is reading a newspaper prop sporting a doctored first page (the real headline, which was about Italy, is replaced by the fake PM speech) of The Daily Express based on the real Friday October 25th, 1935, which is wrong in month and day of the week (the appointment was on Thursday and it's supposed to be November going by the various calendars seen throughout the episode). (00:51:00)
The Kidnapped Prime Minister - S2-E8
Factual error: Poirot in this episode has to save the Prime Minister, kidnapped before he could attend the League of Nations Disarmament Conference. This episode is set in November (the previous of the season in October), but it can't possibly be 1935, since the Disarmament conference happened between 1932 and 1934. It makes mention of the PM being vital to have at least a chance at preventing Germany's rearmament, with Hitler withdrawing Germany from conference and League of Nations entirely in October 1933. It should be noted though that the conference happened in Geneva and not in Paris like it's described here. The original material did not have this sort of inconsistency since it was set to happen much earlier in the century and for the Treaty of Versailles, where Paris would have been the correct destination. Both short story and adaptation have as prime minister a fictional "David MacAdam", with him designed to be a stand-in for David Lloyd George, just recently replaced as PM.
The Adventure of the Cheap Flat - S2-E7
Factual error: Agent Burt brushes off Poirot's question saying "When will you guys understand there is no such thing as the Mafia, the Black Hand or the Cosa Nostra?" The last term he uses, while not impossible (since members of the organization were indeed referring to it as such) is a huge improbability, considering that officially FBI (and certainly the general public Burt is lashing at) came to know the real name (adapted in "La cosa nostra") only decades later with the Valachi investigations. (00:24:05)
The Adventure of the Cheap Flat - S2-E7
Factual error: When Poirot asks O'Brian about unsolved crimes with young couples as suspects, he says "There's that Bonnie and Clyde of course, but they're at large somewhere in the American Midwest", to which Poirot replies "And let us hope that is where they remain." Bonnie and Clyde were killed in Louisiana on May 23, 1934. The episode is set in October 1935. (00:12:20)
The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5
Factual error: At Poirot's, Hastings browses a copy of Speed magazine - but it's the August 1936 issue. The story is set in mid-October 1935 (not just for consistency with the rest of the season, but also because the newspaper brought by Hastings towards the end mentions Duff Cooper as Financial Secretary for the treasury, which is a position held in that year before the elections - which are also mentioned). (00:18:30 - 00:43:40)
The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5
Factual error: Poirot reads a fake copy of the Daily Express with a big article about the mystery disappearance. What makes it a not so believable fake, besides the odd artwork instead of a picture (a clash of style with the real Express first pages), is that you can make out of the words of the article closest to the camera, and like it happens to other props used this season, it mentions the Abyssinian crisis...but saying that "Mr. Churchill himself made the only speech." Churchill was not in office in the 30s. (00:17:05)
The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5
Factual error: It is shown explicitly that The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim includes the fact that before going to his study at 4:30 PM, he starts the record player, with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", and that the record stops at 4:45 PM. The problem with it is that Mrs. Davenheim during the whole 15 minutes stayed in the same spot, absent-minded, and in 1935 a recording of that song would have been on a three sided 72 rpm record, since 33 rpm LPs were introduced in 1948. (00:03:15)
Factual error: One of the two police cars identified as Unit 10, is appropriately enough, a Sunbeam-Talbot Ten. The episode is set in 1935 though (with amazing accuracy for some details, including the poster for the movie "George White's Scandals 1935" shown before the car tailing starts), and that car was manufactured only after 1937. (00:19:55 - 00:22:00)
Factual error: To meet The Veiled Lady the second time, Hastings and Poirot go to the Natural History Museum. The establishing shot is the iconic "Dippy the Diplodocus", right in the main hall. But in 1935, Dippy would have been in the reptile hall instead, and with his head and neck mounted differently. (00:37:35)
The Kidnapped Prime Minister - S2-E8
Factual error: When the former Mrs. Daniels hops on her car followed by Hastings, between them you can see a speed bump, not a feature on roads in Britain (or anywhere) at the time. (00:36:55)
The Kidnapped Prime Minister - S2-E8
Factual error: The Austin used by Poirot and his company to go to the attempted murder scene and back is an Austin 18, which entered production in 1937, later than the event of this season/episode. (00:12:00)
Factual error: Nick says that she made the will 6 months before the events of the episode, just before her appendix surgery. The surgery happened on February 27th, so it would be the end of August now. But at the beginning of the first episode Hastings was reading a (movie prop) copy of the Daily Express which had on the cover "Perry makes a new record - Champion two years in succession", complete with a picture where he is unmistakably with his rival Gottfried Von Cramm. The photo (and the mention of the 2 years record) is about the Wimbledon final who took place on 5 July 1935. That's almost 2 months earlier than it should be. (00:04:45)
Factual error: Japp in this episode uses a Humber Snipe, a 1937 model. The story is set in 1935.
Factual error: Jim Lazarus drives a Vauxhall DX (14/6 Light Six) Stratford Tourer, a 1936 model. This episode takes place in the summer of 1935. (00:46:20)
Factual error: Poirot has just suffered "a turned ankle", in his words; he's talking with Hastings and the kind woman who helped him out, when their conversation gets perturbed by the noise of a plane. Which is surprising, since the plane in question is a Volmer VJ .22 Sportsman, a plane from the 50s, way after the 1930s setting of the episodes. (00:06:40)
Factual error: Poirot is cycling through Wimbledon; he passes by a house which has a definitely non-1930 car in the yard, and a yellow alarm box on the first floor. (00:18:20)
Answer: He definitely says "Belgian", but the subtitles get it wrong and show him saying "American."
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