Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

[Brigham]

You might need a new thread!

[Neil Purling]

Are we only considering electronic equipment mistakes or the really silly OT mistakes like the post-war American Bell H13 with a Swastika on the tail. Sort of like the Series 1 Land Rover in the closing scenes of Ice Cold in Alex.

There are vast amounts of continuity errors, but for us the radio in the Schoss Adler is a British low-power VHF.
Not the 'most powerful radio transmitter in Central Europe' the book of the film has Smith say to Col Kramer.

[ex seismic]

WS31 sets and their US equivalent are quite common in films and nearly always have far, far greater range than mine!

Gordon

[wireless_john]

Has anyone been watching the Halcyon Hotel on ITV?

In the last episode there was a scene in which two people are dancing to music coming from a gramophone.

A close up of the gramophone was shown and I took the attached photo - the record was going clockwise - I checked! Don't know where the tone arm was going though!

John

[G4XWDJim]

There are a few clips on U Tube where the steel needle is positioned to be a lathe tool. I tried it once on an old record and it certainly seems a barbarous thing to do.

How can people not understand?

Jim

[Peter.N.]

They probably weren't alive when we were.

Peter

[regentone001]

they do the same thing on anigue shows too I tend to shout at the tv when they do

[Andrew2]

Likewise. I've seen this done so many times in a lot of dramas. Surely even someone who has never seen a record player in action would guess that having the needle 'ploughing up' the groove was wrong? Maybe ordinary folk don't think in the same way we engineers do!

[Junk Box Nick]

Originally Posted by Peter.N.

They probably weren't alive when we were.

The media and associated arts is very much a young person's industry. It's also highly pressured with constrained budgets which can often result in a 'knock-it-out' attitude.

[G4XWDJim]

Most wind up gramophones rest the soundbox in a space at the back of the cabinet. From there the shortest distance to play is to the wrong side of the record.

Jim

Sheer common sense would indicate it's wrong. Isn't that taught at school anymore?

[emeritus]

re my earlier post #21, I just found a copy of "The King's Speech" on YouTube, and the record being played into headphones so that the King can't hear his own words while speaking, does indeed look very much like an acoustic gramophone having a tubular tone arm. I haven't ever come across an electrical pickup arm of tubular construction, but perhaps they do exist. The headphones actually seem to be part of the recording deck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAmXUIyw0sc

Were not electrical pickups for wind up gramophones made to fit on the end of the tubular arm?

[paulsherwin]

You will find lots of these 'operational' bloopers in TV productions and even in cinema films. The production designer and art director will put a lot of effort into sourcing historically correct props, but he/she probably won't be on set during the actual take so some clueless production assistant will be left to supervise things on the day. That's why you see backwards running record players, instantly warming up valves etc.

[emeritus]

An unobstructed shot of the gramophone and a reasonably unobstructed view of the "Silvertone" recorder. I can't see any obvious wires leading from the pickup, but I suppose they could have been threaded down the tube.

[wireless_john]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

You will find lots of these 'operational' bloopers in TV productions and even in cinema films. The production designer and art director will put a lot of effort into sourcing historically correct props, but he/she probably won't be on set during the actual take so some clueless production assistant will be left to supervise things on the day. That's why you see backwards running record players, instantly warming up valves etc.

Actually, that happened in Call The Midwife on the same evening - they turned on a TV (in about 1962) and it came on instantly!!

John

[mole42uk]

My most annoying mis-use of props was actually a radio play on the Home, er, Radio 4.

It was a well-known detective drama set in England in the early half of the 20th Century. A lot of the plot was constructed around 'phone calls that were received by the characters in the play. Every time, they used an American telephone bell tone with its characteristic single ring. I was trying to contact the Producer to express my disquiet, but I couldn't even find a name for the person!

[Nickthedentist]

The American phone ring (tone, timbre and cadence) is a constant annoyance for me too, and seems to be almost ubiquitous in period dramas now.

[Peter.N.]

Originally Posted by wireless_john

Actually, that happened in Call The Midwife on the same evening - they turned on a TV (in about 1962) and it came on instantly!!

Well they never turn them off do they, they don't even know which knob is the on/off switch and if they do they turn it the wrong way.

Peter

[AC/HL]

I do occasionally notice an anomaly in an entertainment program (as distinct from a documentary) but it doesn't spoil the overall effect for me. What does irritate me is the afore mentioned telephone ring. Even British ringing often sounds wrong, haven't they heard of tape recorders?