Bad job done in a movie

[Captain Video]

I recently saw a movie on TV with Tom Hanks called "The Wonders" , it was set sometime around 1964/65. I was amazed at how wrong they got the TV pieces used in this film. The cameras ( color cameras ) used in the TV studio scenes were not RCA TK-41s as one might expect, but rather some type of camera from the 70's. There are scenes in which they show a family watching a color broadcast of the musical presentations - instead of watching in a round tube set ( as would be the only possible way in 65 ), they are shown watching it in a TV that clearly was a 50's b&w console converted to work in color ( possible a Harry Poster job ). I really "wondered" if people in Hollywood are so dumb they couldn't find the right equipment. As I remember, in Back to the Future they had the correct televisions used in 1955. So why this Tom Hanks movie got it all messed up?

[Celt]

I guess they think no one will notice or care. Another example is period pieces like Westerns when they have battery operated wall clocks or quartz pocket watches with step motor sweep second hands. That stuff drives me crazy!

[old_tv_nut]

The best explanation for these time warps is from a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip:

CALVIN: Dad, how come old photographs are always black and white? Didn't they have color film back then?

CALVIN'S DAD: Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs are in color. It's just the world was black and white then.

CALVIN: Really?

CALVIN'S DAD: Yep. The world didn't turn color until sometime in the 1930s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too.

CALVIN: That's really weird.

CALVIN'S DAD: Well, truth is stranger than fiction.

CALVIN: But then why are old paintings in color?! If the world was black and white, wouldn't artists have painted it that way?

CALVIN'S DAD: Not necessarily, a lot of great artists were insane.

CALVIN: But ... but how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn't their paints have been shades of gray back then?

CALVIN'S DAD: Of course, but they turned colors like everything else in the '30s.

CALVIN: So why didn't old black and white photos turn color too?

CALVIN'S DAD: Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?

(CUT TO: EXT. Tree limb, Calvin talking with Hobbes)

CALVIN: The world is a complicated place, Hobbes.

HOBBES: Whenever it seems that way, I take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner.

Written by Bill Watterson, © Universal Press Syndicate.

[Sandy G]

the one I like is that all the cars in a lot of these movies look like they're brand-spankin' NEW-and they're ALL 1960 models if the movie was set that year. How many of us have bright, shiny 2005 models? Didn't think so. I have a 2000 Excursion, it don't look TOO bad if I spend about a day on it, but yeah, it's got a ding or 2. Movie cars generally look like they picked 'em up the day before. Or, OK, arsewholes, I'll bite-EVERYBODY did drive all-brand new cars in 1960-lets see where y'all cut corners on 'em makin' a bunch of clunkers LOOK new...Overspray on the wheelwells? Crumbly weatherstripping ? Opaque plating on bumpers? Come on, Mr No-attention-to-detail Assistant Director,Gimme a break..you ARE dealing w/an anal-retentive type here who can date 1960s Lincolns by the curvature of their side-windows...-Sandy G.

[peverett]

There is a book out about this subject. I believe the title is "Roman Soldiers do not wear Wrist Watches" This title is based on a movie mistake made by the Italians in a 1930s movie.

Speaking of cars, I saw the cars from the Clint Eastwood movie "A Perfect World" which was filmed near Austin, Texas. The closer the shot, the better the car was restored. The main car used in the film looked very good, while others had overspray, etc. Also, in a small town near here, a fake brick building was built as the movie producers felt the town looked "to empty". It has long been torn down-definitely not built to last.

[Sandy G]

...an' th' cars are all Easter-egg colors, too. Back in 1960, you had yer basic black, or you had yer basic white. A few tan/beige, maybe a Navy blue,that "insane-asylum" shade of green, & that was about it. Even in the 2-tone Fifties, sedate colors were more the rule. Seems like most cars, too, were 2 or 4 door sedans, and generally the low-level models at that. Chevrolet Biscaynes or Ford Lunchline 500s. A fancy car, like a Caddy or a Lincoln, was a once-a-month occurence.A foreign car was a Volkswagen or possibly a Renault Dauphine.They were about maybe once every other week. Japanese cars? Do those guys even MAKE cars?!? Hmmmmmm....-Sandy G.

[orthophonic]

I work in the TV/Film industry and am always amazed at some of the lack of attention
to vintage details. The current movies Ray and Beyond the Sea are loaded with
wrong items for the dates. Continuity problems abound also. One that used to
bother me was Driving Miss Daisy, reasonably authentic overall, but they must have
used two different '56 Cadillacs because in some scenes the car has Air Conditioning
and in others it doesn't which can be seen by the presence and then absence of those
little vent scoops on the upper rear quarter panel.

On alot of items such as Tvs, radios, appliances etc, it all comes down to what
the studios prop house has in stock. I swear I have seen the same TV, Washing Machine and gas range in at least ten differant movies.

I actually got to work with Tom Hanks on the From Earth to the Moon series and
he is a perfectionist on some details like having the tiles in the restroom hand
painted for the proper color for the period. Those control consoles in mission control
(also used in the Movie Apollo 13) were the actual original units. it was fun to
look behind and inside them, all those little monitor faces had modern computer
monitors stuck behind them.

I think another factor these days is that many of the producers and their staff
are very young and just don't know because they weren't around back then.

Someone mentioned Back to the Future, that 1946 Wurlitzer in the soda shop
was way too old for 1955.

[RetroHacker]

Anyone seen the movie "Frequency"? It involves a ham radio operator, using a radio to communicate through time. The set he's using, however, is a HeathKit SB301. Not only is it not rated for temporal communications, but it's not even a transmitter. It's a reciever. You need the matching SB401 to transmit. I'm not a ham operator, but I do know a little bit about radio. Things like the fact that an antenna is generally necessary to pick up anything, and that when sending on a transmitter, you're going to need to press the key on the microphone, it's not voice activated...

-Ian

[jstout66]

My pet peeve is the TV series "American Dreams". The dad (Jack) on the show, owns a TV sales/repair shop. The series is now set in 1964/1965 yet most of the sets in his shop are ALL wrong. The sales floor has Predicta's, early 50's RCA portables, I've seen 1 roundie, some late 60's combo units, and I swear I saw a 1970's Chromacolor 2. Last week the Predicta's still had the hang tags on them. Sales must be slow for him. Oh!! and another thing... the family STILL has an old B&W console in their living room. You can't tell me a tv shop owner in 1965 would still a 1950's eras B&W set in his home.

[Chad Hauris]

RE: back to the Future...that jukebox would have only been 9 years old. There are some Pizza Huts and bars using Rowe AMI CD-100 jukeboxes now which are at least 15 years old! Lou's diner does not strike me as the place that would get the latest technology...if a jukebox keeps working and making money I don't think they would just replace it at 9 yrs old.
Also in the DVD director's commentary on Back to the Future they mentioned how not all the cars in the movie are '55 models, because of course not everyone would drive brand new cars (such as Biff's car, a 48? Ford).

[Sandy G]

Yeah, I remember Biff's car-the '46-48 Ford Convert they dumped that load of manure into? Still looked like it was brand new. But you're right-most of the prop men & set designers are young kids who weren't around in the period in question, know little, & care less. I watched about 5 minutes of "American Dreams" when it first came out, got thru laughing at the Predictas for sale in '64-'65, & decided I didn't want to be scolded about How Racist America Was in the early '60s for the 3 zillionth time. These are supposed to be creative people, and the best they can do is a improbable, hackneyed tale...I know, I'm getting "political" here, I'll hush....Wish I had those Predictas, though....<grin>-Sandy G.

[Carmine]

I hate "American Dreams" for all the same reasons listed above. Although, I might watch the episode with Eric the Midget (Stern fans will get this).

I meant to mention this a while back....

Caught an episode of CBS's NICIS (or whatever it's called) about some murderer who was "stuck" in the 50s. When they showed his house, there was a '65 Zenith Roundie, of course wrong for the 50s, but to the show's credit, when they played an Ozzie & Harriet DVD, the set appeared to be playing with it's own CRT. (The shot was so close, you could practically see the dot-pitch.)

I agree that TV shows and movies are full of incorrect props when it comes to furniture, appliances, cars, etc. I find "American Dreams" to be a joke. Just watched it for the first time last week since the series started. Yeah, what TV store owner wouldn't have the best color set around in his own house? I grew up down the street from the local Chrysler dealer and they always had new cars on their driveway. But also, what TV store owner was rich enough to buy his kid a brand new Mustang? As a car fan, I see mistakes all the time. Too many cars that are brand new for the time, as are the hand-me-down type cars that kids would be driving. My sister works in film and one of the movies she worked on was "The Long Walk Home" and she sent me polaroids of the cars they were using (this was well before digital cameras) and they did a nice job. Had to take the polaroids so they could position the cars exactly the same way for the next day of shooting. I don't know who the film makers get these days to provide them with their props, but it's obvious that nobody takes the time to check their work, or they just don't know any better.
Also thought I'd mention that at the Petersen Automotive Museum in L.A. there's a vignette of a suburban garage with a 60's car in it, and up on the shelf at the back of the garage sits a table top bakelite Admiral TV. I think that's pretty insightful of them to have duplicated the situation that likely existed (and lucky for us TV guys still often does) for many obsolete or non-working sets from the late 40's & early 50's.

[Chad Hauris]

On "Frequency" yes, the ham radio equipment is really not the right equipment and is sometimes not used correctly, but there is a Zenith round color set that is really working, plus some other black and white sets that seem to be real.
There is a TV in the corrupt police officers apartment that is inappropriate for the era, though.

Back to the Future does cheap out on the color set in Doc's garage that Marty plays the video on...it was made out of a modern chassis/crt put inside an Admiral b/w cabinet. As rich as the Doc was he would have had a Ct-100 or 21Ct55.

Was watching Valley of the Dolls and they show several fairly detailed shots of a Zenith remote control rectangular color set...this is I guess a different case because this movie was made in 1967.

[andy]

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