Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) - 59 mistakes

Visible crew/equipment: After Violet has chewed the gum and is blowing up, if you look near the bottom of her right leg, you can see the air hose that is blowing her up. Visible on full screen only.

Visible crew/equipment: When Charlie and Grandpa Joe drink the fizzy lifting drink and are floating in the air you can see the hook that is connected to the wire that Charlie is being held up by.

Visible crew/equipment: You can clearly see the string holding the elevator as it flies over the city.

Revealing: When Violet turns into the blueberry you can see the reflection of the blue light in her hair. But in the same scenes where blue make-up is used instead of the light, you can see the regular flesh-tone under her hair and in her parting.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Charlie and his grandfather are floating from the fizzy lifting drinks, you can see the black harness Charlie is wearing.

Continuity: If you look closely at several scenes, Veruca Salt's and Violet Beauregard's hairstyles change. For example, Violet's hair is wavy, then it is even curlier.

Revealing: In the scene where Willy Wonka and the group of golden ticket holders enter the room with the chocolate river, Willy Wonka picks up a mushroom head with his cane. If you look closely, you can see holes under the mushroom head where he has previously done this, probably more than one take for that scene.

Continuity: When Mr. Wonka is first walking toward the crowd, his walk is much longer than the actual path. Watch the shadows change on the overhead shots as the day of filming went by.

Revealing: Just before Charlie opens his winning Wonka bar, we see printed on the back label: Packed by The Quaker Oats Company Chicago, Illinois. It is made clear in the film that no other companies are involved in the creation of Wonka's products - they're dispatched from his factory wrapped and ready to sell.

Visible crew/equipment: When Wonka transports the giant chocolate bar, the stand the chocolate lies on inside the TV is visible.

Revealing: Right before Augustus goes up the pipe, there is a long shot of the pipe. Look very closely. You will see that there is a dummy of Augustus, not the real Augustus.

Continuity: When Grandpa Joe, Charlie, and Willy Wonka get into the Wonkavator for the first time from Wonka's office, the Wonkavator has a plain hexagonal shape. As it flies over the city, however, it sports an elaborate design complete with an ornate minaret on top.

Continuity: When Veruca tells her dad that she wants a golden goose the stuff in the bowls behind them keeps changing.

Audio problem: In the "Candyman" song near the beginning of the movie, the candy store owner is on a ladder, about to drop candy into the kids' hands. When we see the kids holding up their hands and saying, "Me. Me.", none of their mouths are actually saying anything.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where the group enters the weird elevator with the escher wallpapered walls when the shot looks from the back of the elevator you can see the shadow of the camera/light reflector on Mr. Salt.

Continuity: On the boat ride, when Wonka explains about "The Sailor's Way", his head changes position between shots.

Audio problem: When Charlie and Grandpa Joe are first being lifted into the air after drinking the fizzy-lifting drinks; Charlie tells his Grandpa that it's ok. But instead of saying "Grandpa", he very clearly says "Grandma".

Revealing: When the Candyman is singing his song, he tears a long paper strip with candy dots on it. Look closely–some of the children aren't even taking them off to eat them; they're only pretending to eat them.

Revealing: At the beginning, in the candy factory, Bill (the store owner) is handing out candy left and right and singing to the kids. There is a shot where he turns around and a girl is pretending to throw candy into her mouth. Clearly her hand is empty.

Audio problem: During Veruca's song her lips don't match what she's saying.

Continuity: In the scene where Wonka shows the tour the Everlasting Gobstopper machine, you can see that the candy is already on the finished belt before he turns it on. In the close up of the candy, there are a lot of extra candy, but after they get passed out, the excess is gone.

Continuity: When Willy Wonka presses the button for the Spectacular Gum Making Machine, all of its gears and parts and contraptions start working. In one shot, a tray of a pale white chunky substance is covered by a lid. As the lid lifts off of the tray, the pale white chunks are now bright colors. You can see where the cut in the shot was made for them to replace the first tray with the second tray. There is a slight jump in the position of the lid and the misty fog in the shot changes in the same instant.

Continuity: When Charlie is first seen walking up to the gates of the Wonka factory there are just the street sounds. Then suddenly the "Tinkerer" (the guy with the knife cart) gives the dissertation about fear of little men (a poem of some sort) then proceeds to leave clanking and clattering on the cobble stone street. He should have either been visible on the first shot of Charlie as he walked up to the gates or heard as he approached later on to give his dissertation.

Continuity: When the kids stick out their hands to receive gobstoppers, Mr. Salt, who is standing behind them, changes position between shots.

Continuity: The centermost of the five "Eggdicator" stalls is missing the plastic bowl that drops the egg onto the trap door, as shown in the "good egg/bad egg" shots earlier.

Audio problem: During Veruca's "I Want It Now" song, after she says "I want a bean feast", Mr. Salt says, "Oh, one of those"—but his mouth doesn't move.

Continuity: When Charlie's grandad falls on him soon after getting news of his Golden Ticket win, one of the other old guys in the bed has a shocked look on his face. In the next shot however, the old guy now has his hand over his face and not enough time has passed for this to occur.

Continuity: As the case of wonka bars is being auctioned, and the auctioneer says "3000 pounds, 4500 pounds", his arms go from being at the edge of the table to next to his sides.

Visible crew/equipment: White microphone equipment is visible in Mr. Beauregarde's shirt pocket throughout the movie. This is particularly noticeable when he tells Wonka not to talk to him about contract.

Continuity: When Charlie's mom and grandparents are watching the TV, hearing about the end of the Wonka contest, look at the TV. In the first shot, the left panel of the TV housing is missing. In the next immediate shot it is there, and remains for the rest of the scene.

Continuity: When Charley visits his mother at the Laundry, he sits down at the washing bowl. When you see Charley from behind you can see the big wooden spoon sticking out of the bowl. When the shot turns to the front of Charley, he is stirring the laundry with the spoon. In the next shot of Charley from behind the spoon is in the exact same spot as previously - it hasn't moved.

Revealing: In the Chocolate Room, there are several see-through pipes coming out of the chocolate. The chocolate is supposed to be being sucked upwards in all of them. However, in some of the pipes it is actually flowing downwards, since it was easier for the film-makers to only pump it upwards in some of them and then send it into the other pipes to go back down. This is confirmed when Augustus Gloop gets stuck in one of the up-pipes - there is no chocolate at all flowing in one of the down-pipes while he is stuck in there.

Continuity: When they are all in the inventing room, and Mike TeeVee is eating the explosive candy, you can see the explosion come out of the machine he is standing next to. In the next scene, when Mrs. TeeVee is leaning over him, he blows out a puff of smoke like it had come from his mouth.

Audio problem: When Mr. Wonka bites into a teacup at the end of the song of the room with the Chocolate River, you hear a crunching sound, yet it looks like he has to "tear" the cup a bit. How can he crunch on somethng that requires him to tear at it? [In an interview, Gene Wilder stated the cup was made out of wax - not excusing the mistake, but in case anyone was wondering...]

Audio problem: When the group is on Wonka's Pop-mobile and covered in the foam, Mike Teevee's mom says her line, "It's even in my shoes." From this point to the end of the shot, her lips don't match what she says and neither do Mike's, but the mom is more noticeable.

Continuity: When Wonka introduces the geese that lay the golden eggs, the geese change positions between shots.

Continuity: When Grandpa Joe gives Charlie the candy bar bought with the tobacco money, Joe pulls it out, holding it at the top right and bottom left corners. When the shot cuts to Charlie and he says "Grandpa, that money was for tobacco." you see Grandpa Joe in the foreground of the shot, and his right hand has moved from the top right corner to the lower half of the candy bar. When the shot cuts back, his hands are as they were before, on the top right and bottom left corners of the candy bar.

Continuity: After introducing Mr. Wilkerson, Wonka's hands magically appear on Charlie's shoulders.

Continuity: At the end of Veruca's song she sings "Don't care how, I want it now". In one shot her hands are at the far sides of the box, but in the next shot they are together at her sides.

Continuity: When the first "good egg" falls on the eggdacator, its position changes between shots.

Revealing: At Wonka's factory gates (coming from his entrance door towards the gates on the right) there's a road traffic sign which states '(you are on a) priority road' on the road is bending to the left. I presume the set (gates, carpets, office) was build on an existing junction.

Visible crew/equipment: When Wonka finishes handing out the Everlasting Gobstoppers, you can see the shadow of the cameraman on Wonka as he walks away.

Other: During the Oompa Loompas' first number (Augustus Gloop), the lyrics are animated on the screen - but one word doesn't match. The song line is "What are you at getting terribly fat"; the words on-screen read "WHERE are you at."

Continuity: When Wonka comes out of the factory to greet his guests, we see from a far away shot that he comes to the corner of the red carpet. When the scene cuts to a closer shot, he is coming up on the same corner again.

Continuity: When Willy Wonka first opens the door to the chocolate room for his guests, the long, shrinking corridor they've all just walked down is no longer behind them. Instead, there's now a short patio with a huge wrought-iron gate.

Continuity: When Charlie is working with Mr. Turpentine on the wart-removing potion, the bottles and cups on the table change between shots.

Audio problem: When the crowd is mobbing Charlie after he finds the Golden Ticket, the man with grey hair says "Come on Charlie, hold onto it" but his lips don't move.

Continuity: When Charlie is watching the TV about the Golden tickets for the first time, he turns around to talk to Grandpa Joe. When he does, the TV is off.

Continuity: When Willy Wonka comes out of the factory to greet the children who will be touring that day, he walks down a red carpet.  A minute or so later the lucky children walk up the same carpet.  As the scenes cut back and forth between Wonka and the children the viewer sees a shadow on the carpet of the building next door. At one point the shadow has shifted noticeably and then reverts to its former position.

Continuity: When Wonka hugs Charlie saying he won, Wonka's hair at his left is unruly. When he invites "Slugworth" in, his hair is back in (better) shape.

Continuity: In an overhead shot of Wonka's boat, Charlie faces to the left, but in the closeup Charlie faces to the right.

Continuity: When Charlie sees the newspaper about how the fifth ticket was faked, the position of the newspaper in the man's hands changes between shots.

Revealing: When they show the different components of the 3 course meal gum machine, they show a bee's nest that supposedly generates honey. If you look at the coil of tubing you can see that water is dripping out of it, not honey.

Revealing: When the computer technician is giving the computer commands on retrieving the location of the golden tickets, he is pressing the same two buttons over and over again.

Continuity: When Charlie first comes home after he's got the golden ticket, he hands the ticket to his grandfather to read. After he says, "You've done it Charlie." and hands the ticket back to Charlie, look carefully. The ticket is thinner, less wrinkled, and doesn't have any writing on it.

Revealing: When Mrs. Teevee puts the shrunken Mike into her purse, it is a very obvious fake Mike.

Audio problem: When Charlie and his grandpa are burping to get down after drinking the fizz drink, their mouths don't match up with the times or lengths of their burps. When Charlie gets his feet on the ground he takes a last burp and his mouth doesn't even move.

Other: In the scene where the newscaster is about to announce that the first gold ticket has been found, he walks over to a map of the world. Take a look at the northwest corner of the US. There is a big blue dot just to the right of Idaho that cuts through Montana and covers half of Wyoming. The dot is where the newscaster will later hang the number three marker.

Continuity: After Charlie gets the chocolate bar for his birthday the position of his fingers on the bar change between shots.