Continuity mistake: When Indy and the German driver crash through the villager's construction ladders the truck is missing the Mercedes-Benz hood ornament that appears in every other shot.
Audio problem: When the monkey is crawling on Marion's head at Salah's place, the sound does not match Marion's mouth.
Revealing mistake: Just before Belloq says "beautiful", look carefully at the woman's ghost in the center of the screen. You can see one of the wires on her back that makes the stunt woman fly, a black line above her left shoulder.
Continuity mistake: Just after Indiana (barely) escapes the tumbling boulder at the beginning of the movie, he leaps through a veil of spider webs, only to be held up by the native hunters and Belloq, who takes the idol from Indiana. Watch carefully - there is a thick strand of webs attached to the idol as Indy hands it to Belloq, but they disappear in the next shot as Belloq hefts the idol and holds it up in the air.
Factual error: The German submarine that Indy stows away on has the number 26 on its side. The U-26 was a Type IA U-boat (it came into service in 1936 and was sunk in 1940), but the sub in the movie seems to be a Type VIIB or VIIC. It's true that the two types looked fairly similar, but they were different classes of U-boat.
Continuity mistake: The 'Top Secret' sign is put on the crate across vertically laid planks. A shot later the sign appears slanted across horizontally laid planks. Though it could be argued that there could be a second sign on the opposite side with horizontal planks, when the warehouse guy turns left to store the crate, we get a glimpse of the left side and it's not painted.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Sallah and Jones are in the Well of Souls where they are putting the sticks in the Ark to left it up. Notice Sallah stick, when he first puts it in, on the stick are no tassels. But when they both left at the same time Sallah same stick that he put in has tassels on it.
Factual error: The interior of the German U-boat is completely different from the real interior of a Type VII U-boat, which is correctly shown in movies like 'Das Boot' or 'U-571'. For example, the ladder from the conning tower faces a different direction, the map table is too big and on the wrong side, the valves for submerging are on the side of the control room and not at its front and stern, depth gauges are too big...etc. All interiors were standardized, so it could not have been an individual build.
Character mistake: When the crew of the German U-boat boards Katanga's ship, the submarine moves in a position perpendicular to the ship's bow as if to block its path. In reality, this would have been a pretty stupid move by the German captain, as Katanga could have rammed the submarine easily. Any kind of damage to the hull, especially ramming damage (even from small ships), would have been catastrophic to the submarine. It makes no sense to make a manoeuvre like this.
Continuity mistake: During the shooting at the bar, Marion covers her ears to muffle the sound, but a frame later they are around the wall in front.
Audio problem: In the bar, when the Mongolian is shot at the face and burns alive he screams in pain, but he never opens his mouth.
Continuity mistake: The fight scene in Marion's bar clearly shows Indy using an automatic pistol to shoot at the bad guys. You can see the slide lock open when he runs out of ammo. But when the scene switches he is holding a revolver. Then when the huge guy is strangling Indy and the German says, "Shoot them, shoot them both." Indy is once again holding an automatic.
Continuity mistake: As Indiana writes "Neolithic" on the blackboard in his classroom at the beginning of the movie, he stops and checks to see if he's spelling it right, then finishes writing it. Later shots of the board reveal the same word on the board, only either the handwriting is different or the actual structure of the word has changed.
Audio problem: Watch and listen when Marion is being held prisoner in Nepal by one of the thugs. As he seizes her, she's grunting in strain/pain. We can see this in the first, frontal shot of them. However, in the following side shot (from slightly behind Marion as Toht walks over with the heated poker), Marion's mouth is completely still and almost shut, yet her sounds continue (and these sounds would have to be made with wide-spread lips).
Continuity mistake: In the map room, Indy pulls out a notebook and takes off the elastic band. The elastic goes flying away. Moments later he closes the book and the elastic is in his hand. Also, the elastic starts off being pink (the one that flies off), then blue (the one that he puts back onto the book) and ends as tan coloured when he puts the book back in his pocket.
Revealing mistake: After Marion goes in the basket, there is a chase and a truck tips over, if you look amidst the dust, you can see the ram used to put the vehicle on its side.
Factual error: When Marion is thrown into the pit of snakes and grabs the statue to prevent her fall, underneath her skirt she is wearing black spandex shorts. Shorts such as these did not exist in the 1930s time period of the film.
Factual error: The truck that turns over and blows up after Indy shoots the driver is a Mercedes Benz L701. It began production in 1944, and this movie is set in 1936, so the truck is not period correct. Also, the alleys are too narrow to allow this truck to turn a corner.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film, When Indy uses the whip to take the guides gun away, Satipo makes a weird face and starts to move away in amazement. The very next frame, in a wider shot, he is not finishing his movements, but on the contrary he is standing still, with a normal gesture, until a second later he starts to repeat the movement and looks from before.
Continuity mistake: After Satipo runs with the idol, Indy grabs a root to help him climb up the ledge. Half a second later, from a different angle, the root is meters away and he is grabbing it again, repeating the whole scene.
Answer: I also remember this scene. After the ark is sealed, the camera performs a close up of the side of the crate. The stamp reads "Top Secret Army Intel 9906753 Do Not Open" This stamp is burned off just like the swastika is in the scene on the submarine, because in the eyes of God, no nation is holy or worthy enough to claim ownership of the ark. However, this final scene was cut (the burning of the stamp) from the film for a variety of unclear reasons. While it was in theaters, this scene was not included on the DVD version.
Add me to this. We saw the movie in a "pre release" version in Orlando Florida. No advance warning of the movie. We went to see another flick and at the end were "invited" to see this if we were willing to critique it afterwards. This scene was included. I also always wondered why the change.
I also remember seeing this mysterious 'burning' of the logo, most likely it was on a VHS copy of this movie. Yes, it did exist.
I saw it in former Czechoslovakia in the second half of 80's in cinema (west movies came to the east countries' cinemas years later). And I thought it was a great joke that burning out the swastika wasn't just because the Nazis are bad but because nobody is great enough to own the arc. Then after the Velvet revolution I saw the film again on TV (beginning of 90's) and said everyone around: watch it until the end, wait on the post-credit scene, there will be a surprise.
And there was a surprise. The scene was cut off! I was angry on the TV they didn't show the scene. I cannot be influenced by internet discussion or urban legend. The internet didn't exist yet.
I saw it in Portland, Oregon, and was so impressed with the message it carried, that I told friends and we went several times just to see it. Funny thing was when I mentioned it a few years ago, many people said I was a LIAR that it never happened. I could not convince anyone. It was removed because it wasn't Politically Correct. USA is a force for good, God would not burn off AMERICAN TEXT! BUT WE DID SEE IT. Thanks to our Australian eye witness, we know we did not imagine it.