Best movie mistakes of 1959

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Tarzan's Greatest Adventure picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene towards the end of the film where we see Slade's body fall, it falls onto a submerged rock just below the surface of the water and there is a splash of water. In the next shot Tarzan looks down from the cliff above and Slade's body is on a large dry rock, a little distant from where the body originally fell.

keiko

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Plan 9 From Outer Space picture

Revealing mistake: When Bela Lugosi walks off screen, it's obviously a freeze frame. The swaying tree stops moving and even though he was hit by a car, his shadow is still visible. (00:07:55)

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North by Northwest picture North by Northwest mistake picture Video

Revealing mistake: In the shooting scene in the Mount Rushmore cafe, a boy in the background puts his fingers in his ears, because he knows the gun is about to be shot.

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On the Beach picture

Character mistake: In the scenes in San Diego, all the scenes outside the sub are taking place during daylight hours. Immediately after the crewman relays the message about the mysterious telegraph transmission, the scene shifts to the sub. The commander asks what time it is in Melbourne and is told it is 1500 hours (3PM). But if it were that time in Melbourne, it would be 10PM in San Diego, and thus not during daylight hours. (01:33:30 - 01:38:05)

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The Horse Soldiers picture

Factual error: Towards the end when the cavalry uncovers the American flag, it has 50 stars.

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Ben-Hur picture

Revealing mistake: During the chariot race, where the contestants are riding towards the screen, tyre tracks from the camera vehicle are clearly visible imprinted in the sand. (00:20:50)

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Sleeping Beauty picture

Factual error: Maleficent states that Princess Aurora will prick her finger on a spindle - the part of a spinning wheel that holds the bobbin. Spindles aren't sharp; what Aurora actually pricks her finger on is the distaff, which is used to hold the fiber before it is spun.

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Les Quatre cents coups picture

Continuity mistake: After the boy's Noel-Coward-lookalike father says, 'Et les fruits?', goes into the kitchen, and disappears out of shot, watch the cat on top of the bookcase to the left of the door. Before the boy runs into shot, the cat suddenly changes position and a mysterious lens flare appears on the right of the screen, showing that it's actually two shots edited together.

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Rio Bravo picture

Continuity mistake: When Rick Nelson tells Angie Dickinson to throw the plant pot through the window to distract the gunmen who threaten John Wayne he seems to have had a hair cut between scenes as his sideburns are halved by the time he reaches the street and grow again later.

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North West Frontier picture

Continuity mistake: The escape train stops at a station at which another train has been the site of a massacre. One of the victims of this massacre has his head leaning out of a railway carriage window. As Kenneth More and Lauren Bacall from the escape train walk about the station, he can be seen raising and then lowering his head again as he realises that the 'take' is not complete.

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Some Like It Hot picture

Continuity mistake: It is supposed to be night when Joe slips out of the hotel, but a daytime sky is visible.

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The Shaggy Dog picture

Continuity mistake: When Wilby goes into his bedroom, he takes out his PJ's from the bureau drawer, leaving the drawer open. He goes into the bathroom to put on the PJ's. When he comes out of the bathroom, the drawer in the bureau is closed.

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House on Haunted Hill picture

Factual error: As Frederick is explaining to his guests how to use their .45 automatics, he fires one round at a near-by vase, shattering it. However, it leaves no bullet hole in the wall directly behind the vase.

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Carry on Nurse picture

Other mistake: Mick the orderly is Irish throughout the film, but when Nurse Dawson bumps into him and says, "You clumsy oaf," Mick's reply, "Look who's talking," is said in a London accent.

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Never So Few picture

Plot hole: When the Allies blow up the airfield they pour gunfire from the backs of the trucks into the tents where the Japanese soldiers are eating. If you watch carefully you will see that the Allied guys in the truck nearest the screen are pouring lead through their comrades in the other truck. Another classic case of 'friendly fire'.

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The Diary of Anne Frank picture

Factual error: Anne Frank received her diary on her birthday, and started writing on it 1 month before she went into hiding. In the movie however, she is presented with the diary on the first she arrives at the hiding place.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Since this movie is based on actual events and not considered a documentary, then the film-makers are allowed to change things to their liking.

lartaker1975

While I feel like this sort-of correction could apply to certain elements of movies based on true stories like dramatized scenes (since there has to be some condensation of time and some elements boosted for drama, which can be chalked up to filmmakers changing things), I think a film based on a true story contradicting a known hard fact like this should 100% count as a mistake. Otherwise, you could just as easily argue that any factual error in any film is invalid because the filmmakers are "allowed to change it."

TedStixon

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Operation Petticoat picture

Revealing mistake: During the opening credits, as a crab descends past the periscope, the string attached to the crab is visible.

mdwalker

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Tiger Bay picture

Factual error: The movie is set in Cardiff but the Transporter Bridge seen at the beginning of the film is really in Newport.

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Curse of the Undead picture

Visible crew/equipment: Michael Pate is walking down the street in this western and as he passes a shop window you can see all the camera crew, the director, the arc lights etc.

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