Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) - 35 mistakes

Continuity: Dick Van Dyke is trying to show his new whistle sweet to Mr Scrumptious, the sweet factory owner. His dog is tied up to a bicycle outside. When his dog hears the whistle he knocks over the bicycle whilst trying to get free and runs up the steps. In the immediate shot following the bicycle is standing up again.

Continuity: During the "My little choochy face" song, the Baron's wife is seen dancing in shoes with a one inch heel. Prior to being dropped down a hatch she can be clearly seen wearing flat shoes. She subsequently appears through a side door wearing the heeled shoes.

Factual error: When Chitty Chitty Bang Bang arrives at the Potts' house, Grandpa Potts is sitting in a deckchair reading a very modern colour edition of National Geographic magazine.

Revealing: When Caractacus smashes the tower of cups, the last one is obviously glued onto the saucer.

Visible crew/equipment: As the Baroness is falling into the lake, there is a shot of her about 10m above it. The surface water looks like it is being blown by a helicopter. As soon as she is in the water, the lake is calm again.

Continuity: When they are driving down the road the man driving isn't turning the wheel, but the background shows a windy road.

Factual error: In the scene where the spies are hanging the false backdrop off the bridge, you can see that the railway lines they cross have concrete sleepers, which is out of period (railway lines at this time would have had wooden sleepers).

Visible crew/equipment: Right when the doors open, you can see the pulley that's pulling the far door open.

Revealing: During the "Toot Sweets" number in the factory, the cart with the candy trays move freely, however later on when they start spinning on them in circles (right after Jeremy gives Mr. Scrumptious another sweet) you can see each one is spinning due to a pole holding it. You can see it just under the bottom trays.

Continuity: Chitty's front wheels are badly damaged in the crash, but are near perfect when Caractacus brings the car home.

Other: In the scene when you hear Edison (the dog) blowing on the 'Toot Sweet', in the following shots his mouth is open and you can see him start to eat it so he is evidently not blowing it. Yet you can still hear the sound.

Revealing: When the Vulgarian boat is chasing Chitty in the sea, Truly, Jeremy and Jemima are obviously dummies in the far shots because you can see them flopping about in the car.

Revealing: In the scene where Chitty is taking off from the castle, Caracticus looks down at the toymaker and Peter and says, "Bye bye". If you look closely, right in front of them, a boy runs across holding a stick he stole from one of the cavalrymen. He is waving it around and you can tell it's fake because it flops around like rubber.

Continuity: When the two spies try to capture Chitty by parking their open van under the railway bridge, then dropping a canvas screen down over the top so it looks like the road under the bridge is clear, as Lord Scrumptious's car hits the screen and tears through it, you can see that there is nothing parked on the other side. The van is gone. Yet the following shot establishes the fact that the trap has worked successfully; the car has gone through the screen and ended up in the back of the van.

Continuity: During Mr Potts's solo dance as the rag doll, Truly as the doll, the music box and the surrounding mirrors completely disappear, and then reappear again ready for Mr Potts's and Truly's duet.

Revealing: In most of the shots where they are flying over Vulgaria, if you look closely you can see their shadows on the screen behind them.

Revealing: When Chitty crashes at the car race, it jumps over a small burm and a line of fire blows up in front of it before the car hits it's mark.

Other: When Professor Potts bought Chitty from the Junkman and brings the car into the garage, the body of the car is charred or damaged somehow from the crash and fire. But the leather seats, dashboard and wooden steering wheel are completely unharmed.

Continuity: In the scene where the Baroness is shot from the back seat of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, she is shown drifting through the air with her skirt serving as a parachute. In one view of her, there is a short white crinoline under her dress, in all other views there is none.

Revealing: During the "Grow the Roses" number, there are several shots of the wheels of the Baronial car, looking normal. In the final shot of the scene (when the car falls apart) square supports disappearing into the floor have suddenly appeared on the axles, as part of the mechanism to support the car when the wheels fall off.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Chitty Chitty Bang Bang comes into the castle to rescue the family, the shot shows the car turning, but a pivot wheel under the car can be seen, and the actual tire while turning, does not match the radius of the turn nor the speed at which it should be rolling.

Factual error: After they pick up Truly Scrumptious in the newly refurbished Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, look at the road surface as they run alongside the GWR train. There is a broken white line running down the centre of the road. These types of markings weren't introduced in England until the blackouts of WW2.

Other: When the Bulgarian soldiers storm the village to find the children, one soldier pushes open a door and the soldier next to him butts the already-open door with the end of his gun, making him fall forward slightly.

Visible crew/equipment: When Caractacus is being dragged across the ground by the rockets, the wire he is holding onto is visible.

Continuity: When the car which becomes Chitty crashes in the beginning, the vent and the front left wheel become totally loose, but in the next scene where the children are playing in it, the vent and the wheel are attached.

Audio problem: In the scene where Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is passing the train you can see a continuous trail of smoke issuing from the train. It is exiting from the train's whistle, meaning that there should be a continuous high pitched whistling noise, yet there is no such thing.

Revealing: In the "Truly Scrumptious" song, the children draw a smiley face in the sand. When they run across to make the smiley face, you can see that it has been created beforehand.

Other: In the scene where everyone is going to get away from Vulgaria in the car, Grandpa scrambles in after them. You can distinctly see a Vulgarian soldier give him a shove to get him in the car, then do his "Run away." thing.

Continuity: In the scene where Mr Potts is putting the children to bed they offer him the objects from their treasure chest: a ivory tusk, "jewels" and a "crown". Near the end of the song he puts the objects back into the box but not the crown.

Continuity: When Truly accompanies Mr. Potts and the children to the beach, her hair is first in a bun, and then later is worn down around her shoulders when they reach the beach. Also, the tightness or her curls vary from scene to scene while at the beach.

Revealing: In the king's birthday party scene Mr. Potts is dressed in a rag doll costume. In some shots you can see the wire that holds him up when he jumps.

Other: When Chitty Chitty Bang Bang passes the train on the first drive out there is no smoke coming from the train's smoke stack, meaning the train isn't running. Yet it is definitely moving.

Continuity: When they are almost done singing "You Two" there is a big ripple in the tablecloth. After they finish singing and the plates are rolling down, the ripple is gone.

Continuity: When the child-catcher captures the children in the cage, the circus decorations fall off as the wagon quickly pulls away. Two shots later, the wagon is shown passing the fallen circus decorations on the street.

Revealing: When Truly Scrumptious is driving the children to their home, the car is on a rig or platform. The wheels are not rotating.