One major anachronism in this film: Diesel locomotives. They were not in general use in the 1930s. It was still the age of steam. The engines shown near the beginning of this are old Diesels probably from the (you guessed it) 1960s or 1950s.
Sorry, I didn't even notice the diesel locomotives but I never realized the film was supposed to be set in the thirties because of Ann-Margret's hair, make-up and wardrobe. She was a 60's chick all the way.
shareThere were a number of distracting goofs in this film. Hard to say what they were thinking especially with Ann-Margret's hair. Tuesday Weld's was also a style that fit the sixties not the thirties, but I can guess some women may have worn their hair like hers, shoulder length and natural (see for example Joan Fontaine in Rebecca - set also in the early thirties although shot in 1940).
But yeah that diesel locomotive was a late fifties example, used into the sixties, and of course contemporary to when the film was made. There were other goofs as well.
One major anachronism in this film: Diesel locomotives. They were not in general use in the 1930s. It was still the age of steam. The engines shown near the beginning of this are old Diesels probably from the (you guessed it) 1960s or 1950s.
They made no effort to make this movie seem like it was set in the 1930s, and it would've been easy then, since the '30s were only like the '90s are to us. There were still millions of people who remembered the '30s well, vintage clothes, people who knew how to do the proper hair styles, etc. It wouldn't be a big research project like it would be to depict the '30s today.
shareOne second of googling told me that the first diesel locomotive was made in 1912, but I didn't spend another five seconds finding out when diesel locomotives became widely used in the US.
The fact is that until the 1970s, almost no effort was made to make typical period films look like they were actually set in that period. Maybe they'd have put a few Model Ts in the front of shots, and clothes were mostly rented from costume warehouses, but minimal effort was put into the rest of the production design, and you can always spot a 1960s historical film by the bouffant hairstyles.