47
votes
Is the portrayal of people of color in Enola Holmes movies historically accurate?
Yes. There are historical records of many specific Black people living in The United Kingdom between 1870 and 1930 (or so) who were respected professionals. Medicine and the military seem to be ...
- 10.9k
41
votes
Did Neil Armstrong really do this on the Moon?
There is no evidence to show he did this, but it's not implausible.
I've read a number of historical accounts of NASA through the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo era, as well as biographies of many ...
- 52k
39
votes
Did Churchill really talk to people on the London Underground?
It's an invention for the movie:
TheWrap put the question to “Darkest Hour” screenwriter Anthony
McCarten, who not only wrote the screenplay but has published a
companion history book about the ...
- 48.6k
36
votes
Accepted
Did Neil Armstrong really do this on the Moon?
This is addressed explicitly in the biography First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, by James R. Hansen, which the film is based on, and whose author is presumably the Jim mentioned in wcullen's ...
- 476
34
votes
Was Freemasonry such a big problem in 1980s UK policing?
It was a perceived problem.
Freemasonry was blamed for everything in the 80s. There were books about it. It was in all the red-top newspapers. They were demonised as being some evil secret club where ...
- 52.7k
33
votes
Accepted
Is Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk historically inaccurate in portraying absence of the Indian army?
TL;DR
Indian soldiers were stuck in the Dunkirk too. And the Royal Indian Army Corps was not only present on the beach, but also involved in transporting supplies to terrains that were not easy to ...
A J♦
- 57.8k
30
votes
Is the bird killing in The Prestige based on historical reality?
It is based on a real trick, but the sources I provided do not conclusively state if any birds in these acts were ever killed. Only rumors and at least one inquiry, resulting in no substantial proof. ...
- 23k
30
votes
Is the portrayal of people of color in Enola Holmes movies historically accurate?
David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre was elected MP for Sudbury in 1841 (before being removed for corruption after nine months), decades before the era of the films, and was of Anglo-Indian descent.
More in ...
- 400
28
votes
Accepted
Did John Glenn really ask for that?
From IMDB.com trivia section:
While John Glenn did specifically request that Katherine Johnson review all of the numbers for the Friendship 7 mission before he would agree to go through with it, he ...
- 481
27
votes
Accepted
Why is Havana covered in 5-digit numbers in Our Man in Havana?
These are lottery numbers.
The location above is, as per Graham Greene's novel:
“…the square at the top of Lamparilla Street… swallowed up among the pimps and lottery sellers of the Havana noon.”
...
- 38.4k
26
votes
Accepted
Is the bird killing in The Prestige based on historical reality?
I did a little research on this question and it appears that the trick MIGHT kill the canary, or might not, but inevitably did result in a lot of bird deaths. Here is the notice:
The vanishing bird ...
- 10.5k
25
votes
Accepted
Did Oskar Schindler really lament not having saved more Jews?
According to David M. Crowe’s book Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities and the True Story Behind The List...
NO.
Among the key revelations in Crowe’s book: Oskar ...
- 132k
24
votes
Did Neil Armstrong really do this on the Moon?
Possibly
Apparently screenwriter Josh Singer
asked Armstrong's sister, June Hoffman, whether her brother had left something for Karen on the moon. June's response: "Oh, I dearly hope so."
&...
- 589
24
votes
Did Neil Armstrong really do this on the Moon?
Armstrong never spoke about this publicly.
Jay Barbree's biography Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight (Thomas Dunne Books, 2014) says, on p. 272 of the paperback edition,
In the lunar dust, Neil and ...
- 424
23
votes
Accepted
What is the connection between Ragnar from Vikings and Ragnar from The Last Kingdom?
There's no direct connection
Note: This post is spoiler-heavy, and using spoiler tags would make it rather cumbersome. If you don't wish to find spoilers, this probably isn't the answer for you.
...
- 345
20
votes
Accepted
Did the Battle of Iwo Jima really happen on black soil?
Did the Battle of Iwo Jima really happen on black soil
Yes
Iwo Jima is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara ...
- 132k
19
votes
Is HBO's Chernobyl accurate about the sequence of instructions causing reactor stall?
The HBO show depicts events very close to the official soviet version of accident which was presented at IAEA meeting in Vienna in 1986 with Legasov as the head of the soviet delegation and which was ...
- 356
19
votes
Deliberate miscalibration of shells in Schindler's List -- did this happen in real life?
As a personal opinion, I'd say he wanted people not to be treated abhorrently, or killed for no reason other than their faith or ethnicity. The war he could do little about; his factory & its ...
- 52.7k
18
votes
Accepted
Were gladiators forced to fight in historical reenactments, as they did in "Gladiator"?
Yes. It is even believed that the Coliseum in Rome was filled with water at times to re-enact sea battles. From the Wiki:
The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000
...
- 59.4k
16
votes
Accepted
Why was the Hollywood sign destroyed?
I assume you are referring to this scene
Was the sign also destroyed in real life during 1980?
Yes...and No.
It's not destroyed, rather it had fallen in to a state of disrepair.
In 1949, the ...
- 132k
15
votes
Accepted
What is the historic origin of these Indian burial grounds?
According to Atlas Obscura:
First of all, it’s important to note that the Indian Burial Ground,
which is sometimes abbreviated to IBG, is a trope, and not a real
thing. Pre-Columbian peoples ...
- 48.6k
13
votes
Have there been any movies about or with realistic ninjas?
You are 100% correct. According to this excellent article on Kotaku, pretty much everything most people assume about ninjas—black pajamas, throwing stars, swords, etc…—is utter nonsense. The ...
- 6,096
12
votes
Accepted
Straight Outta Compton - claims of police abuse
Whether the police brutality/harassment scenes in the movie were embellished for creative licensing or not, the fact remains that police corruption, racism and brutality ran rampant in predominantly ...
- 27.6k
12
votes
Accepted
How true-to-life was 'Joyeux Noel'?
There is a nice article about this
There are very interesting facts about this:
Perhaps the biggest misconception about the Christmas Truce of 1914 is
that it was limited to the days around ...
- 236
12
votes
Why would U boats even try to torpedo a Fletcher-class destroyer?
It may have been rare, but it happened.
Wikipedia lists 5 Destroyers torpedoed by German U-Boats. I don't see a claim of 'unrealistic' can stand up in the face of confirmed proof.
- 52.7k
11
votes
Accepted
How accurate is Sully?
The movie is mostly accurate except the negative villain-like portrayal of NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board).
The movie is based on Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters. It is a ...
- 5,573
11
votes
Accepted
Did Mark Zuckerberg answer a question in similar circumstances to this?
According to this blog post by the professor who is depicted in that scene:
in fact there is a scene where I'm shown teaching the Operating Systems course (in a commanding performance by Brian ...
- 48.6k
10
votes
Why do cars in movies set in earlier eras always look brand new?
Because the owners of the cars keep them like that.
I will base my answer on three sources:
Barn Find Hunter series by Hagerty on YouTube. In one of the episodes, Tom Cotter visits a collector ...
- 11k
9
votes
Accepted
What is the term the street thugs called the policemen in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows?
The word is actually Peelers.
Which was slang for Police Officer back then.
From the surname of Sir Robert Peel, who established the Irish constabulary and London's police force.
Peel entered the ...
- 12k
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