Eric momentarily loses the crumpled paper from his hand during the 400m race at the Olympics.
Before the last race Scholz gives a piece of paper to Liddell with a Bible quote, which he holds in his left hand. This piece of paper disappears during the race and reappears at the finish line.
When Eric Liddell is in the locker room getting ready, before going over to wish Abrahams luck, the camera is in a close up on him. He walks past a row of showers and the man in the final stall is seen facing the camera and holding a towel. The angle then switches to a far away shot and the man is now naked, showering with his back to the camera.
When Colonel John Keddie meets Sam Mussabini, the cane in Keddie's hand jumps from his right hand to his left, so that his right hand is free to shake Mussambini's.
Jenny Liddell is portrayed as opposing her brother's running career. In fact, she was an enthusiastic supporter.
Lord Lindsay (real name: Lord Burghley) and Aubrey Montague are shown attending Harold Abrahams' memorial service in 1978. In reality Aubrey Montague died on 30th January 1948, 30 years earlier.
Harold Abrahams fiancée is incorrectly identified as opera singer Sybil Gordon. Abrahams actually married Sybil Evers, a singer at the same opera house as Gordon, but they did not meet until 1934.
In the scene where Harold Abrahams's coach is showing him Charles Paddock winning gold in the 1920 Olympics and why Jackson Scholz only got silver, the coach had it wrong. Scholz only came fourth and was not successful in winning silver. He did however win silver in 1924 at the Paris games.
Early in the film (at about 10 minutes in) the narration says "Thursday October the tenth, 1919...". That date was in fact a Friday that year.
In 1924, the future King Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor was Prince of Wales. At the meeting between "the committee" and Eric Liddell, Lord Birkenhead calls him "David". Some have assumed that this is a goof because he is played by David Yelland, but in fact the prince was known to his friends and family as David, and it is coincidence that an actor with the same name plays him.
The five-striped flag of the Republic of China is shown flying next to the US flag in the stadium. Although Chinese athletes did not compete in the Olympics until 1932, the Chinese flag was in fact hoisted at the 1924 Olympics. Several Chinese athletes marched in the opening ceremony but did not compete.
Before the 400m race, the crowd can be heard chanting "U-S-A!" Although some have believed this to be an anachronism, it was in fact a common cheer for American teams at international sporting events in the early 20th century. For example, in Leni Riefenstahl's documentary series "Olympia", American spectators are heard using the "U-S-A!" chant to cheer on Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
After the Olympic flag is raised, the sixth verse of the French national anthem is sung. The first, fifth, and sixth verses are the most commonly sung verses of the Marseillaise.
Right before the "Great Court Run" where Harold Abrahams was trying to break the 700-year-old record, one of the students in the crowd yelled out "Do it for Israel". Yet modern Israel would not have been named for another ~25 years. It's difficult to believe that anyone would be referring to ancient Israel, which is always referred to as "the Kingdom of Israel".
Jewish people were often referred to as "children of Israel" many centuries after the demise of the original Kingdom of Israel. And while it may be "difficult to believe" that someone would be referring to the Kingdom of Israel, it's still feasible that a highly-educated Cambridge student would be aware of it, so this is not an anachronism.
Jewish people were often referred to as "children of Israel" many centuries after the demise of the original Kingdom of Israel. And while it may be "difficult to believe" that someone would be referring to the Kingdom of Israel, it's still feasible that a highly-educated Cambridge student would be aware of it, so this is not an anachronism.
In the first race between Liddell and Abrahams the runner in the first lane (runner #6) is actually winning the race at the finish line and pulls up to ensure that Liddell wins.
When the American team is training in Paris before the games, they are shown wearing cotton sweatshirts and sweatpants. These particular outfits weren't invented until two years later, in 1926, by Benjamin Russell Jr., the namesake of the Russell Athletic company.
When signing an autograph for a young fan, Eric Liddell does not unscrew or remove any cap from the pen he uses. As all fountain pens have caps, he seems to be using a modern day ballpoint pen which was not invented until 1938.
In the 1920s, American flags had 48 stars, not 50.
In the 1920s, the Canadian flag was either the Union Jack or the Canadian Red Ensign. The red maple leaf flag was not introduced until 1965.
When Eric and Jennie Liddell talk on the hill in Edinburgh, a man jogs across the background in a 1970s/80s tracksuit.
In the long shot of the departing boat that takes the athletes to France, there's a rather obvious radar antenna. Fortunately, it's not rotating, although in the brief long shot just before the team photo scene, it is.
On the boat to France, Abrahams is playing the piano, but the notes we see him strike bear no resemblance to the music we hear.
Just before the group of people enter the ball where the Prince of Wales is, we can see the camera and the camera man's shadows in the back of the lady in light green dress (the last one going inside). And the guy in the right side of the shot is looking at the camera too.
(at around 30 mins) Just before Abrahams and Montague register at the Porters' Lodge of "Caius College, Cambridge 1919" their taxi is seen driving along a street and stopping at "the" College entrance. The street is Trinity Lane at the back of Caius College and the entrance is not that of Caius College but of Trinity Hall. Even the Trinity Hall crescent can be seen above the entrance.
In the first Cambridge scene, set in 1919, passengers are seen on the railway station's footbridge. In fact, pressure from 19th century Cambridge University leaders opposed to railways led to special conditions being imposed on the station before it was constructed, and one of these was that it must have no footbridges; although one was added later, it was demolished again in 1863 and since then the station has had level access to all platforms. In 2011 work began on a second platform which will be connected to the original platform by a pedestrian bridge.
Closed captioning at the end of the Freshman dinner: the caption during the "sumptuous affair" narration is attributed to Eric Liddell, though he didn't go to Cambridge.
At the end of the montage "He is an Englishman" Harold is cheered for by the audience, presumably as the soloist. But the solo from HMS Pinafore is for the boatswain, and Harold is dressed in superior officer's clothes.