Hollywood vs History 1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: The hull broke in two pieces while sinking.

In fairness to Walter Lord, this discrepancy in his book and the movie screenplay was not definitely known until marine explorer Robert Ballard found the underwater resting place of RMS Titanic in 1985. Although some survivors remembered the hull breaking while sinking, many others did not.

This difference in eyewitness accounts is usually attributed to a dark night (there was no moonlight that night) and Titanic's lights going out at about the same time as the ship was breaking apart. Ballard's discovery solved that piece of the puzzle once and for all.

The 1997 movie "Titanic" did show the hull breaking while sinking, but that was after Ballard's discovery.

Answer: The land where William Wallace actually fought the big battle with the English had a narrow bridge and was not an open plain.

One significant deviation from history in this movie is that the Battle of Stirling Bridge (the name of the big battle between the two armies shown in the movie) was shown as being fought on an open plain. In actuality, a narrow bridge separated the English and Scottish forces.

The Scottish waited to attack until the English were only partially across and the bridge was too narrow for the rest of the English to rapidly cross once the fighting started. When asked by a local why the battle was filmed on an open plain, Mel Gibson (who was not only the lead actor but also the movie's producer) answered, "The bridge got in the way" (referring to production costs and timing). "Aye," the local responded, "That's what the English found." Randall Wallace (the movie's screenwriter) had been visiting Edinburgh in 1983 to learn about his heritage when he came across a statue of William Wallace inscribed as "Scotland's greatest hero." This intrigued him enough to research the story and this screenplay resulted.

Answer: The Roman Emperor Commodus did in fact fight as a gladiator in the Coliseum but did not die there.

The real-life Roman Emperor Commodus did in fact fight as a gladiator in the arena and was the only Roman Emperor in history to do so (although his "victories" were against tethered animals and humans with wooden weapons). However, he was not killed in the arena (as was shown in the movie) but was strangled in his dressing room by an athlete named Narcissus.

At the 2001 Academy Awards "Gladiator" won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe.

Answer: British sailors on HMS Bulldog captured the first Enigma machine captured at sea from U-110 in 1941.

Although there was an actual U-571, no Enigma machine was captured from it when it was sunk on January 28, 1944, after fighting on the surface with an Australian Sunderland aircraft from the RAAF 461 Squadron.  The movie "U-571" shows an Enigma machine being captured, but that was a screenwriter's blending of several other actual captures.  British sailors on HMS Bulldog captured the first Enigma machine captured at sea from U-110 in May 1941.

The first Enigma machine captured by Americans was captured from a German submarine just two days before the D-Day invasion (giving rise to fears the Germans might change the code just before the invasion).

The USS Guadalcanal captured U-505 on June 4, 1944. The captured sub was kept afloat and is on public display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois, USA. You can take a virtual tour of this sub on the Internet by doing a Google search for U-505.

Answer: There were actually two bridges built side-by-side, and they were destroyed by Allied air attacks, not a commando raid.

Although this movie is loosely based on a true World War II story, considerable leeway was taken with the actual history. Both a temporary wooden bridge and an adjacent steel bridge, also built with POW labor, were constructed. They were subjected to numerous attacks by Allied aircraft and both were damaged.

A famous quote from this movie is made by Colonel Saito when reminded of the Geneva Convention prohibition of using manual labor by officers: "Do not speak to me of rules! This is war! This is not a game of cricket!"

Answer: While Americans helped dig the tunnels, no American officer (i.e., the Steve McQueen character) escaped.

Americans had helped dig the tunnels, but by the time of the escape they had all been moved to a separate enclosure. This movie error was probably done deliberately to increase the movie's appeal to American audiences. Of the 76 POWs who escaped, three got back to Allied territory and 50 were murdered in reprisal.

After the war ended, 14 Germans were executed for their parts in these murders. A 2004 excavation of the area, sponsored by the television show NOVA and observed by seven former POWs who were in Stalag Luft III, uncovered several of the things shown in the movie.

A transcript of this show is at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3117_greatesc.html

Answer: The song "Edelweiss" was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein for the stage play

Just before the family flees from Austria, they sing in the Salzburg Festival. During the stage play tryouts of "The Sound of Music", a song was felt necessary so Captain von Trapp could express his feelings as he bids farewell to his beloved Austria. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who had stomach cancer at the time, decided to write the song "Edelweiss" that he would sing in the festival. Hammerstein died shortly thereafter.

The hint is one of the lines in this song.

Answer: The date of the attack is spoken in Japanese as December 8, but the subtitles read December 7.

This translation is technically correct since Japan is a day ahead of the U.S. A famous quote attributed to Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is in this movie: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." He had studied in the U.S. before the war, appreciates its vast manufacturing ability, and has doubts Japan can succeed in its war ambitions.

Answer: Siegel did not start building the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas but instead muscled his way into a partially completed project (started by L.A. nightclub owner Billy Wilkerson).

The movie "Bugsy" differs from actual history on Siegel's role in how the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas was built. The movie shows him as a visionary looking over the empty desert, implying that he started this project. In actuality, he muscled his way into a partially completed project (started by L.A. nightclub owner Billy Wilkerson). Wilkerson had started building a classy casino like the one in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

In addition, the movie suggests the name "Flamingo" came from Bugsy Siegel as a tribute to his girlfriend Virginia Hill's long legs and red hair.

In actuality, the casino was named by Wilkerson before Siegel became involved. He had a particular fondness for exotic birds that he found on his many travels.

Answer: Argentina

After their close brush with the Pinkerton detectives, Sundance, his girlfriend Etta Place and Butch left the United States on February 20, 1901 aboard the British ship S.S. Herminius for Buenos Aires, Argentina. Newspapers of the day described homesteading opportunities there.

After arriving in Buenos Aires, they sought the advice of the local U.S. vice-consul, who suggested that they head for the Patagonia area in southern Argentina (specifically, the Cholila Valley). The trio settled there and began raising cattle, sheep and horses.

While there they apparently stayed out of trouble, but the Pinkertons hadn't given up. They learned that the fugitives were in Argentina and began flooding the area with wanted posters with their photographs (from the famous photograph their gang, the Wild Bunch, had foolishly posed for in Texas in 1900). You can see this photograph by doing a Google search for Wild Bunch (don't confuse with the 1969 movie). To escape that heat they fled to Bolivia and the movie roughly picks up the story (although there is some debate about how and where they actually died).