The most historically incorrect movies/books.

First off, we have all seen a movie about war and said “that’s not right”, “it should be…”.

This thread is for pointing out the historically incorrect, down to the smallest detail.

Any to start off?

- AT

 

U-571, portrayed the American's capturing the Enigma machine when it was infact the British.

 

Pearl Harbor:
Members of the Eagle Squadron portrayed as being serving USAAF personnel, which they weren't.
Germans apparently still carrying out daylight bombing raids on the UK in 1941.
The speed with which the hero gets back home after being shot down over enemy territory.
He returns to Hawaii despite now being a member of the RAF, not the USAAF.
Fighter pilots are transferred to fly bombers, with little conversion time.
In the 1940s nobody smokes! (apparently a deliberate decision by the producers who put modern attitudes above historical accuracy.

 

Gibbo - don't forget the line up of modern US destroyers!!

Ross

 

Isn't there a job to keep these films correct?

If not, they should join a forum... learn some things.

- AT

 

Technically there is. Usually they employ a historical consultant. However, there role and power in a film really depends on the director and producer. I know spielburg works hard to achieve a certain level of realism. For example, for all its problems SPR 'feels' right and this was down to the historical consultant he had.

Ross

 

U-571, portrayed the American's capturing the Enigma machine when it was infact the British.

On a historical note: the real U-571 was sunk in 1944 off the coast of Ireland by depth charges from an Australian Sunderland.

The resupply submarine which was sent by the US was a great idea for a movie, but when the US crew storms the wounded enemy U-boat, there would've been no chance of boarding him. The dive time for a type VIIC was approximately 25 seconds. The attack scene lasted several minutes.

Other parts of the movie weren't detailed correctly either, when the enemys torpedo's "brushed" by Matthew McConaughey's captured U-571, they would've been dead in real life (German torpedo's used a magnetic trigger which went off when close to metal).

 

This thread is for pointing out the historically incorrect, down to the smallest detail.



Battle of the Bulge 1965, to really appreciate my post look at the making of in the special features of the DVD.

I could teach a class on this.

First Milton Sperling lies to the audience in the "Making of" portion of the DVD by saying great pains were taken to find the equipment for this film.

Buzzer sound

He called the Texas National Guard and said, How would you like to paint some tanks with a Kraut scheme?

M 26 Pershing for King Tiger
M 24 Chaffee for Sherman, This is particularly strange because the M 24 was in operation in 1943 and reached Europe in large numbers in late 44.

The German Hanomags were all Whites or Autocars and not authentic, they even mounted M-2s when they had MG34s and MG42s in the film.

The action was a C

The acting, What acting?

Robert Shaw didn't do a bad job but the uniforms were wrong.

He was supposed to be either Remer or Peiper and should have been SS Panzer Truppen.

There is an interesting but brief glimpse of a WWII German General who was an advisor to the film but they don't do a proper interview with him.

The only reason I have this film is I remember it was the first War film I watched with my Dad as a kid.

 

Technically there is. Usually they employ a historical consultant. However, there role and power in a film really depends on the director and producer. I know spielburg works hard to achieve a certain level of realism. For example, for all its problems SPR 'feels' right and this was down to the historical consultant he had.

Ross

Well, that's why I like him.

Simple.

- AT

 

Yep! Definately agree, Battle of the Bulge & U-571.

Or how about 1,000 Plane Raid I can only sum it up as F*****g Awful, who ever wrote that script wants hanging!!!!!
There's that many faults with the film that I would still be here next week listing them!!

 

Anyone who has seen 'Escape to Victory' could spend hour digging holes in the plot, and it's accuracy all day. A truley dismal film.

 

One of my biggest "pet peeves" is in "The Longest Day".
When the US Paratrooper clicks his "cricket" and hears two clicks, he comes out from behind the hedgerow and gets 2 shots from a Mauser.
A double tap with a bolt action rifle?

 

...in regards to Speilberg.......

He is an excellent film-maker..him and Tom Hanks did a wonderful job on "Band of Brothers".
But at the start of the project, he stated that no expense would be spared in "getting it right".
With that said.....there are several things that he could have gotten right. I understand that you have to build it to entertain, and some little artistic license is to be expected. The one thing that really "irked me" had nothing to do with the movie itself. At the end of Chapter 3 "Carentan" when they were posting info it stated the "Albert Blythe never recovered from his wounds"

The fact is that not only did he recover, but he stayed in the Army, fought in Korea, and died in 1968 while on active duty as a Master Sgt.

 

You took the Albert Blythe thing from me! I was thinking of that when I started reading this thread. He also won quit a few awards including (if I remember correctly) the silver star. I felt they kind of made him out to be a bit of a cowardly person.

As far as Battle of the Bulge, I love/hate that movie. Me and a friend must have watched that thing a dozen times one year. It was our favorite war movie.

As I got older I realized the inaccuracies, and it really bugged me. Now I just take it for what it is and enjoy it.

I read that Eisenhower publicly condemned the movie for it's iaccurate portrayel of the Battle of the Bulge, and would have nothing to do with it.

I really dug the camo paint jobs on the US tanks, jeeps, bazookas, canteens...well maybe not the canteens, but you know what I mean

Here's a Longest Day goof for ya: When the troops are going over the side of the ships into the landing craft, you can see a few black troops in the landing craft in combat gear. No desegregated units yet...

 

Inaccuracies and goofs. You have probably seen many of these before for "The Longest Day":

• Goofs
• The shots that kill Private Martini occur too quickly in succession to have been fired from the indicated bolt-action rifle. (Already pointed out)
• A compound fracture of the ankle indicates blood and/or protruding bones, of which Vandervoort's ankle had none. It also would have been impossible to put any weight on the ankle.
• Shadow of the dolly against the smoke of battle during the invasion of Omaha Beach. The direction of the shadow and the geography of the beach indicate that this scene, while set at dawn, was filmed in the afternoon.
• Features LCM-8s, which weren't built until 1954.
• German general Max Pemsel says: "Wir haben starke RADAR-störungen" (We have strong radar interference). The word "radar" was not used, perhaps even not known in Germany in 1944. They used a somewhat similar system, but called it "Funkmeßgeräte" (radio measuring equipment).
• During the final scenes of the movie, when an American general is taken up "Omaha" beach, it's actually Juno beach, where the Canadians landed.
• When two German planes strafe Gold-Juno beaches, the airborne camera overruns the set exposing the empty beach ahead which has no obstacles, vehicles, or men.
• Before Oberstleutnant Priller and Unteroffizer Wodarczyk attack the Allies there is some stock footage of weaponless BF-108 "Taifun" liason/observation aircraft. Priller and Wodarczyk flew FW-190s on that mission.
• Most of the Americans armed with Thompson submachine guns are wearing M1 rifle clip ammo belts instead of Thompson magazine belts.
• The German observer who first sees the invasion fleet does so with binoculars made in Germany. We know this because it is written so on the bottom of the binoculars, in English.
• When Pvt. Schultz is lost and finds fellow soldiers across the wall from him, he crosses the wall by swinging his leg over it. When he does, it shakes.
• There's a typo on the caption introducing General Pemsel. It says "Befehlssab 7. Armee" where has to be "Befehlsstab 7. Armee"
• When the ships are about to begin bombarding the beaches you see a group of planes fly by the camera these are Douglas Sky Raiders which did not see service until the late 1940s.
• During the British glider assault on the bridge, the same glider lands three times.
• When LTC Vandervoort uses his flashlight to illuminate his map (while having his broken ankle taped), the flashlight illuminates the map, but displays a flashlight-shaped shadow in the center of the map (indicating the stage light used to "really" illuminate the map).
• When the coded radio messages are read out in French, the awaited second line of the poem by Verlaine, "Blesse mon coeur d'une langueur monotone" ("Wounds my heart with a monotonous languor") sets the French resistance-group in motion. They leave the hiding Allied pilots and take up rifles. The next line heard on the radio before it is shut off is "J'aime les chats siamois" ("I like Siamese cats") But when the Germans hear and are recording the identical broadcast and hear the line of poetry, the coded message after that is a message heard before the French resistance-fighters heard the poetry line: "Daphné à Monique: Il y a le feu à l'agence de voyage. Inutile de s'y rendre." ("Daphne to Monique: There is a fire at the travel agency. It is no use to get there").
• When the second line of the Verlaine poem is said ("Blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone"), the subtitle reads "Wounds [singular] my heart with a monotonous languor". It should say "Wound", plural, as the subject of the verse is the plural "sobs".
• When we see Lovat's British commandos land, one of the men is carrying an M-3 "Grease Gun". That was an American weapon never given to the British.
• When the two men are on the rocking boat in the beginning, the straps on their helmets remain at a 90 degree angle to the car they're sitting in despite the boat's drastic rocking back on forth, showing that it was the camera, not the boat wobbling.
• When Lord Lovat leads his men to Pegasus Bridge, he can clearly be seen holding a Mannlicher Schoenauer Model 1903 carbine. One of the well-known eccentricities of Lord Lovat was that he always carried an old Winchester rifle in combat.
• During the go/no go sequence, a jet can be heard flying overhead as the naval representative is speaking.
• The real Ouistreham casino had been destroyed and replaced by a German bunker before the D-Day landings, rather than having a bunker built into its basement as shown. The casino seen in the film was a set built on the harbour at Port-en Bessin.
• When the gliders land at Pegasus Bridge, the caption on screen states "Orne River" and the bridge can be seen below. Pegasus Bridge, where Major Howard's glider landed, is on the Caen Canal, not the Orne.
• During a long continuous shot on the deck of a troop ship involving one soldier discussing his "Dear John" letter to another soldier, a young soldier playing a harmonica can be heard and seen in the background, playing a variant of the film's title score. In the middle of his playing, the musical key changes, and then returns to the original key. With a harmonica (capable of only playing one key), the soldier would have been required to change harmonicas, and never does.
• During a very early scene in France, the back end of a Citroen 2CV can be seen parked at the side of the street as the German soldiers march down it.
• When Lovat orders the piper to play "Blue Bonnets over the Border", the song he actually plays is "Black Bear".
• When Lovat"s commandos land, the piper is playing "Black Bear"; however, when we see the piper he is still trying to inflate the bagpipe using one hand.
• The British pathfinders land on the HQ of General Von Salmuth, commander of the 15th army. However, the pathfinders had actually landed on General Reichert's HQ (Reicher was commander of the 711 division in Normandy) and also, Von Salmuth and the 15th army were actually at the Pas De Calais.
• On the British beaches, a British journalist is seen releasing a pigeon carrying a message and cursing it as it flies inland - "Damned Traitors". The actual journalist was Charles Lynch, a Canadian working for Reuters.
• The movie shows that the German 155mm guns on Pointe du Hoc were gone when Colonel Rudder's Rangers got there. It doesn't show that the Rangers continued inland, found the guns and destroyed them.
• In the film, the helmets worn by the 2nd Rangers at Pointe-du-Hoc have no markings. In reality, Ranger helmets had an orange diamond on the back, with a number indicating battalion.
• According to Schirer's book, far from being deafened by the church bell, John Steele said that he didn't notice it.
• After the paratrooper clears the bird house he uses his cricket to check out the bushes. The German replies with two shots, however he is using a Mauser K98 bolt action rifle. In reality he could only shoot one bullet at a time.
• During the shelling at the beginning of the invasion the French farmers mirror breaks and its position shifts. In doing so a stage light is clearly seen.

 

Battle of the Bulge.

Not as inaccurate as you'd think,
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Okay, it has M24 Chaffees as the US tanks. The M24 was introduced into US service during the Battle of the Bulge. However, in the movie the Germans call them Shermans.

The German tanks are called Tigers, not Royal or King Tigers, and in WWII, Americans called ALL German tanks Tigers, whether they were or not. In this case they are Spanish Army M47 Patton tanks (little irony there, in that Patton's contribution to the Battle of the Bulge is left out of the movie)

The German tanks for once are accurately marked with turret numbers, and the German tankers are all wearing the appropriate Panzer uniforms, with the Panzer Grenadier troops wearing the gray version of this uniform. Someone did their homework on the uniforms.

The first battle with the US troops getting overrun by the Panzers is accurate as far as most accounts of the US green divisions in the face of Peiper's panzers in the real battle.

In the last battle, (the one in the desert) something similar happened when a US corps commander threw his armor at the Germans to keep them away from the Meuse. And the dialogue and fire commands are correct for WW2 era tank battles, they even mention hypershot, the special US armor piercing round that could kill a Tiger at close range.

They tried and got close, no cigar, but not as bad as you'd think.

 

You have to remeber that when all is said and done they are films and for the entertainment of the masses, before CGI if you didn't have a real 'Tiger' then you had to either make do with something as similar as you could find, or shoot the film with some very clever camera angles in order to get as little of the actual tanks in shot as you could get away with. It can work, but it doesn#t make for a gret film. You are never going to get 100% accuracy without lots of CGI or even animating the whole film.

What gets me is the blatant departures from the historical truth in order to make the film suitable for the 'american' audience when it is supposed to be 'based' on 'a true story' or 'actual events'.

 

The part that always amazed me about the "Battle of the Bulge" was the total neglect of Patton.

 

You have to remeber that when all is said and done they are films and for the entertainment of the masses, before CGI if you didn't have a real 'Tiger' then you had to either make do with something as similar as you could find, or shoot the film with some very clever camera angles in order to get as little of the actual tanks in shot as you could get away with. It can work, but it doesn#t make for a gret film. You are never going to get 100% accuracy without lots of CGI or even animating the whole film.

Very true. Back in the 50's and 60's when many of these 'epics' were made the technology we have today. While some may say there were still Shermans about, which is true, the problem is many were still in service in S. America and the Middle East so an alternative had to be found.

Ross

 

The Longest Day Trivia.

• According to fellow veterans major Werner Pluskat was not at his command bunker in Omaha Beach when the first wave of the invasion forces landed, instead he was in a bordello in Caen.
• The theme song to the movie, by Paul Anka, was used as the Regimental march of the Canadian Airborne Regiment (1968-1995)
• The piper who played the bagpipes as Lord Lovat's commandos stormed ashore is played by the actual man who did this stirring deed on D-Day. His name is Bill Millin. He recently donated that very set of pipes to the national war memorial in Edinburgh Castle.
• While clearing a section of the Normandy beach near Ponte du Hoc, the film's crew unearthed a tank that had been buried in the sand since the original invasion. Mechanics cleaned it off, fixed it up and it was used in the film as part of the British tank regiment.