The Pianist goofs

(at about 4 minutes) A radio set is heard broadcasting the Joseph Goebbels Sports Palace speech — a talk he actually delivered on 18 February 1943.

(at approximately 2 h 20 min) In the final scenes, when Szpilman is playing, the piano displays the "Steinway & Sons" logo style that was first introduced in the 1990s.

(at around 1h 45 mins) When the hospital near Szpilman's hideout erupts into flames, a German soldier holds two Polish resistance fighters at gunpoint. As they get away, he fires his bolt-action Karibiner 98k rifle, but the sound it produces is more like the pumping of a shotgun.

(at around 1 hour 30 minutes) When Szpilman turns to the friend he has as a last resort for help, it is the depths of winter, with snow on the ground. A bunch of fresh yellow roses is on the table. The next morning, the roses are apricot-coloured.

(at approximately 1 hour 29 minutes) When Szpilman is obliged to leave his first hiding place after breaking the dishes, he has noticeable stubble on his face; yet in the subsequent scene, upon arriving at Dorota's flat, he is clean-shaven.

(at about 37 minutes) When Szpilman crosses the bridge, an extra wearing spectacles passes him twice.

(at around 1h 50 mins) When Szpilman crawls past the woman who had been shot in the back and died whilst kneeling in front of the hospital before she reached the staircase, she is now positioned in front of the stairs.

The tin of gherkins that Szpilman discovers in the ruined building appears to vary in size from shot to shot.

(at around 1h 23 mins) When Szpilman is informed he must vacate the first flat where he is hiding, his hair is parted and falls down either side of his face. In the following shot, as he sits to attempt to smoke the cigarette, his hair is slicked back with no visible part.

After the capture of Warsaw, German troops march along Nowy Świat. The street carried a tram route before and throughout the war, yet in the film it is shown without any tram tracks.

(at around 1 hour 45 minutes) As Szpilman watches the scene in the street from his second shelter, one member of the captured couple starts running from a soldier. The man appears to get away, but the woman is shot in the back. A few seconds elapse between the shot and when she finally drops to her knees and falls forwards, so from the camera's viewpoint the stream of blood on her back ought to form the number "7", not a straight line slanting slightly upwards (against gravity).

(at around 1 hr 8 mins) The German sergeant cuts open the sack of beans with a bayonet that is not of German issue. It appears to be a Turkish Model 1890 bayonet. However, in wartime it was common for soldiers to use a weapon stolen from, or bought from, another country if their own supplies were running low.

Interestingly, the officer seems rather proud of the blade, so it is reasonable to suppose he stole it.

(at about 1h 28mins) When Szpilman is compelled to abandon his initial hiding place after smashing some crockery, he runs into an irate woman in the corridor who demands to see his identity card and seems poised to denounce him as a Jew. He is obliged to hurry past her to make his escape. But once he is outside the front door he looks relatively composed, as she does not pursue him.

This is because the neighbour is wearing a nightdress and would not risk going outside — all bark and no bite, one might say.

(at around 1h 55 mins) Near the end of the film, Szpilman leaves the house where he has been sheltering for some time. Warsaw is utterly devastated and its buildings lie in ruins, yet all the lampposts stand perfectly upright.

(around the 57-minute mark) Szpilman walks in formation along the street with a group of Jewish labourers. A German officer selects various men and shoots them in the head one by one. As the last man is shot, the hollow clink of a spent casing striking the pavement is heard, yet a whole cartridge complete with its bullet falls to the ground; on closer inspection it is revealed to be a spent blank cartridge.

(at about 1 hour 40 minutes) When Dorota and her husband visit Szpilman in his flat, they find he is jaundiced. Dorota soaks a tea towel in water and dabs him, and her dress shows no damp patches.