Researchers have found that film is an incredibly powerful tool for teaching children about the past which can greatly increase historical knowledge.
However, it is so powerful that if the facts are wrong, pupils are more likely to believe them even if they are told otherwise by text books or teachers, they say.
When films get it right then children benefit enormously and remember much more detail when later questioned, said lead researcher Andrew Butler of Washington University in St Louis.
But when they it wrong, so do the children. Even if they have read the correct version in a textbook they remember what was in the film not what was in their book.
"When information in the film was consistent with information in the text, watching the film clips increased correct recall by about 50 per cent relative to reading the text alone," he said.
"In contrast, when information in the film directly contradicted the text, people often falsely recalled the misinformation portrayed in the film, sometimes as much as 50 per cent of the time."
Telegraph - Guardian - Reel history is best when it's not like real history – Johns Hopkins Newsletter - Alexander the not-so great