Didja Notice?

The story opens on a ship off the Portuguese coast, where Indy is attempting to recover the Cross of Coronado from Panama Hat and his hired goons. The man known only as Panama Hat appeared previously in "The Cross of Coronado", where 12-year old Indy lost the cross to Panama Hat and his hired hand, the treasure hunter Garth.

At 11:58 on the DVD, the metal barrels on the ship are marked with Portuguese words:

A SOCIEDADE QUIMICA LISBOA (THE LISBON CHEMICAL SOCIETY)

CARBONETO (CARBIDE)

QUIMICOS PERIGOSOS (DANGEROUS CHEMICALS)

The "Lisbon" mentioned above is the capital city of Portugal.

As the ship sinks at 13:59 on the DVD, we see that its name is Coronado, presumably named for the same man as the cross, Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (1510-1554).

The novelization and comic book adaptation reveal that an American freighter happened to be in the area when the Coronado blew up, and that crew plucked Indy out of the ocean.

The novelization reveals it is "a few days later" when Indy is back in his classroom after the recovery of the cross.

At 14:26 on the DVD, the notes on the chalkboard in Indy's classroom are on the Late Canalino times of the Mescalitan Islands. This refers to the Chumash Native American people of Central and Southern coastal California. Mescalitan Island, Santa Barbara, was the site of a Chumash village called Helo, though Mescalitan is more of a mesa than an island, in a marshy area near the beach.

Indy tells his class to forget about any ideas of lost cities and exotic travel, and "X" never, ever, marks the spot. He made a similar remark to Alex Beresford-Hope in "Tomb of the Gods" Part 2. Ironically, X does mark the spot to a treasure later in the film. The phrase "X marks the spot" has been around since at least the early 19th Century and was popularized in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 adventure novel Treasure Island.

Indy mentions Dr. Tyree's philosophy class down the hall. This is a sort of in-joke to actor Harrison Ford's own past, as he took a class of, and became friends with, Dr. William Tyree, head of the philosophy department at Ripon College in Wisconsin.

At 14:57 on the DVD, while the end-of-class bell is ringing, notice that the girl in the front row at the left of screen looks annoyed that the class has ended already. It seems like she wanted to stare at Indy some more!

As the students file out of his classroom, Indy tells them, "Next week: Egyptology. Starting
with the excavation of Naucratis by Flinders Petrie in 1885." Sir William Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) was a famed English Egyptologist. He began the excavation of Naucratis, a city of ancient Egypt southeast of Alexandria, in 1884-1885.

Indy refers to his secretary as "Irene" as he filters into his office through the crowd of students waiting to see him. In the comic book adaptation, he seems to refer to her as "Miss Appleton" to his students, so it would seem her full name is Irene Appleton.

When Indy sits down at his office desk, a brief sound of electrical crackling can be heard. Possibly, the fan he has going is about to short out!

One has to wonder how good a teacher Indy really is, as his adventures show that he is frequently absent from his classes to participate in some spur-of-the-moment expedition, and, here at the end of his class, he tells the students he will be available in his office for the next hour-and-a-half, yet as soon as he gets there, he tells them he will see each in turn, but then locks the horde of waiting students out and escapes out the office window!

As he escapes through the office window, notice that Indy tucks his mail and the still-wrapped package from Venice, Italy (the Grail diary from his father) into his coat pocket at 16:52.

At 16:57, Indy walks past a 1929 Cadillac Series 341-B Sedan and a 1937 Ford V8 De Luxe. The car Donovan's men pick Indy up in is a 1939 version of the Ford V8 De Luxe.

The novelization and comic book adaptation identify Donovan's penthouse apartment as being on Fifth Avenue in New York City, and the novelization goes further to say that the building overlooks Central Park. The board game Indiana Jones: Cryptic gives the building street number 225. Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. However, 225 is many, many blocks away from that park; it does overlook the much smaller Madison Square Garden Park though.

Donovan tells Indy that his men unearthed the stone tablet fragment in the mountain area north of Ankara while looking for copper. Ankara is the capital city of Turkey. It is a bit odd that Donovan should say his people were looking for copper there, as the Ankara and western region of Turkey is not known for copper deposits (though the eastern half of Turkey is). It may be that Donovan is lying to cover up that he is working with the Nazis to gather ancient religious relics, as revealed later in the film.

At 18:30 on the DVD, Donovan pours glasses of champagne for himself and Indy. The brand is
Moët & Chandon, a French fine wine company. The design on the bottle label looks more modern to the 1980s than the actual design in 1938 would have been.

Donovan remarks that the Holy Grail was supposedly given to Joseph of Arimathea after the crucifixion. Joseph of Arimathea is the man who is said to have donated his tomb for the burial of Jesus in the Bible, and also that he used the cup Jesus had used at the last supper to catch Jesus' blood on the cross. The Last Supper was the final meal of Jesus before his crucifixion.

During Indy's conversation with Donovan about the Grail, the penthouse window overlooking the city seems to be a set model of period-style New York City buildings, like the way these type of scenes were often shot in movies of the 1930s. In the 1980s, this would more generally have been accomplished with a blown-up still shot or rear projection. It may be that Spielberg wanted to give the scene an air of '30s Hollywood sensibilities.

When Donovan's wife enters the study to chide him for neglecting his party guests, the piano music heard playing in the room beyond sounds almost like the Imperial March (a.k.a. Darth Vader's theme) from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. John Williams wrote the scores for both films, and actor Julian Glover (playing Donovan) also portrayed the Imperial General Veers, in The Empire Strikes Back.

The actress playing Donovan's wife was Donovan actor Julian Glover's actual wife, Isla Blair.

The story of three brother knights finding the Holy Grail during the First Crusade, with one surviving knight telling a Franciscan friar his tale, told by Donovan and Indy, is not a part of traditional Grail lore. It was made up for the film. The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, initiated by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages to recover the Holy Land from Islamic rule. The Franciscans are a group of catholic religious orders founded by the Italian Saint Francis of Assisi in 1209.

Indy's car, seen at 22:16 on the DVD, is a 1933 Pontiac Economy Eight Touring Coupe.

The car that drives past Indy's father's house at 22:25 on the DVD appears to be a 1939 Pontiac De Luxe Touring Sedan.

Marcus remarks that he's been friends with Indy's father "since time began." But Henry's Grail Diary indicates they met in college.

At 22:51 on the DVD, a painting hanging in Henry, Sr.'s house depicts a knight seemingly walking across air over a chasm. This hints to one of the clues to reaching the location of the Holy Grail in the Temple of the Sun seen near the end of the movie. In The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones, Indy claims the painting in his father's collection is a Medieval original.

At 22:55 on the DVD, an electric fan is seen still running in Henry, Sr.'s ransacked house (at 24:15 another fan is also seen still running). In this same shot, a small painting of the crucifixion is seen hanging above the fireplace. In the painting, a man, presumably Joseph of Arimathea, is catching the blood from the wound in Jesus's side in the Grail cup (though the cup looks more like the erroneous cup selected by Elsa near the end of the film than the one Indy selects as the legitimate one a minute later). 

When Indy remembers the wrapped package in his pocket and pulls it out, he pulls out two white envelopes with it and tosses the two envelopes to the floor. But in the next shot, he still has the two envelopes in his hand as he tears open the package.

The image of the Crucifixion seen in the Grail Diary at 23:19 is a black-and-white "sketch" version of the painting Henry, Sr. has above the fireplace. Notice also that the "Grail" held by Joseph of Aramithea to catch the blood of Jesus is very similar looking to the false Grail Elsa will select for Donovan near the end of the movie.

    An envelope at 24:09 the DVD gives Henry Jones, Sr.'s address as 25 Pine Road, Ferndale, New York. Ferndale is a small town in Sullivan County, New York. Pine Road appears to be fictitious. However, most sources say that Henry lives in Princeton, which would make more sense considering he works at Princeton University, about 140 miles away from Ferndale!

    The stamp on the envelope features the U.S. and Texas flags, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Texas' statehood. Which was in 1945, not 1938.

Donovan's limousine that drops Indy and Marcus off at the airport is a 1936 Buick Special.

The airplane that takes Indy and Marcus to Europe is a Douglas C-47B Skytrain. The flight leaves from New York City, stops in St. John's (at the time the capital of the British dominion of Newfoundland, now the capital of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador), heads southeast to Sao Miguel of the Azores, then east to Lisbon, Portugal, and finally arriving in Venice.

The boat that brings passengers, including Indy and Marcus, to Venice proper is called a vaporetto, a Venetian waterbus. The one here is seen to be named VE1750.

Indy refers to his father as "Attila the Professor". He is comparing his father to Attila the Hun, a notorious 5th Century barbarian warlord and conqueror known for his brutality and for inspiring fear.

At 26:40 on the DVD, Elsa hands Indy a page that had fallen out of his father's diary before he disappeared. The page has Roman numerals on it. In the comic book adaptation, Indy finds this page within the diary while on the flight over to Venice. 

Indy quickly spots the III and VII numerals from his father's note and the stained-glass window repeated on two pillars in the library. In search of the third numeral, X, Indy sees the floor tiles and runs up a nearby staircase to see it from above as if to confirm there is an X in the tiles. But it should be quite obvious just standing on the floor itself! The film script reads, "The floor beneath their feet is an elaborate tile design containing a huge "X" -- visible only from this higher angle." Seems like the set designer could have incorporated the supposed hidden nature of the X much better! (Although, a minute later, at 29:54 on the DVD, the X is much less visible as Indy cracks the center floor tile open, perhaps suggesting that the X only really stands out from above and/or at a certain angle to the light.)

The X from above.

The X is less visible at this angle.

At 29:06 on the DVD, it's fairly obvious the bookcase behind Indy is a set piece and not a real bookcase!

Kazim knocks out Marcus with the butt of a Mauser C96 pistol. The other Brotherhood members are also later seen armed with the same model.

In the catacombs under the library, Indy and Elsa find many pictograms on the walls, including one that Indy identifies as the Ark of the Covenant. This, of course, refers to Indy's recovery of said Ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark.    When Indy spies the pictogram, the film score in the scene is from the Ark recovery scene in the aforementioned film.     The Ark of the Covenant is said in the Hebrew Bible to be a gold-plated wooden chest that holds the stone tablets on which are etched the Ten Commandments of God given to Moses at either Mt. Sinai or Mt. Horeb (depending on what passage of the Bible is describing it).

Indy remarks to Elsa that his father would never have made it past the rats in the catacombs, as he is scared to death of them. In the novelization, Indy expands on it, saying that his family had a rat in the basement once when he was six, and he was the one who had to go down and kill it, because his father wouldn't go.

At 34:06 and later on the DVD, embers can be seen falling from the makeshift torch Indy uses in the catacombs, landing in the petroleum-laced water. If a single match is later able to light the surface on fire, as happens a minute later, the embers should have done it first.

At 36:58 on the DVD, Indy and Elsa flee the agents of the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword down Calle di S.ta Lucia. This is Italian for "Santa Lucia Street". This is a fictitious thoroughfare as far as I can tell.

The wooden speed boats used in the Venice chase are Chris Craft barrel-back style boats.

The boat taken by Indy and Elsa for the chase has what appears to be an Austrian flag mounted at the back, three horizontal stripes of red, white, red.

At 37:52 on the DVD, the British Red Ensign, the flag of British merchant ships is on one ship, the John Mackay, in the Venetian harbor. This was a real world British cablelaying ship built in 1922. On another ship, the Tiber, is seen flying the flag of Italy as it looked from 1861-1946. The Tiber was actually the British Royal Navy vessel HMS Chrysanthemum, built in 1917 and scrapped in 1995. The name "Tiber" comes from a river in central Italy.

During the boat chase, Kazim fires a Haenel-Schmeisser MP28/II submachine gun at the fleeing Indy and Elsa.

The damage to the speed boat under the ship's propeller changes from shot-to-shot as Indy attempts to interrogate Kazim under the threat of the propeller's shredding.

As the rear of the boat is gradually destroyed by the ship's propeller, it never strikes the motor that should be there...the boat hull is seen to be just an empty shell!

At 40:04 on the DVD, the shot of Elsa driving the boat back to the docks while Indy interrogates Kazim, has been flipped, with the steering wheel now on the left side instead of the right.

Kazim tells Indy that his father is being held in Castle Brunwald on the German-Austrian border, later seen to be near Salzburg. This is a fictitious castle. The exterior of the castle seen in the film is Schloss Bürresheim in Mayen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

The characters in the film seem to refer to Austria as its own country still, further evidence that the events of the film take place in January-February, for Austria was annexed by Germany on March 13, 1938 and remained as such until the fall of Nazi Germany in WWII in 1945.

Marcus reads the name of the city of Alexandretta in the words of the shield etching and Indy remarks that the city was laid siege to by the Knights of the First Crusade and the entire city was destroyed, with the present city of Iskenderun built on its ruins. This seems to be a sort of twisted up version of Alexandretta's fate in the real world, but it was the city now known as Iskenderun (in Turkey) since 1268.

    The two-piece shield etching is taped into Indy's journal, as depicted in The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones, but the etchings seen in the movie are much larger than Indy's journal pages!

    Notice that the name of Alexandretta is seen in the etching in the second line from top. 

If Iskenderun is the unnamed city in the Grail diary, then the river mentioned east of the city must be the Orontes, and the mountain range the river leads south to, the Amanos Mountains.

The car Indy and Elsa drive to Salzburg is a 1936 Steyr 220. In the novelization, it is a rented Mercedes-Benz. In the comic book adaptation, it is Donovan's Mercedes.

Indy uses the alias Lord Clarence McDonald, a Scottish lord, to feign being an invited guest of Baron Brunwald at the castle. McDonald appears to be a fictitious lord. In the novelization and comic book adaptation, he uses the name Lord Clarence Chumley instead, also fictitious.

The butler at Castle Brunwald snorts at Indy's attempt to impersonate a Scottish lord, "If you are a Scottish lord, then I am Mickey Mouse!" Mickey Mouse, of course, is a cartoon character and official mascot of the Walt Disney Company. In the novelization, the butler uses "Jesse Owens" instead. Owens was an American black athlete who won four gold track and field medals in the Berlin Olympics of 1936, humiliating Hitler and his Nazi myth of Aryan supremacy.

Indy is seen holding his Webley "WG" Army Model revolver as he and Elsa search the castle.

At 46:25 on the DVD, notice that a portrait of Adolf Hitler is hanging on the wall in the Nazi map room of the castle. Hitler, of course, was the evil Chancellor of Germany from 1933-1945.

Indy's father, Henry, Sr., is at first heartbroken over having smashed a vase of the late 14th Century Ming Dynasty until the cross-section of the broken pieces shows that it was a fake. The Ming Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644.

The Nazis in the castle tend to be armed with MP 40 submachine guns. It is one of these that Indy snatches from the S.S. officer to kill the officer and his men when they enter the room where Indy's father was being held. The MP 40 was not rolled out until 1939. The S.S. (Schutzstaffel) was the major paramilitary organization of Nazi Germany.

When Henry, Sr. learns that Indy brought the Grail Diary with him, he berates his son that he sent the diary to him so it wouldn't fall into the Nazis' hands, and jibes, "I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers." The Marx Brothers was a popular comedy vaudeville and film act in the first half of the 20th Century.

Colonel Vogel holds Elsa hostage with a Luger P08 pistol.

Vogel refers to Elsa as Fraulein. This is German for "Miss".

Henry, Sr. remarks to Donovan, "I knew you’d sell your mother for an Etruscan vase. But I didn’t know you’d sell your country and your soul to the slime of humanity." The Etruscan civilization existed in the northwestern portion of what is now Italy from 900-27 BC.

The Iskenderun train station scenes were shot at Renfe de Guadix station in Guadix, Spain.

At the Iskenderun station at 54:50 on the DVD, a sign reading "KADIN - ERKEK" is seen. This is Turkish for "MAN - WOMAN", presumably proclaiming the location of restrooms. Another sign reads "CAYHANE"...Turkish for "TEAHOUSE".

When the tailgate of the Nazi truck is closed on the trapped Marcus, it is seen to have the emblem of the German Afrika Korps on it, a swastika under a palm tree. The Afrika Korps was not formed until 1941.

    Colonel Vogel tells Elsa that her presence has been requested at the highest level back in Berlin for a rally at the Institute of Aryan Culture. This is a fictitious institute, even for the time.

    In this scene, Elsa refers to Vogel as Oberst, a German term for Colonel, but one that was used in the Wehrmacht, the German unified armed forces, while Vogel is seen to actually be in the S.S., the secret police, and should be addressed as Standartenführer, the S.S. term for "Colonel". However, it could be argued, not entirely implausibly, that Vogel may have been a member of both.

Vogel tells Elsa to take the Grail Diary with her to Berlin and give it to the Reich Museum. This is a fictitious museum, even for the time in Berlin. 

When Indy tells his father they need to loosen the ropes tying them and escape to save Marcus from the Nazis, his father reminds him that he'd said that Marcus would have disappeared by now with a two-day head start. Indy retorts that he made all that up and that Marcus once got lost in his own museum. A reference to this incident of Marcus at the museum was also made in The Great Circle.

    What Indy refers to as his lucky charm turns out to be a Zippo cigarette lighter. Notice at 58:52 on the DVD that the lighter has an image of a four-leaf clover on it, a symbol of good luck. Zippo lighters are frequently seen in movies and television because they stay lit until you close the top over them, allowing fire-starting scenes such as the one seen here!

    The novelization reveals that the lighter is the one Indy had borrowed from Elsa down in the catacombs to light the way and he had forgotten to give it back to her. Indy also mentions this fact in The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones.

A German lieutenant hands Donovan a telegram, telling him, "Etwas Wichtiges, mein Herr." This is German for "Something important, sir." After Donovan reads it, a second man, a radio operator hands him another cable, telling him, "Aus Berlin, mein Herr." This is German for "From Berlin, sir."

After reading both cables, Donovan tells his driver, "Losfahren." This is German for "Drive off."

The German personnel in the radio room pull Walther P38 pistols on Indy and his father when they rotate in on the secret fireplace door. 

It's hard to tell in the lighting of the scene, but the iron bust Indy uses to block the rotation of the secret door at 1:01:55 on the DVD is a bust of Hitler. The screenshot to the left has been brightened to make the likeness more visible.

At 1:02:35 on the DVD, in the German motorpool garage, a sign reads "KEIN ZUTRIT SPERRGEBIET". This is German for "NO ACCESS RESTRICTED AREA".

Although not definitive, online research leans towards the motorcycle with sidecar stolen by Indy from the motorpool is a 1988 Dnepr MT-11, looking similar to BMW motorcycles of the 1930s era. Dnepr is a motorcycle manufacturer in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The motorcycles used by the German soldiers to chase Indy and his father are just 1979 Honda XL 500 S dirtbikes painted green and dressed up in olive drab bags to help hide their lines and make them look military.

At the crossroads Indy and Henry reach on the motorcycle, the sign points the way to Berlin and Venedig. Venedig is the German name for the city of Venice. A third city is also on the sign, just barely noticeable if you squint. It is Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the direction they just came from.

Henry tells Indy he found the clues telling how to safely pass through the lethal final challenges to reach the Grail in the Chronicles of St. Anselm. The Chronicles of St. Anselm appears to be a fictitious book/diary, but Anselm himself was an actual Benedictine monk and philosopher who became the Archbishop of Canterbury. He lived from 1033-1109. In The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones, Indy writes that Anselm's diary was discovered by his father in 1930.

Henry remarks that his wife understood his obsession with the Grail and laments that she kept her illness from him until all he could do was mourn her. Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide states she died of scarlet fever in 1912.

The music playing during the book burning scene is "The Königgrätz March", a German military march composed by Johann Gottfried Piefke in 1866 to commemorate the Prussian victory at the Battle of Königgrätz.

The two cars seen parked at the book burning in Berlin at 1:08:14 on the DVD are a Mercedes-Benz 170 VK and a 1934 Mercedes-Benz 290 Lang Cabriolet D.

At 1:08:19 on the DVD, the car with license plate SS 52702 is a 1949 Opel Kapitän, an anachronism. The stylized SS on the plate is the emblem of the Schutzstaffel.

The figure wearing glasses seen on the dais among other Nazi figures at 1:08:35 on the DVD is likely Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945), the commander of the SS.

At 1:08:42 on the DVD, one of the books seen in the book-burning pile is Das Kapital by Karl Marx (originally published in three volumes from 1867-1894), one of the foundation stones of the philosophy of communism.

At 1:09:46 on the DVD, Indy walks by a sign reading "KEIN ZUTRITT, Sperrgebiet, Nur fur Staboffiziere." This is German for "NO ENTRY, Restricted area, For staff officers only."

At 1:09:59 on the DVD, the parade marchers carry swastika standards reading "DEUTSCHLAND ERWACHE." This is German for "GERMANY AWAKEN." These were actual banners officially sanctioned by the Nazi Party at the time.

Pushed back by the crowd, Indy is bumped into the procession of Hitler, and the man himself, who assumes he wants an autograph and signs the Grail Diary. The signature is nothing like the real Hitler's stylized signature.

At 1:10:39 on the DVD, the sign atop the building reads "Berlin Flughafen", German for "Berlin Airport." The building seen here is actually the Treasure Island Administration Building on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.

A heading in a newspaper seen at 1:10:54 on the DVD reads "CRONACA DI ROMA". This is Italian for "News of Rome".

At 1:11:12 on the DVD, an advertisement for "DEUTSCHER SCHLEUDERFLUG D. EUROPA" is seen in the airport terminal. This is a reference to the German catapult ship Europa, which delivered mail to overseas locales via planes launched from the ship by catapult. The ship Europa operated from 1930-1945.

The baggage tow tractor seen at 1:11:23 on the DVD is a Northwestern make.

The airport truck that drives past the zeppelin at 1:11:45 on the DVD is an Opel Blitz.

The sign above the doorway Indy walks out of in the zeppelin carriage reads "Nur fur Besatzung
Funkstation." This is German for "Crew only, Radio room."

When Vogel discovers Henry behind the upraised newspaper at 1:12:40 on the DVD, he says, "Guten Tag, Herr Jones." Then Indy comes up behind the colonel and says, "Fahrscheine, mein Herr," VOGEL: "Weg," INDY: "Tickets please." VOGEL: "Was?" This all translates as VOGEL: "Good day, Mr. Jones," INDY: "Tickets, sir," VOGEL: "Go away," INDY: "Tickets please." VOGEL: "What?"

Travel labels seen on the baggage Vogel gets dumped into read "ELDER DEMPSTER" and "HOTEL SCHONEGG GRINDELWALD." Elder Dempster Lines was a UK shipping company from 1932-2000. The other is a hotel in the Swiss village of Grindelwald.

As the zeppelin takes off, Vogel rises from the heap of luggage on the ground and shakes his fist at the retreating vessel, shouting, "Du wirst nochmal horen von mir!" This is German for "You'll hear from me again!"

The exterior of the zeppelin changes somewhat from shot to shot as it flies.

Arguing about whether Henry was a good father or not  to Indy growing up, Henry remarks to him, "You left just when you were becoming interesting." There are two instances seen in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles that he could possibly be referring to as Indy "leaving". The first is when, while on Spring Break in the American Southwest during his junior year of high school in 1916, Indy decided not to return to Princeton with his father in order to catch a ship to England with his new friend Remy to enlist as a soldier in the Great War in "Spring Break Adventure", not returning home until May 1919 at the end of the war. Then, Indy left to attend college in Chicago against his father's wishes that same summer and the two became estranged for the 20 years since in "Winds of Change".

A sign mounted to a crossbeam in the bowels of the zeppelin reads "Laufsteg nicht verlassen". This is German for "Do not leave the catwalk".

The biplane with identification number D-EKVY Indy and his father steal from the launch harness of the zeppelin is a Stampe SV.4C, though Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide calls it a modified Buecher biplane.

When his father remarks to Indy, "I didn't know you could fly a plane," Indy responds, "Fly, yes. Land, no!" Indy received some brief flying, not landing, lessons in The White Witch in 1930.

The Nazi fighter planes that chase after Indy and Henry are Pilatus P-2-05 models. The novelization refers to them as Messerschmitt fighter bombers.

According to the Internet Movie Firearms Database, the gun mounted on the biplane is made to look like it's a Villar Perosa M1915, but is actually a prop built from Beretta Model 38/42 submachine guns.

Henry accidentally shoots up the tail his and Indy's own plane during the aerial battle and the tail is visibly damaged badly. But when the full shot of the plane is seen, the tail only has a hole in it.

When Henry exclaims "Those people are trying to kill us!" and "It’s a new experience for me," and Indy responds, "Happens to me all the time..!" at about 1:18:44 DVD, four to six tones of a beeping sound are heard just before/during Indy says his line. I don't know what it is. Almost sounds like a digital phone ring or something! Listen: beeping-tone.mp3

The car Indy and Henry steal from the poor man changing his tire is a 1954 Citroën 11 Light Cabriolet Traction.

Henry quotes Charlemagne as having said, "Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky." Charlemagne (747-814 CE) was a European king and Roman Emperor who united much of Europe and expanded the Roman Empire through numerous military campaigns. This quote is not one known to have been said by Charlemagne or anyone else, but has become widely attributed to Charlemagne on the web solely on the basis of Henry Jones, Sr. having said it in this movie!

After the plane chase sequence, the action of the movie moves to Iskenderun in the Republic of Hatay. Hatay is a Turkish province, but was an interim political entity called the Republic of Hatay, of the French Mandate of Syria from September 1938 to June 1939 before being handed back over to Turkey. This makes an argument for the events of the movie taking place in September 1938 rather than the January-February 1938 placement suggested for the PopApostle chronology. However, there are other arguments for the January-February placement, so there it stays!

The title card introducing the "Republic of Hatay" scene at 1:21:15 on the DVD depicts smoke emerging from a couple of chimneys in the distance. But when the words "Republic of Hatay" fade out, the smoke columns suddenly vanish!

The ruler of the Republic of Hatay is referred to as Sultan here, but such a monarchy never existed in the real world.

    The Sultan wants the Nazis' staff car in return for allowing them to retrieve the Grail from the Canyon of the Crescent Moon, and he refers to the vehicle as a Rolls-Royce Phantom II. But the car seen here is actually a 1935 Rolls-Royce Barker Saloon.

    In the novelization, the car is a Daimler-Benz (now Mercedes-Benz). 

Sallah drives Indy and Henry around Iskenderun in a beat up 1920 Ford Model T. When the car later gets blown up in the desert by the tank, Sallah laments that it was his brother-in-law's car. This probably refers to Omar, who also loaned Sallah a truck in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The tank used by the Nazis during the trek to the Canyon of the Crescent Moon is a movie-made vehicle, not based on a real world model, though with inspiration from old WWI British tanks.

The other vehicles in the German caravan through the desert are a 1928 Renault 6CV Torpédo, 1949 Citroën Type 23 truck, and a couple of Volkswagen Kübelwagens. The Kübelwagen was not in production until 1940.

The green flags with Arabic writing inside a red star seen on the vehicles of the German caravan is a fictitious flag, meant to represent the flag of the Sultan of Hatay. The Arabic writing in the star translates as "His Highness's Desert Forces."

Kazim attacks the German caravan with a Mauser Model 1916 rifle, while his fellow Brotherhood members use Mauser Puška vz. 24 rifles. The combined force of German and Hatay soldiers are armed with Mauser Karabiner 98k, Mauser Model 1943, Mauser M1895 Carbine, and British Martini-Henry rifles.

The Germans hurl Model 24 Stielhandgranate granades at the attacking Brotherhood. When the first grenade is thrown and explodes at 1:25:52 on the DVD, the Wilhelm scream is heard.

When Henry enters the tank to free Marcus, he greets Marcus with an old university toast. This is the same chant Henry exchanged with Richard Medlicot in "Safari Sleuth". The verbal portion of the greeting is "Genius of the Restoration aid our own resuscitation!" In the Indiana Jones universe, this toast is related to Oxford University, which all three men are said to have attended in their youth, but I've been unable to find that Oxford students used this toast in the real world.

When Henry is captured inside the tank, a German soldier holds him with a Walther P38 pistol. 

Vogel tells the tank gunner, "Den Kübelwagon sprengen!" This is German for "Blow up the Kübelwagon!"

At 1:30:04 on the DVD, the Kübelwagen that has been shot off the tank turret and sent flying can be seen to be just a hollow shell, not a running vehicle.

Indy grabs a Walther P38 pistol from one of the German soldiers he's fighting. With one shot, a bullet goes through two soldiers and into a third! Highly unlikely with a gun of that caliber. (In the novelization it's a Luger with the same effect, but same unlikelihood.)

At 1:32:47 on the DVD, as the German soldier in the tank watches Indy's fight with the others on top of the tank through the periscope, the soldier turns away and says, "Diese Amerikaner. Sie kämpfen wie Weiber." This is German for "These Americans. They fight like women."

After Henry uses the squirting ink from a pen to momentarily blind a German soldier long enough to knock him out, Marcus hysterically giggles, "The pen is mightier than the sword." (In the novelization and the comic book adaptation, it is Henry who says it.) This is a common proverb, first used in the 1839 play Cardinal Richelieu by English writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

When the tank first hits the ground after going over the cliff, the turret is torn off (with the little model figure of Vogel still clinging to it!). But when the tank is seen rolling over to a rest at the bottom of the canyon seconds later, the turret is still attached.

The Grail Temple is found in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon, both of which are fictitious. The temple exterior was shot at Al-Khazneh ("The Treasury" in Arabic) in the ancient rock-cut city of Petra in Jordan.

As Indy and his crew enter the temple, Sallah is seen carrying a Walther P38.

At 1:41:16 on the DVD, notice that the blades of the entrance tunnel not only cut off the head of the Hatay soldier, but also cut his upheld sword in half.

At the footpath of lettered tiles, Indy steps on the letter "J" for "Jehovah", but there should be no "J" on the 800-year old footpath because that letter was not created unitl the 16th Century.

Donovan remarks, "Hitler can have the world, but he can’t take it with him. I’m going to be drinking to my own health when he’s gone the way of the dodo." "Gone the way of the dodo" is an English colloquialism referring to the extinction of the dodo bird of the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean in the 17th Century due to human activity and the bird's lack of fear of humans. The phrase has become a way to refer to something from the past that will never return. It also refers to anyone or anything that is seemingly too stupid to avoid its own extinction.

When Indy reaches the other side of the "invisible" rock bridge, he tosses a hand scoop of dirt and gravel onto the end to mark the path. But wouldn't dust have already landed on the bridge and marked it over the thousand years since the Grail was hidden? Did the old knight sweep the bridge daily to maintain the illusion?

The knight, being about 800 years old, would not speak modern English, but probably Latin or Old French.

It seems likely that Elsa deliberately picked a false Grail in order to eliminate Donovan in contention for possession of the true cup, especially given the look on her face when he starts to drink from it! In fact at about 1:52:02 on the DVD, it looks like she may give a subtle shake of the head to Indy as Donovan carries the cup over to the well to fill it, perhaps indicating to him that she has knowingly given Donovan an incorrect cup.

As Donovan scoops water into the cup to drink, he comments, "It’s more beautiful than I’d ever imagined. This certainly is the cup of the King of Kings." Jesus Christ is referred to as the King of Kings several times in the Bible.

After Donovan's horrible death, Indy chooses a different cup to drink from, a simple clay cup, one he calls, "The cup of a carpenter." Jesus is said to have been a carpenter, like his father Joseph.

Indy has a few visible injuries on his face from the desert battle when he enters the Grail chamber. When he emerges from it, having drank from the Grail, his injuries are gone.

When the Hatay soldiers drop their guns and flee before the magic of the Grail, Sallah grabs up one of the dropped rifles and poinsts it at the Nazi soldiers, telling them to drop their weapons. But then, seconds later, Sallah is seen standing in the background without a weapon, hands held folded over his stomach.

As Indy and the others escape from the collapsing temple, a brief strain of music sounds very similar to the theme of Amazing Stories, a 1985-1987 anthology TV series that was produced by Steven Spielberg, with a theme by John Williams.

Henry reveals to Sallah that his son's chosen nickname of "Indiana" was based on the name of the family dog. Creator George Lucas has a dog named Indiana which was the inspiration for the name of Indiana Jones.

The movie ends with Indy and his father, along with Marcus and Sallah, riding their horses out of the Canyon of the Crescent Moon and into the sunset. A sort of afterword set during the exit ride out of the canyon is seen as a prelude to the The Spear of Destiny story in the first three pages of issue #1 of that comic book mini-series. It has Indy lamenting in his own thoughts that he just lost the Grail and Henry likewise lamenting that he should have stayed in the temple and become the Grail's guardian, but he was too weak and unworthy.

Notes from the movie novelization by Rob MacGregor (The page numbers come from the mass market paperback edition, 1st printing, June 1989) Chapters 4-end cover the 1938 events of the movie

Characters appearing or mentioned in this novel, not seen in the movie 

informant (mentioned only)

informant's wife (mentioned only)

Coronado's captain

Barnett college faculty

Italian stranger

castle servants

Leni Riefenstahl

Gestapo agent on zeppelin

German WWI flying ace

Didja Notice?

The book opens with quotes (about fathers and crusaders) from Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949) and Carl Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962). Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was an American writer and professor of literature who is famed for his theory of the monomyth, "the hero's journey" in mythologies around the world. Carl Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychoanalyst (whom Indy met as a child in "The Perils of Cupid").

Chapters One-Three take place in 1912 and are covered in "The Cross of Coronado".

Chapter Four: Atlantic Crossing

It is stated that Indy has pursued Panama Hat for years in an attempt to get the Cross of Coronado back.

Pages 29-33 relate how Indy got the lead on the whereabouts of the Cross of Coronado and how he got onto the cargo ship, none of which is seen the movie.

Indy remarks to his captor that the man hasn't changed his style a bit, nodding to the Panama hat. The man responds, "I seem to have seen your favorite attire somewhere myself." This, of course, refers to their earlier meeting in 1912 in "The Cross of Coronado". Young Indy was inspired by the fedora and leather jacket worn by Garth at the time.

Page 34 reveals that Panama Hat's finances have been hit hard by the Depression and he found a buyer willing to part with a substantial amount of cash for the cross, on the stipulation that the pesky Dr. Jones had to be disposed of before the transaction could be completed, hence the trap set for the archeologist by Panama Hat here. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn starting in 1929 and running through much of the 1930s that resulted in high unemployment and poverty rates, as well as many wealthy individuals losing their fortunes in the stock market crash.

Chapter Five: On Campus

Page 39 reveals that those who knew Indy well reported that he tended to understate his own adventures, perhaps because he felt he lived in the shadow of his father, a renowned medieval scholar. In fact, Indy does play down his recovery of the cross to Marcus on page 41, saying simply, "It just took a little friendly persuasion," and "a bit of diplomatic arm twisting." Brody muses to himself that he wanted to hear more, but was also worried he might hear something that wasn’t up to the standards of the museum.

Indy speaks some added lines in his class lecture here from that heard in the movie. After telling the class to forget about ideas of lost cities and exotic travel, etc. he adds, "The Lost Continent of Atlantis! Knights of the Round Table! Nothing more than charming, romantic nonsense." Ironically, Indy will be among the discoverers of the sunken city of Atlantis in The Fate of Atlantis video game and comic book mini-series. And Indy is about to engage in an expedition related to the Knights of the Round Table in this very movie, as the Grail quest is tied into the fabled Knights of the Round Table in medieval mythology.

In the movie, Indy mentions Dr. Tyree's philosophy class, while here in the novelization, it is Dr. Peterman's class.

On page 43, among his mailpieces are the latest issues of Esquire and Collier's. (Collier's was an American general interest weekly, and then bi-weekly, magazine published from 1888-1957.)

In the novelization, the car Donovan's men pick Indy up in is a Packard instead of the Ford V8 De Luxe seen in the movie. Packard was an American luxury automobile manufacturer from 1899-1958.

Chapter Six: The Crusader Tablet

On page 47, Donovan catches Indy admiring one his 2500 year old Greek pots with a painting of a peacock on it. They discuss the myth that the eyes of the peacock tail feathers were the hundred eyes of the giant called Argus, placed there by the goddess Hera to honor him after Hermes, the herald of the gods, killed him. This is an actual part of Ancient Greek mythology.

Indy refers to the museum Donovan has generously donated to as the Old World Museum. This appears to be a fictitious museum. In the movie, Indy just refers to it as "the museum", leaving the implication that he was referring to the National Museum that Marcus works for.

On page 49, Donovan mentions that Indy's father has occupied the chair of medieval literature at Princeton for nearly two decades.

On page 50, Indy remarks that the Grail tablet speaks of deserts and mountains and canyons, but he points out there are a lot those in the world, naming the Saharan, Arabian, and Kalahari deserts and the Urals, Alps, and Atlas mountains as examples. The Saharan desert spans North Africa, the Arabian the Arabian Peninsula, and the Kalahari a large swath of the southern tip of Africa. The Ural Mountains are located in Russia, the Alps run through several countries in central Europe, and the Atlas Mountains are in North Africa.

Chapter Seven: The Grail Diary

Here, Indy's car is said to be a Ford coupe, not a Pontiac as in the movie.

Page 54 has Indy reflecting that he and his father had moved to the house in Ferndale from Utah when he was 15. This occurred between the events of The Spectre of Venice (January 1915) and "Race to Danger" (February 1916).

On page 57, Indy muses on how his father had made him read Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival followed by Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal based on the book when he was kid. Wolfram von Eschenbach (c. 1160 - c. 1220) was a German knight, composer, and poet. Parzival is his epic chivalric romance about the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail. Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a German composer known for his operas; he wrote Parsifal in 1882, based on Parzival and the French chivalric romance Perceval ou le Conte du Graal (Perceval, the Story of the Grail) by the 12th-century troubadour Chrétien de Troyes.

    Indy further recalls that his father had promised a reward once he had satisfactorily completed the Wagner work, and he had hoped it would be "a trip to Egypt to see the pyramids, or maybe to Athens to see the Parthenon, or Mexico to the Yucatan to see the Mayan ruins. At the very
least he figured he deserved a trip to the museum in the state capitol to see the mummies." The Parthenon is an ancient temple to the Greek goddess Athena. The modern day Mexican state of Yucatan is the primary location of the ancient Mayan civilization. The state capitol (of New York) mentioned here would be Albany, whose Albany Institute of History and Art is noted for its permanent exhibit on the mummies of Ancient Egypt.

    As it turned out, his "reward" had been to read Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, first in French, then English. After that was Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. These are both classic works on the grail and Arthurian mythologies from the 15th and 19th centuries, respectively.

On page 59, Indy reads pages from his father's diary, including the passage, "There are six degrees or levels of awareness in the Grail quest, and each one is represented by an animal," with the animal representations listed to be raven, peacock, swan, pelican, lion, and eagle. This passage and list does not appear in the Grail Diary prop replica.

On pages 60-61, Indy reminisces on the vision quest he once took that showed him the eagle was his spirit guardian. This vision quest has been mentioned in past adventures, notably The Peril at Delphi, Dance of the Giants, and The Seven Veils.

Chapter Eight: Roman Numerals

On page 65, Indy and Brody witness some Fascist militiamen beat a civilian suspect they have captured. This scene is also depicted (in one panel only) in the comic book adaptation. The National Fascist Party of Italy was in power under its leader Benito Mussolini from 1922 to 1943.

In the movie, Indy steals a white carnation to give to Elsa. Here in the novel, it is a red one.

On page 68, Elsa tells Indy and Marcus she is looking into the Medieval Chronicles of Jean Froissart. Froissart (c. 1337-1405) was a writer of history, Arthurian romance, and poetry.

Elsa tells Indy and Marcus that the library used to be a chapel of the Franciscan monastery. The Franciscans are a Catholic religious order founded by St. Francis of Assisi in the 13th century. Elsa also remarks on this, and on the point below, in the comic book adaptation.

On page 69, Elsa points out the marble columns in the library, saying they were brought back as spoils of war after the sacking of Byzantium during the Crusades. Byzantium was a Grecian city founded in the 7th Century BC and is now a part of Turkey known as Istanbul. The Crusades were a series of religious wars, mostly between Christians and Muslims over the right to control the Holy Land, but also against heretics, from 1095-1492.

In the novelization, Indy simply pries the floor tile hiding the entrance to the underground tunnels up with his knife. In the movie, he pounds and breaks the tile with a brass cordon stand.

Chapter Nine: The Crusader's Tomb

When Elsa sees a menorah pictogram in the catacombs on page 74, she remarks that during the tenth century, a large Jewish ghetto formed in Venice. A menorah is a seven-branched candelabra used in Jewish synagogues. But, as far as I can find, there was no Jewish ghetto in Venice during the tenth century. Though Jews were present in Venice in the 10th century, they were not confined to a specific area until the establishment of the Venetian Ghetto in 1516.

On page 75, Indy muses on having been trapped in a den of snakes while searching for the Ark of the Covenant (in Raiders of the Lost Ark), and he still has nightmares about it.

On page 76, Indy muses that maybe someday he'd write an adventure tale book about his more interesting encounters in the field.

On page 79, Elsa tells Indy that she was on the Austrian swim team in the 1932 Summer Olympics and she won the silver medal in the fifty-meter freestyle. In the real world, there was no 50-meter freestyle event for women at the 1932 Olympics, held in Los Angeles.

In the movie, Indy is able to push up a storm drain cover himself for he and Elsa to escape the catacombs onto the Piazza San Marco. Here in the novel, he is unable to push the cover off without the help of an Italian stranger who notices them on the surface.

Chapter Ten: Lethal Agents

The novelization reveals that the boat chase takes place on the Grand Canal. This is the largest of the water-traffic corridors in Venice.

On page 87, Kazim tells Indy that his forebears had been princes of the Christian empire of Byzantium, stretching from Morocco to the Caspian Sea. The Byzantine Empire was another name for the Eastern Roman Empire, which existed from the 6th-15th centuries AD.

Chapter Eleven: Donovan's Place

Page 89 describes Donovan's "apartment" in Venice as decorated with some of the finest paintings of 16th Century Venetian artists such as Veronese, Tintoretto, and Titian. This refers to the painters Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti, 1518-1594), and Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, c. 1477-1576).

On page 90, Indy pulls an original edition of The Commonwealth of Oceana by James Harrington from 1656 off the shelf of the library in Donovan's apartment. This is a real world book of political philosophy by the 17th century English essayist.

On page 92, Marcus tells Indy he wants to visit the Galleria dell’Accademia while they're in Venice to see such magnificent paintings as Giorgione’s Tempest, Carpaccio’s Saint Ursula Legend, and Titian’s Presentation of the Virgin. These are all actual paintings housed at the Galleria dell’Accademia di Venezia.

Pages 93-94 feature scenes not in the movie, with Indy and Marcus visiting the aforementioned Galleria dell’Accademia, with Indy wishing he could have stayed at the apartment for a romantic dinner with Elsa.

On page 93, Indy and Marcus cross the Ponte dell’Accademia over the Grand Canal, from the peak of which they can see the Basilica di San Marco and Palazzo Balbi. This is an actual wooden bridge in Venice from which these two landmarks are visible.

Indy reflects that Sallah is an old friend of both he and Marcus on page 93. Marcus likely first met Sallah on the same trip to Egypt Indy did in 1912 in Tomb of Terror.

The novel describes a couple of times a tingling sensation Indy often gets on the back of his neck when he is near one of his goals in an adventure. He has learned to trust this tingling as an instinct.

Chapter Twelve: The Brunwald Castle

On page 101, the butler of Brunwald Castle is said to have answered the door with a voice that would have chilled Jell-O. The Jell-O brand of gelatin dessert has been made since 1897.

On page 103, Indy muses on Hitler's seeming obsession with obtaining ancient mystical objects, including such items as the Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and the spear that had pierced the side of Christ. Indy knows firsthand about Hitler's interest in the Ark from the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The spear (often called the Spear of Destiny or the Spear of Longinus), will become a mutual interest of Indy's in 1945, as portrayed in Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny comic book mini-series.

Page 104 reveals that Indy is reasonably adept at using lock-picking tools.

Chapter Thirteen: Betrayed

On page 115, Indy begins to wonder if Donovan had been involved with the Cross of Coronado chase and whether he could be the man whom Panama Hat had said wanted Indy dead.

Chapter Fourteen: Burning Desires

On page 126, the sign at the road intersection where Indy and his father pause on the motorcycle points in the directions of Berlin and Budapest (this is also the case in the comic book adaptation). In the movie, the sign points to Berlin and Venedig (Venice).

On page 127, Henry remarks that in Eschenbach's Parzival, the Grail was a talisman of healing in Parzival's hands, but in Klingsor's hands was a tool for black magic. Klingsor is a powerful sorceror in the epic, a former knight who was rejected by the Grail Brotherhood and who seeks revenge against the Grail knights.

Chapter Fifteen: Berlin Fireworks

In the movie, the stolen Nazi uniform Indy wears seems to fit him perfectly. Here in the novel, it is said the uniform was several sizes too big.

On page 130, a woman is directing the filming of the rally and the High Command officers, including Hitler. The woman is not named, but is most likely meant to be Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003), a German film director, writer, editor, and actress. She became known during the Third Reich for her Nazi propaganda films.

In the movie, Indy finds the Grail Diary in an inner pocket of the trenchcoat worn by Elsa. Here in the novel, she has it hidden, strapped to her leg.

On page 134, Indy and his father see that all ticket buyers at the airport are being questioned by Gestapo agents. The Gestapo was the Nazi secret police.

Finding the first class terminal, Indy sees a commemorative plaque on the wall for the Hindenburg's world record flight of August 9-11, 1936, from Lakehurst, New Jersey to Friedrickshafen, Germany in 42 hours and 53 minutes. This is an actual record held by the Hindenburg zeppelin. The Hindenburg later exploded and burned in 1937 during a landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, killing 36 passengers. Because of this disaster, rigid airships were no longer used for passenger service, so the presence of the passenger zeppelin Indy and Henry book flight on here is anachronous.

On page 135, the plaque above is marked as sponsored by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the world governing body for air sports.

In the movie, Indy purchases the flight tickets. Here in the novel, it is his father who does so.

Chapter Sixteen: Aerobatics

On page 137, Indy reflects that he feels like a cat with nine lives, but wonders if he has any left. Superstition about cats says that they have nine lives.

As in the movie, Indy knocks out a steward on the zeppelin and takes his uniform. Here, it is stated that the uniform fit him perfectly for a change. But in the movie, the uniform is clearly too small and tight.

In the novel, Henry reads a magazine aboard the zeppelin, rather than a newspaper as in the movie.

Page 139 reveals that Indy gagged and tied the hapless steward and stashed him in a supply closet on the zeppelin. He does the same with a remaining Gestapo agent on board.

Indy is also depicted yanking out the radio wires of the zeppelin on page 139.

Indy eavesdrops on the exaggerated stories of a German WWI flying ace in the zeppelin lounge. World War I (referred to as the Great War at this time, pre-WWII) was a war from 1914–1918 between two global coalitions: the Allies, or Entente, led by the United Kingdom and France (and later with the United States) and the Central Powers, led by Germany.

On page 140, Indy thinks of Hitler as quite possibly the most heinous human being to walk the face of the earth since Genghis Khan. "Genghis Khan" (Great Emperor) was the title given to Temujin, the ruthless son of a 12th Century leader of the Mongols, who went on to found the Mongol Empire by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of the region and building a powerful army from them.

Indy asks his father what it was that Elsa said in her sleep that made him realize she was with the Nazis. The answer is, "Mein Führer," a reference, of course, to Hitler. (In the Grail Diary prop, Elsa's words are said to be "Ja, Herr Vogel. Ich kümmere mich darum. Herr Jones wird den Gral
für uns finden." ("Yes, Mr. Vogel. I'll take care of it. Mr. Jones will find the Grail for us.")

On page 141, "Deutschland" is the German name for their country.

On page 143, "Nein! Nein!" is German for "No! No!"

In the movie, Indy and Henry's biplane crash lands on a small farm. In the novel, they crash land onto a paved road and skid through the parking lot of a roadside tavern.

Chapter Seventeen: Converging Forces

Page 151 reveals that Marcus had boarded the wrong train in Venice and ended up in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) making him a day late arriving in Iskenderun.

Sallah comes from Cairo to meet up with Marcus in Iskenderun.

The newspaper Sallah carries during the confrontation with the Nazi agents is the Egyptian Mail. This was an actual daily English language newspaper in Egypt at the time.

Chapter Eighteen: Confrontations

No notes.

Chapter Nineteen: One Against Many

No notes.

Chapter Twenty: Grail Trail

On page 182, Henry compares himself and the his companions to the heroes of the Grail legend. Marcus as Percival, the holy innocent. Sallah as Bors, the ordinary man. Indy as Galahad, the valiant knight. And Henry himself as the old crusader, Lancelot, who was turned away because he was unworthy. These are all characters known from Arthurian legend.

On page 186, a German soldier commands Indy and his companions from their hiding place, "Raus! Raus!" This is German for "Out! Out!"

Chapter Twenty-One: The Three Challenges

As Indy begins the three challenges to retrieve the Grail cup to save his father, he reflects that,  rationally, he knew no ancient cup could heal a bullet wound, but that didn’t matter. He had had enough strange experiences in his life to know that things that weren’t supposed to happen sometimes did.

Page 196 has Indy recalling an experience with his father when he was 10 years old when his father had given him a bow and arrow set and made him believe in himself, believe he could accomplish something he didn't think possible.

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Third Knight

On page 201, Indy quizzes the Grail Knight on when the First Crusade was. The Knight answers, "In the year of Our Lord 1095 at the Council of Clermont. Proclaimed by Pope Urban II." This is all correct.

On page 205, after having drank from the cup, Indy sees the cup in his hands growing and transforming into an eagle, his personal animal totem (as mentioned earlier in the study.)

After determining he has the right cup, Indy rushes with the water-filled cup through the cave tunnel to give a drink to his father. On the now pebble-strewn "invisible" bridge, he slips in the gravel and falls on his butt, still managing not to spill more a few drops of water. This scene does occur in the movie.

Chapter Twenty-Three: End of the Quest

On page 208, Sallah grabs up one of the discarded rifles of the fleeing Hatay soldiers and tells the two remaining German soldiers, "Die gewehr herunter." This is German for "The gun down," (it seems Sallah's German is not perfect!).

The novel contains an extra scene near the end that is not in the movie. One of the remaining Nazis tries to shoot Indy, but Elsa kicks the gun from his hand. This shows Indy that Elsa does still have feelings for him and may not be sympathetic to the Nazi cause.

When the Grail Knight emerges from the tunnel, Henry know it must be the third who stayed behind to guard the cup. But Henry is confused as to why the knight appears so old instead of eternally young. The knight explains, "Many times my spirit faltered, and I could not bear to drink from the cup, so I aged, a year for every day I did not drink."

At this point, the knight still thinks that Indy is a fellow knight errant come to replace him as the guardian. When Henry points out that Indy is simply his errant son who has led an impure life, the knight then approaches each of the men in turn, Henry, Marcus, and Sallah, asking each if they are his replacement.

Here in the novel, it is Sallah who grabs Indy (by the ankles) as Indy starts to fall into the crevice, but it is still Indy's father whose words convince Indy to give up the Grail and allow himself to be hauled up. In the movie, it is Henry who does both.

The novel says that this is the first time Indy's father has called him "Indiana". But, Henry does use "Indiana" a few times in some of the Young Indy adventures.

Henry gestured to Indy. “After you, Junior.”
“Yes, sir,” Indy said with a smile. It didn’t matter any more what his father
called him. The quest had been fulfilled. 

Notes from the comic book adaptation Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #1 Marvel Comics Writer: David Michelinie Artists: John Buscema and Klaus Janson Letterer: Bill Oakley Colorist: Gregory Wright October 1989

Didja Notice?

The adaptation refers to Barnett (though not by name) as an Ivy League college (erroneously in Connecticut instead of New York). The Ivy League is a system of private universities in the northeastern United States, generally considered to be elite and selective in admissions.

Notes from the comic book adaptation Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #2 Marvel Comics Writer: David Michelinie Artist: Bret Blevins Letterer: Bill Oakley Colorist: Gregory Wright October 1989

Here, Indy's father's Grail diary has a an image of the symbol of the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword on it's cover. This is not seen on the diary in the movie.

The painting of the knight crossing the invisible bridge as seen here, doesn't quite make sense with the version of the painting seen in the movie.

Notes from the comic book adaptation Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #3 Marvel Comics Writer: David Michelinie Artist: Bret Blevins Letterer: Bill Oakley Colorist: Gregory Wright November 1989

When Sallah picks up Marcus in Iskenderun and the Nazi agents ask for Sallah's papers, Sallah hands them his newspaper, which he says is the Cairo Express. This is a fictitious newspaper.

As in the novelization, here Indy knocks out an additional Gestapo agent aboard the zepplin and hides him in a closet, referring to the unconscious burden as "Sleeping Ugly." This is a joking reference to the 1697 fairy tale Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault, in which an evil fairy places a foreboding enchantment on a young princess that causes her to fall asleep until awakened after a hundred years by the son of a king. 

Notes from the comic book adaptation Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #4 Marvel Comics Writer: David Michelinie Artist: Bret Blevins Letterer: Bill Oakley Colorist: Gregory Wright December 1989

Characters appearing or mentioned in this comic, not seen in the movie 

Massad (corpse only)

When Indy and Henry steal the car from the local farmer, Indy apologizes, saying, "Sorry, Fritz! We need this more than you do!" "Fritz" was a common derogative nickname given to German troops in the WWI through WWII years.

When Indy faces the invisible bridge and makes the leap, he thinks, At least it's not snakes..!

Notes from Dr. Henry Jones, Sr.'s Grail Diary prop replica

Diary written by Mark Falstein 

Characters mentioned in the Grail Diary, not seen in the movie 

Professor Zeiler

Roland de Haie

Mme. De Haie

Codirolli (dies in the course of the diary entries)

Dr. Wolfgang S. Staubig

Professor Charles B. Hawken

Carruthers

young woman passenger on steamer George S. Pilkington

Brother Matthius

Hildegard of Bingen (historical figure)

Lady Eleanora Ferrers-Lansdowne

Sir A______ D______ (mentioned only)

Sir Richard Burton (historical figure, mentioned only, deceased)

Lady Burton (mentioned only)

Dr. Robert Hawes (mentioned only)

Professor O’Lochlainn (mentioned only)

Rene Belloq (mentioned only, deceased in 1936)

al-Musafir

Prince Kasim

Mayor of San Juan de la Peña

Archbishop Salvador Barrera

Dr. Parish

Didja Know?

Several years ago, PopApostle purchased prop replicas of the Grail cup and Dr. Jones' Grail Diary from a website found via a Facebook advertising link we can no longer find. I believe the props were made in China, but I'm not sure. They copy as close as they can the props as seen in the movie, but the end result is far from perfect. The printing inside the diary is somewhat fuzzy and the cover and pages have not been aged to look authentically old and used.

The "package" has three 50-cent Italian stamps on it (printed onto the paper, not actual stamps), featuring King Victor Emmanuel that were issued in 1929. Victor Emmanuel III was king of Italy from 1900-1946. The wrapping does not match what is seen in the The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones. The Indy Journal photo doesn't even depict any postage on the package!
Diary package (prop replica)	Diary package (Indy's journal photo)

The "leather-bound" diary is bound in vinyl on this prop and is a lighter brown color, with no obvious wear and tear as the screen-used prop has. The black elastic ribbon holding the diary closed is thicker than the one seen in the film.

There are some reproductions of real world maps originally printed in the early 20th Century included with the diary, notably a map of Venice, Italy and a map of Asia.

Some of the paper articles folded up along with the diary relate to events before and after those of The Last Crusade (such as an F.B.I. report about the Crystal Skull of Akator from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). PopApostle has/will cover these in previous/later studies.

The top half of the front page of the June 5th, 1938 issue of Völkischer Beobachter is included here. Völkischer Beobachter (People's Observer) was the official newspaper of the Nazi Party in Germany from 1920-1945. The issue seen here is fictitious, as the headline is about our favorite Jones boys. The text is similar to the German "wanted" paper for Indiana Jones taped into Indy's own journal as seen in The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones.

Dr. Jones, Sr.'s notes about a Welsh verse fragment by Taliesin is written on paper from a tavern guest log. These notes can also be found in the minimalist Grail Diary pages version presented as part of the package of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure computer game in 1989. Taliesin was a Brittonic poet of the 6th Century AD.

    It seems that Henry may be a fan of Princeton football, as a page from what seems to be a Princeton newspaper sports page is found, seemingly from 1939, mostly about the school's football team. One article on the page remarks that Princeton has played football since 1840 (officially, American football was not a game until 1869). The Princeton team is the Tigers. Players referred to as "Sons of Old Nassau" refers to the school song, "Old Nassau". "Old Nassau" itself refers to Nassau Hall, the oldest building on campus, named for English king William III of the House of Orange-Nassau.

    Games against Rutgers, Yale and Dartmouth are mentioned.

    At least part of this page seems to derive from the September 16, 1938 issue of the Princeton Daily Princetonian in Princeton, New Jersey.

A blank telegraph form for Eastern Telegraph Company is part of the included paper objects. Eastern Telegraph was a real world British telegraph company founded in 1872. It is currently a dormant subsidiary of Cable & Wireless Communications.

An advertising flyer for the White Star Line is included. This was a real world British shipping line offering cargo and passenger services from 1845-1934. The infamous Titanic, on which Indy was aboard for its fateful April 1912 voyage (see The Titanic Adventure), was owned and operated by this line.

    The actual "written" pages of the diary are not in the correct order as fans have seen them as pages are flipped through during the movie. The entries in it are based on the original prop for the movie, plus additional entries written for the minimalist diary that came with the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure game from LucasArts.

   There are a number of references to musical notes which would be needed to open the tomb of the Grail knight to the shield text giving clues to the whereabouts of the Grail. Nothing about this is seen in the movie at all. The musical notes are from the pages of the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure diary and are a piece added to the gameplay.

    On what is seemingly meant to be the first page of the diary, headed "New Haven, Connecticut April 3, 1898", Henry recalls a Grail vision he has had while reading Parsival in preparation for Professor Zeiler’s vernacular lit. seminar. This is the first mention of Professor Zeiler.

    This vision of Henry's is apparently what sends him on his obsession with researching and finding the lost Grail. 

    The next entry would seem to be "Western Massachusetts August 24, 1900". In this entry, Dr. Jones describes his conference paper on the Holy Grail being received with skepticism and ridicule at the Association of American Medievalists. The Association of American Medievalists is fictitious.

    Henry goes on to write that his colleagues would prefer him to study the effects of the Black Death on the development of cities. The Black Death was an epidemic that swept Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 14th Century, killing about 50 million people.

    However, he finds himself "heartened by the knowledge that Schliemann was likewise mocked when he set out to find the ruins of Troy. Toujours l’audace!" Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) was a German amateur archeologist who excavated the ground of what is now believed to be the site of the ancient city of Troy. "Toujours l’audace!" is French for "Always bold!"

An early entry in the diary is "Here is the Book of thy descent. Here begins the Book of the Sangreal. Here begin the terrors. Here begin the miracles." This is from the prologue of Perlesvaus, a 13th Century French Arthurian romance of unknown (though much conjectured) authorship that purports to be a continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished Perceval.

Henry writes a bit about Prester John. He is a mythical king ruling a Christian nation in the Orient among the pagan and Muslim countries. In Eschenbach's Parzival, he is the son of Feirefiz, a Saracen knight, and Reponse de Schoye, the Grail maiden, and is the half-brother of Parzival and one of the final guardians of the Grail. The lines in the Grail Diary about Prester John are taken from the 1981 book Grail: Quest for the Eternal by John Matthews.

Henry writes it was Bishop Hugh of Jabala who first brought news of Prester John to Rome in 1145, with an account of a successful campaign made by him against the Muslims. Jabala is a Mediterranean coastal city in Syria, and Hugh was a bishop there in the time of Prester John.

"There is evidence also," Henry writes, "in the form of an anonymous account written some time after the letter, that suggests a connection between Prester John and the Apostle Thomas, who is supposed to have travelled to India as a missionary not long after the crucifixion, and there founded the Nestorian Church, a breakaway sect of early Christians who established colonies first in Syria and then later in India and China." There are connections among these conflicting beliefs, argued over for centuries by religious scholars and historians.

Henry writes that, by some accounts, the Grail is the philosopher’s stone of the alchemists. The Philosopher's Stone is a mythical alchemical substance capable of transforming base elements into gold and use an elixir of life (rejuvenation or immortality). Indy has had a few past brushes with objects purported to be the Philosopher's Stone in The Philosopher's Stone and The Cursed Grimoire...and would have a later encounter in The Iron Phoenix.

Henry writes that Arnold of Villanova also referred to the stone. Arnaldus de Villa Nova (c. 1240-1311) was a French physician and religious reformer known for many translations of medical texts and his own writings on various topics, including the Philosopher's Stone.

Henry writes that in Parzival, the Philosopher's Stone is a an emerald that fell from the crown of Lucifer during the war with God.

A drawing of the Takt-i-Taqdis (Throne of Arches, now known as Takt-i-Suleiman) is the location of a 7th Century Persian temple in what is now Iran. Henry writes that it was built by the Sasanian king Chosroes II, allegedly to hold the True Cross, and if it held that, if may have once held the Grail as well. Chosroes II was the last great Sasanian king in the 7th Century.

In the New Haven, Connecticut February 28, 1900 entry, Henry writes of the Fisher King, who was wounded around his genitals and lost his life force. The Fisher King is a character in Arthurian legend, the last in a line of British kings who guarded the Holy Grail.

In the Chicago, Illinois, March 14, 1901 entry, Henry has spent some time doing research in the University of Chicago library and writes of Livre du Cueur d’Amours Espris (The Book of the Love-Smitten Heart). This is an actual book by René of Anjou, published in 1457. It is a novel melding Arthurian romance tropes with a love allegory about a knight on a quest to rescue his beloved lady from the castle of Desire.

Ecclesia and Synagoga described in a Christian mandala reproduced in the diary were personifications of Church (Christianity) and Synogogue (Judaism).

Henry relates the story of Lycurgus accidentally killing his son Dryas. Lycurgus was a Thracian king known for his hostility towards the god Dionysus in Greek mythology.

Henry tells of the sacred drink of Eleusis from the Kernos. The sacred drink associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries, a prominent ancient Greek religious rite, was known as kykeon, and is believed to have had hallucinogenic effects, and was given to initiates into the mysteries. The cups of the concoction would have been presented on a kernos, a tray used for holding offerings.

Henry tells the story of Pryderi found in the Mabinogion. The Mabinogion is a collection of early Welsh prose stories compiled in the 12th-13th Centuries. Four of the stories feature Pryderi, a prince and king in Welsh mythology.

Henry remarks that he made drawings of the medieval engraving of the Great Shrine that used to house the Crown of Thorns at the Sainte Chapelle in Paris and the Chapelle itself, since the arches of the Takt somehow reminded him of them. The Sainte Chapelle cathedral was the home of the reputed Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus Christ until it was moved to the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris in 1801.

In the Las Mesas, Colorado, October 29, 1905 entry, Henry writes the he believes one of the maps he and al-Jawf saw in the possession of the merchant was of the center of Prester John's homeland, through which runs the Physon (Pishon) River. This is one of the rivers that is said to flow from the Garden of Eden in the Biblical Book of Genesis. Las Mesas appears to be a fictitious area of Colorado.

    The next entry found in the diary is headed "Las Mesas, Colorado, November 14, 1905." In this entry, he states that Marcus has written to him that the abbey of Cantanez on the coast of Brittany is in possession of some old Irish manuscripts, one of which is said to refer to the Grail and as a genuine object, not a legend. Brittany is a region in northwest France. Cantanez and its abbey appear to be fictitious.

    This entry also has the Jones family living in the Utah or Four Corners region at the time, though The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles has them living in Princeton.

Henry remarks that little Indy is able to swear resoundingly in Navaho.

Henry stays at the Auberge d’Ecume in Cantanez on July 8, 1906. Auberge d’Ecume is French for Seafoam Inn.

    Henry relates finding a verse fragment written by a survivor of the Vikings sack of the
monastery of Iona. The monastery referred to is probably the Iona Abbey on the Scottish island of Iona, sacked by Vikings in 795, 802, 806, and 825 AD.

    The verse mentions Galhaut the Pure "In the days of Arthur, when fair Logres fell." Henry here writes that Galhaut is Sir Galahad himself, but that is not the traditional view. Galhaut was a half-giant knight and prince in Arthurian legend, while Galahad was the son of Lancelot. Logres is one of the names for King Arthur's realm.

The next entry is Gasthof Trubselig, Klasenheim, Austria–Hungary, July 16, 1906. Gasthof Trubselig is German for Misery Inn. Klasenheim appears to be a fictitious village in Austria-Hungary.

Henry refers to a drawing of the crucified Christ "whose wounds are located on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The Tree is made up of ten Sefirot, or Divine Attributes, which together form a system of universal attribution." The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a diagram used in Jewish kabbalah tradition to symbolize different archetypes of life. Each archetype is a sefirot (sphere) on the tree diagram and the ten sefirots represent:
Keter (crown) Hokhmah (wisdom) Binah (intelligence) Hesed (mercy) Gevurah (judgment) Tiferet (beauty) Netsah (lasting endurance) Hod (majesty) Yesod (foundation of the world) Malkuth (kingdom)
Tree of Life, colourized according to colour attributions to the Sephiroth and the path segments, by Joël Larose from Wikipedia. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Canada license.

    Henry has taped in a letter from Muhammad Ali al-Jawf, Museum of Islam, Baghdad, Iraq from November 14, 1909. The Museum of Islam is a fictitious one in Baghdad. While in Qom, Iran, the friend of Henry's examined a Persian manuscript of Nur ed-Din al-Musafir which had a verse describing the Holy Grail. Nur ed-Din al-Musafir appears to be a fictitious figure.

    The verse tells of Nur ed-Din al-Musafir visiting Cordoba and meeting a man while there who claimed to have once seen the Grail cup, saying it was a pewter bowl engraved with grape leaves and Jewish writing. Presumably, Cordoba refers to Cordoba, Spain.

The Grail diary includes a telegram sent to Indy's father from an individual named Codirolli in Rome on 2/21/1912 relating that this person has obtained the journal of 13th Century merchant Paolo of Genoa in which the merchant describes being told by a tribesman in Turkey about a large ceramic drinking cup that glowed like moonlight, guarded by a Christian knight and lethal protective devices, conjecturing the cup is the Holy Grail. Codirolli tells Dr. Jones he will bring the journal for his examination during his (Codirolli's) trip to America in the spring when he sails on the new British liner Titanic. The famously "unsinkable" RMS Titanic sank on her maiden voyage in April 1912 after hitting an iceberg. Apparently, young Indy and Codirolli never knew they were on the ship together (see the Young Indy exploit The Titanic Adventure) until the man's meeting with Henry, Sr. in Utah later in the year, if then! Paolo of Genoa appears to be a fictitious character, as was Codirolli.

    On February 22, 1912, Henry remarks on the recent death of his wife. Here, she is called "Mary", but The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles has it as "Anna". Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide, as well as The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones, compromises to make her name Anna Mary Jones.

    Also, Henry is writing about her death on this February 1912 date, but Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide has her date of death as May 16th of that year.

Paolo found the manuscript in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul).

Henry writes that Paolo survived the sinking of the Titanic and the loss of the Paolo manuscript to Mr. Davy Jones. This is a reference to the nautical euphemism "Davy Jones' locker" which stands for the drowning death of sailors in the sea. He makes no mention of Indy and Miss Seymour having also survived the Titanic disaster! (Of course, this is only amusing when taking in retroactive continuity...the events of Young Indy's trip in The Titanic Adventure were not written until 1993, four years after this movie was released.)

Henry writes that Codirolli's parchment was found in an old tin box in the basilica of St. Sophia. This is the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul.

Henry describes Codirolli thus: "Codirolli is an elegant old gentleman, and he seems to have led quite an adventurous life, assuming that the stories he told on that vigorous evening last week were more than just the wild exaggerations of a Baron Munchausen." Baron Munchausen is a fictional character known for his wildly exaggerated and fantastical tales of adventure, loosely based on the real-life German nobleman Hieronymus Karl Friedrich Freiherr von Münchhausen, popularized in the 1785 book "Baron Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvelous Travels and Campaigns in Russia" by Rudolf Erich Raspe.

Henry's February 10, 1914 entry is made from Patras, Greece after a visit to London.

Henry tells of his young son's Cross of Coronado incident, taking place on May 22, but PopApostle adheres with the August date found in The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones (as the Grail Diary prop replica has a number of inconsistencies with the official Indiana Jones timeline.)

Henry refers to his friend Marcus Brody as "Young Brody" several times in the diary, though Marcus is only six years younger according to Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide. I suppose when they were attending university together as young men at Oxford, six years does make a lot of difference.

While in Constantinople on June 30, 1914, Henry writes of the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo, going on to say that he fears Europe is no longer safe. The archduke was assassinated on June 28 of that year and is considered the triggering event of WWI. Young Indy had met the archduke in 1908 in "The Perils of Cupid" after he fell in love with the archduke's daughter, Sophie.

The next entry is from Nanking, China on October 18, 1914. In it, Henry remarks he allowed "Junior" to accompany him to China, "...What a wrong decision. It is really impossible to go anywhere with him without getting in some sort of trouble."

In Delhi, India on December 16, 1914, Henry writes of Prince Kasim allowing him the use of his library for research. Henry seems to think India is the homeland of Prester John, but scholars have various opposing views on whether his homeland was in India, Central Asia, Ethiopia, or elsewhere (not to mention that Prester John is generally believed to have been mythical in the first place).

     On May 7, 1915, Henry next refers to the Spring 1915 issue of The Celtic Scholar. This appears to be a fictitious journal of Celtic history and archaeology.

    This issue of the journal contains an article by Professor Charles B. Hawken of Oxford University who found fragments of a journal kept by a Christian hermit in the Welsh mountains in the early 8th century. The journal illuminates several aspects of piety and religious practice of the British people during the Dark Ages. Hawken appears to be a fictitious figure. The Dark Ages traditionally refers to the European Middle Ages, about 400-900 AD, a period of relatively high superstition and lack of cultural output.

Henry remarks, "Must get to England to meet Hawken once this European war is over." The war referred to is the Great War of 1914-1918, better known now as World War I.

At a conference in Philadelphia on August 19, 1916, some colleagues of Henry's poke fun at him for his obsession, saying such things as, "Heard you were at the North Pole seeking the historical Santa Claus," and "Have a chair Jones, we've saved the Siege Perilous for you!" Santa Claus, of course, is the folkloric figure who brings gifts to children around the world on Christmas Eve. In Arthurian legend, the Siege Perilous is a seat at the Round Table which has been reserved for the knight who successfully completes the quest for the Holy Grail.

Henry remarks on young Indy having taken an interest in systematic exploration of the old Anasazi ruins of Colorado. The Anasazi were an ancient Native American culture in the modern-day Four Corners region of the United States. Modern-day civilization doesn't know what these people called themselves; they are often called Anasazi in modern times from a Navajo word meaning "ancient enemy". "Puebloans" is becoming the more accepted term for this ancient civilization, as the meaning of "Anasazi" is not particularly complementary.

   On June 29, 1920, Henry says he does not regret leaving Four Corners. Four Corners is a region of the United States where the corners of the four states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. Though Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide states that Henry and Indy lived in Moab, Utah at the time, the Henry Jones, Sr. action figure by Sideshow Collectibles packaging states he worked at (the fictitious) Four Corners University, presumably in the Four Corners region, for a time.

    He claims he has no idea where his son is at this point, writing, "I pray that he is alive, healthy, and not in prison. It still breaks my heart that he scorned the opportunity for a university education – not to mention his own father – for a life devoted to dissipation and ruin." However, this point in the diary has since been retconned by episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, with Henry knowing that his son has left to pursue an archeological degree at University of Chicago.

On this same date, Henry writes of having met a woman at dinner aboard the steamer George S. Pilkington (bound for Europe), with whom he considered a romance until realizing she was his son's age. She had many interesting opinions on female emancipation, speakeasies, and the scandalous theories of Dr. Sigmund Freud. Freud was a world-renowned Austrian psychoanalyst in the early decades of the 20th century, known for his theories of psychosexual development in humans beginning as early as infancy. Young Indy met Freud (as well as his fellow psychoanalysts Carl Jung and Alfred Adler) in 1908 in "The Perils of Cupid".

As of July 14, 1920 in Oxford, England on, Henry has spent the past ten days combing the Arthurian collections in the British Museum in London and the Bodleian Library with the help of Marcus.

Henry remarks that despite the understandable British hostility toward the Hun, Brother Matthius is well regarded in university circles there. The "Hun" reference is not as well-recognized today, but "Hun" was a term sometimes used (especially in Allied propaganda) for the Germans, comparing them to the "barbarian hordes" of Attila the Hun, the 5th Century warlord.

    Henry writes of the possible Grail vision of Abbess Hildegard of Bingen. Hildegard of Bingen (c. 1098-1179) was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath composer, mystic, philosopher, writer, and medical practitioner. "Bingen" refers to the town of Bingen am Rhein (Bingen on the Rhine river), Germany.

    Henry is allowed to see the Abergavenney manuscript of Hildegard. Abergavenney is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. As far as is known, the real Hildegard did not have anything to say about the Holy Grail.

Henry writes that Professor Hawken died in the influenza epidemic last winter. This refers to the 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known by the common misnomer Spanish flu.

    Henry's Nanteos, Wales, July 19, 1920 entry states that Marcus and Matthius had been able to arrange for him to examine a wooden cup, that according to the legend was saved by seven monks who fled to Wales during the devastation of the Abbey of Glastonbury. Glastonbury Abbey was lost to fire in 1184, but was rebuilt; presumably this is the devastation referred to. The site is now a ruin that can be visited as an ancient historic site in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Nanteos is a mansion near Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. The Nanteos Cup is a medieval wood mazer bowl, dated to the Late Middle Ages, and held at the mansion for quite some time until it was transferred to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyt in 1977.

    As Henry mentions here, there are rumors that Richard Wagner examined the cup at the mansion before writing his opera Parsifal in 1857.

Henry meets some of the locals in the common room of The Purple Dragon inn in Mochdref, Wales on July 27, 1920. The Purple Dragon appears to be a fictitious inn in Mochdref. Mochdref is a real world village in Wales.

As mentioned in the Taliesin verse translated by Henry here, Bronwyn, Bladeuwedd, and Bran are all figures in Welsh mythology.

    Henry mentions he awoke the next morning after his drinking bout with the locals in the local jail having apparently ended the evening on top of the bar belting out old Yale college songs. It's not clear here why he would be singing Yale songs when he is an Oxford graduate and professor at Princeton.

    He says it took Marcus most of the morning to find his way to the jail to pay his fine, musing, "How a man who can smell out a rare manuscript with the instinct of a bloodhound can get lost in a village of twenty houses is a mystery known only to the Creator." This is a play on Indy's remark about Marcus in the film, "You know Marcus--he got lost once in his own museum!"

Henry comments on a drawing of Josephus giving the Grail to King Alain and that Josephus was the son of Joseph of Arimathea and became the first bishop of Western Christendom. This is all part of Grail lore in various sources.

Henry mentions a ritual depicted on the walls of the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii from the second century AD. The Villa of the Mysteries is an ancient Roman villa on the outskirts of Pompeii, Italy, famous for the well-preserved frescos adorning some of its inner walls.

In the Dornbirn, Austria-Hungary, September 2, 1920 entry, Henry tells of Brother Matthius taking him to engage in experiencing the "pleasure of letting God take care of you," which involves walking from Kempten, Southern Germany to Sankt-Gallen, Switzerland without any
rations, a three-day hike.

Henry finds a volume by Hildegard of Bingen at an ancient abbey in Sankt-Gallen on September 4, 1920. In the passage regarding the Grail by Hildegard, she wrote that on Good Friday of 1163, she "...was in chapel at the hour of Matins…And of a sudden it seemed that the chapel was filled with a light brighter than the day, though outside was darkness…" Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus on the Friday before Easter each year. The term "Matins" is a canonical time of day in Christian liturgy, sung in the darkness of early morning, between midnight and dawn.

In Henry's above entry, he mentions Jerusalem and Bologna.

In his September 29, 1920 entry, Henry laments that we must now call Constantinople "Istanbul" and Russia "the Soviet Union." However, Constantinople did not officially change its name to Istanbul until 1930, and Russia only became the Soviet Union in 1922.

Henry obtains the parchment of the Franciscan friar found in Kaffa, in the Crimea by Codirolli. Kaffa was a city on the Black Sea, now known as Feodosia. He also mentions Kiev (the capital of Ukraine).

Codirolli's translation of the parchment mentions the Kingdom of Rus and the Saracens. The Kingdom of Rus was a nation in Eastern Europe from 1199-1349, making up what is today mostly Ukraine with parts of Belarus, Poland, Moldova, and Lithuania. "Saracen" was a term used in medieval Europe for people from Arabia.

A page from a book by Magnoli is added to the diary, depicting a stained glass panel from Châlons-sur-Marne cathedral, France. Henry comments that it depicts Ecclesia bearing the chalice of the Mass, the ultimate symbol of eternal life, brought by Christ's blood. "Magnoli" is a reference to a well-known collector and reproducer of Indiana Jones props, Anthony "Indy" Magnoli. Châlons-sur-Marne (now known as Châlons Cathedral) is an actual 1147 Catholic Cathedral in Châlons-en-Champagne, France, noted for its stained glass windows. The chalice of the Mass is a sacred vessel used to hold the consecrated wine during the Eucharist, aka Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper; it symbolizes Christ's blood and plays a central role in the ritual, representing Christ's sacrifice and the promise of salvation.

Henry comments that Christ redeemed the sin of Adam. Adam was the first man according to the Abrahamic religions, and his sin (the "original sin" of man) was the act of disobeying God by eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. (To be fair to Adam, Eve did it first!)

On December 9, 1920, Henry visits Chateau de Vincennes in France, believing it may have been the inspiration for the Grail castle in the work of Chrétien de Troyes.

Another stone that may have influenced Wolfram's conception of the Grail is the Black Stone, writes Henry, sacred to the Islamic religion and housed at the center of Mecca. The Black Stone is a revered Islamic relic housed in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Many scientists believe it is a meteorite. It was revered in the region even before the advent of Islam.

Seemingly inspired by his son's past exploits, Henry engages in questionable ethics to remove a loose stone at Chateau de Vincennes and take a hidden ancient scroll he finds behind it. The scroll leads him to a possible hiding place of the Santo Caliz (Holy Chalice) in Huesca, Spain, about 25 miles from the Pyrenees Mountains.

In Huesca, Henry learns that it was supposedly St. Laurence who brought the cup there. There are at least three St. Laurences with this spelling, Laurence of Siponto (died c. 545), bishop of Siponto; Laurence the Illuminator (died 576), bishop of Spoleto; and Laurence of Canterbury (died 619), second Archbishop of Canterbury.

In Barcelona, Spain on January 2, 1921, Henry finds the location of the town of San Juan de la Peña, where the monastery of San Juan de la Peña is nearby located, hidden in the mountains, as told in the Mabinogion. There is an actual mountain monastery called San Juan de la Peña, but no actual town by that name as far as I can find. There is a legend that the Grail was sent to the monastery for protection from the Muslim invaders of the Iberian Peninsula.     Henry then learns the cup was transferred from the monastery to Santo Caliz de Valencia in the 15th Century. He visits the chapel of Valencia and the Archbishop Salvador Barrera finally allows him to view it, though not touch. There is an actual chalice, the Valencia Chalice, on display in the church, which is said to have been the actual cup used by Jesus during the last supper.     Here, Henry views the cross-section of a chip in the cup and determines it is no more than 800 years old. The real world cup (the cup portion itself, not the gold stem, base, and handles) is believed to be of the proper age, made sometime between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD.

Henry travels by boat to Antalya, Turkey and does research there and in the Balkans before moving on to Istanbul. In Istanbul is where Henry finally realizes that the "holy brotherhood" mentioned in the scrolls found in the trunk located by al-Jawf must refer to the Knights Templar. This leads him to wonder if the Grail was hidden in the walls of King Salomon's temple?

Henry makes mention of the "Yvain story." This is Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, part of the Arthurian cycle written by Chrétien de Troyes.

In Jerusalem, on April 5, 1921, Henry writes, "What would be a better place to observe Easter than this?" However, in 1921, Easter fell on March 27th (not to mention that April 5th was not even a Sunday in 1921!).

On April 10, 1921, Henry writes, "In the Quest del Saint Graal at the moment when Galahad
enters Sarras with the Grail, the text refers to the Mass of the Mother of God being sung in the cathedral. Specifically to 'Mystery of the Grail'. Possibility of a Marian Grail cult at Glastonbury cannot thus be ruled out." Quest del Saint Graal is French for Quest for the Holy Grail, a 13th Century French Arthurian literary cycle (sometimes called the Lancelot-Grail Cycle) of interconnected prose stories originally written in Old French and of unknown authorship. It is written to tie in to the Robert de Boron and Chrétien de Troyes Arthurian romances. Sarras is a mythical island to which the Grail is brought in the cycle. The Mass of the Mother of God is the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, celebrated annually on January 1st, a feast day honoring Mary's role as the mother of Jesus Christ. I'm not sure what Henry means by "Mystery of the Grail" being sung (I can find no mention of a song by that name in the real world or in the Quest del Saint Graal) and what that has to do with a possible Marian Grail cult at Glastonbury. 

Henry includes a drawing of the "Omphalos in Jerusalem". This is located in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem; the drawing in the diary is similar, but not quite a match for the real Omphalos in the church. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is, as he says, said to be built on the same place as the crucifixion took place (and also over the location of the tomb, where Jesus was buried and resurrected). The term "Omphalos in Jerusalem" is also used in some historical-religious texts, suggesting that Jerusalem is the center of the world, similar to how the Greek Omphalos in Delphi is said to be in Greek mythology. In this case, Jerusalem, particularly the Temple Mount, is identified as the focal point of creation and religious significance.
Omphalos Mundi in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre	Omphalos Mundi in the diary

On May 11, 1921, Henry gets permission to crawl around in the subterranean vaults of Herod's Temple. Herod the Great was a Roman Jewish king of the kingdom of Judea from around 37-1 BC.

Henry's comment, "One of the meanings attributed to the words "lapsit exillas," used by Wolfram
von Eschenbach is the stone of exile (from Paradise)," is correct.

On the trip back to America aboard the steamer Atalanta, Henry writes on June 21, 1921 of having visited the Holy Land and having met Lady Eleanora Ferrers-Lansdowne of Chetfield, Berkshire, England there. Chetfield appears to be a fictitious town.

Henry draws a stained glass window of Melchizadek, writing, "Melchizadek foreshadows Christ in his offering wine as the token of his people's blood. He, like the guardian of the Grail, is a priest and a King. St. Paul says of him that he is without father or mother or even genealogy and had neither beginning of days nor end of life." In the Hebrew Bible, Melchizadek is said to have been the king of Salem (an ancient Middle Eastern town) and a priest of the Lord High God. What Henry writes here about him is accurate.

The story of King Mordrain of Sarras meeting Joseph of Arimethea and his son Josephus, Mordrain converting to Christianity and travelling to England with his brother-in-law Nascian to bring Christianity there is from the Quest del Saint Graal.

    An article from April 23, 1927 is included on the disputed finding of a new gospel on a papyrus scroll called "Gospel of Joseph of Arimathea". The article and the gospel are fictitious, as is the early Christian colony of Kozra mentioned here and, also, Ivy University.

    Intrigued nonetheless by the article, Henry tries to reach the scroll's finder, Dr. Robert Hawes, in New York.

Henry mentions in his May 29, 1927 entry that while he is enthralled by the papyrus scroll, the rest of the world seems to be ecstatic over Lindberg. This presumably refers to aviator Charles H. Lindbergh, who made the first successful New York to Paris nonstop flight on May 20-21 of that year.

    In the May 29 entry, Henry also mentions that Codirolli was beaten to death by some of Il Duce's Fascist bully-boys in Rome the previous year. This is a reference to the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (often called Il Duce, "the Duke") and his Fascist party, who ruled Italy from 1922-1943.

    Also in this entry, he remarks on having heard news of his son in connection with the Ravenwood expedition in Sunkiang. Sunkiang (Xinjiang) is a region of northwest China.

    Henry writes in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 2, 1928 that he has seen the Hawes papyrus at last. He is not able to judge the authenticity of the gospel itself, but the scroll is historically worthy as an artifact in itself.

    At the end of this entry, Henry writes, "The search for the Holy Grail is the search for the spark of the divine in all of us." This is almost exact to what Marcus will say to Indy ten years later in the movie, "The search for the Cup of Christ is the search for the divine in all of us."

    On September 17, 1930 in Salisbury, England, Henry looks at the diary of St. Anselm which was found in the canon of a cathedral there by a stonemason making repairs. Found in the diary is mention of a queen of Dalmatia. Dalmatia is an historical region in what is today Croatia and Montenegro (during this time, Yugoslavia), on the shore of the Adriatic Sea. Henry mentions "Dalmatia" as the Latin name for the Yugoslavian coast.

    Before the pages describing the three trials and the protective devices ahead of the Grail, Henry notes: "I have copied everything on the next double page, so it can be easily found, when I need to look it up. I'm confident, that I won't be able to remember these strange sentences and instead of learning everything by heart, I rather write it into this notebook." This was a retro-addition to the diary, to play on the amusing byplay between Henry and Indy in the movie when Henry warns him that there are three trials to get to the Grail, without telling him what they are, and Indy challenges him, "Can’t you remember?!" and his father retorts, "I wrote them down in my Diary so that I wouldn’t have to remember!"

   At the end of the entry, he writes that he is off to Paris tomorrow, then onto the Orient Express to Belgrade. The Orient Express was a luxury train that ran from 1919 to 1939 and again from 1945 to 1962, connecting Paris to Istanbul via Milan, Venice, and the Simplon Tunnel in Switzerland.

Henry draws a copy of a painting of the defenders of the Grail, Galahad, Percival, and Bors. Bors the Younger was yet another one of the Knights of the Round Table in the quest for the Grail in Arthurian lore.

Henry writes in Split, Yugoslavia November 4, 1930, that the trip was a complete bust and waste of time and money.

At about this time, Henry's diary is starting to fall apart from age and use, with he having to reglue loose pages into the book. He also finds Pecards (sic) leather conditioner to treat the cover; the brand he refers to is Pecard, a leather care company since 1902.

    In 1932, Dr. Staubig writes to Henry from Heidelberg, Germany to tell him he has purchased from an antiquarian bookstore in Dubrovnik a manuscript of The Book of the Spells of Merlin which he says the last known copy of was burned by the Inquisition in 1384. The Book of the Spells of Merlin is fictitious.

    Staubig mentions an interest in the book by a French scholar named Belloq.

Henry feels that Staubig's information comes too little, too late, but writes "Danke schon, Herr Staubig." This is German for "Thank you very much, Mister Staubig."

    In his October 1, 1932 entry, Henry has heard more of (not from) his son. He writes, "News of Junior continues to reach me through the popular press, most recently from Indo-China where he is apparently in pursuit of a jade idol – 'The demon monkey of Loeng-Tran' – that is said to possess some sort of occult power. I simply can’t understand his obsession with such fanciful nonsense. My God, what will he be after next? The lost cities of Cibola? The ark of the covenant? How could I have raised such a son? And why must he insist on going by that ridiculous name?"

    The demon monkey jade idol is a fictitious artifact as far as I can tell. The lost cities of Cibola (also called the Seven Cities of Gold) is a popular myth from the 16th Century onward of supposed gold cities of the Aztecs in what is now the Southwestern United States.

In the December 9, 1937 entry, Henry writes that he has figured out that the knight's tomb described in the diary of St. Anselm must be in Venice. He is now at the Plaza Hotel in New York, courtesy of wealthy industrialist Walter Donovan, preparing to fly to Berlin to meet with a Dr. Schneider.

On June 7, 1938, Henry writes that the tomb in Venice he expects to open must be that of the Grail knight Sir Richard, according to a book he found in a Berlin library. As far as I can find, none of the traditional Arthurian/Grail lore features a knight by that name.

The night of June 16, 1938 in Donovan's Venice apartment is when Henry and Elsa have their tryst after an evening of dinner, drinks, and raiding Donovan's wine cellar. In the middle of the night, he wakes up to hear Elsa talking in her sleep in German, "Ja, Herr Vogel. Ich kümmere mich darum. Herr Jones wird den Gral für uns finden." ("Yes, Mr. Vogel. I'll take care of it. Mr. Jones will find the Grail for us.")

While the diary contains the hand-drawn "Map of the Mountain Road" (not really a map) seen in the Hitler autograph scene of the movie, the autograph is missing here!

    The last dated entry in the diary is from Princeton, New Jersey, September 4, 1938. Henry's last paragraph in it is, "Junior is off to China and he still insists on that ridiculous name, but our
relationship hasn't been this cordial for decades and I hope it wont take further twenty years, before we have the next drink together."

    It's not clear why Indy is headed for China here, but depending on how seriously one takes the conflicting dates of his adventures, it could be for the "Find Your Fate Adventure" book Indiana Jones and the Dragon of Vengeance, set in China in June 1938.

Memorable Dialog

it belongs in a museum.mp3

X never, ever marks the spot.mp3

an old man's dream.mp3

why don't you try my father?.mp3

the search for the divine in all of us.mp3

I'll take that ticket to Venice.mp3

you have your father's eyes.mp3

Attila the Professor.mp3

X marks the spot.mp3

pretty sure.mp3

giddy as a schoolboy.mp3

he hates rats.mp3

are you crazy?!.mp3

I said don't go between them!.mp3

if you are a Scottish lord, then I am Mickey Mouse.mp3

Nazis--I hate these guys.mp3

Junior.mp3

I'll never forgive myself.mp3

good point.mp3

Dr. Jones.mp3

don't call me Junior.mp3

look what you did!.mp3

she talks in her sleep.mp3

does anyone here speak English?.mp3

don't look at me like that.mp3

it was rather wonderful.mp3

this is how Austrians say goodbye.mp3

he got lost once in his own museum.mp3

Germany has declared war on the Jones boys.mp3

I wrote them down in my diary so I wouldn't have to remember.mp3

two selfless martyrs.mp3

the quest for the Grail is not archeology.mp3

we are pilgrims in an unholy land.mp3

my father didn't want it incinerated.mp3

all I have to do is scream.mp3

no ticket.mp3

ships that pass in the night.mp3

the last time we had a quiet drink.mp3

I didn't know you could fly a plane.mp3

11 o' clock.mp3

happens to me all the time.mp3

you're meddling with powers you cannot possibly comprehend.mp3

no camels.mp3

goose-stepping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of burning them.mp3

the pen is mightier than the sword.mp3

you call this archeology?.mp3

I lost him and I never told him anything.mp3

why are you sitting there resting?.mp3

a Nazi stooge like you.mp3

choose wisely.mp3

he chose poorly.mp3

the price of immortality.mp3

Indiana, let it go.mp3

Illumination.mp3

I've got a lot of fond memories of that dog.mp3

got lost in his own museum.mp3