Continuity mistake: Renault folds the paper he's holding, but a shot later he is writing on it. (00:01:25)
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, the man with expired papers runs and is shot next to a large mural and an empty archway. The camera angle changes to show the police running up to him and there is now a bored looking young girl leaning on the inside of the arch. (00:03:35)
Continuity mistake: When we first see Rick he picks up a cigarette and a chess piece. The camera angle changes to show people entering the room and Rick is now fiddling with his glass. (00:09:10)
Continuity mistake: When Rick and Renault are sitting at a table outside Rick's Cafe, a bottle disappears from the table between one cut and the next and then reappears. In the shot without the bottle, there seems to be a champagne bottle at an angle in the background, something that is not visible in the other shots when the first bottle is on the table. (00:16:00)
Continuity mistake: In scenes at Rick's Cafe, Captain Renault is wearing a white dress jacket with three medals. The right-hand medal, possibly the Légion d'Honneur, is first seen on a long ribbon. Less than a minute later, it is on a short ribbon; over the next nine minutes, it becomes long, short, long. It's not a medal, it's a yoyo. (00:16:30 - 00:26:40)
Continuity mistake: Strassers' hands and arms constantly change positions when he talks to Rick: crossed, bent, hiding a notebook. (00:30:45)
Continuity mistake: When Bogie is reading the note from Bergman, it is dissolved by the heavy rain and he is dripping wet, so is Sam, who delivered the note. But then he is standing on the step of the train totally dry. (00:47:00)
Continuity mistake: When Rick goes to see Ferrari at the Blue Parrot the first time, there is a bottle on the table between them. Ferrari is shown taking the cap off the bottle, pouring a drink, and then returning the cap to the bottle. In the next cut, the bottle is gone, and in the cut after that the bottle is back, but without the cap, which should still be on it. (00:56:05)
Continuity mistake: When Ilsa shows up Rick's hand is on the bottle. A shot later it's away. (00:56:45)
Continuity mistake: When the German officer slaps a French guy who insulted a woman, the French guy's head swaps between tilted or straight depending on the angle. (01:10:44)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie a man comes outside the door to look for Rick and the spotlight passes by him. When he walks over to Rick it passes by him again. All the other times the spotlight passed it took about a minute to come back around again. (01:12:00 - 01:15:30)
Continuity mistake: After his bar has been closed, Rick discusses his financial situation with Carl. In long shot you see Carl wearing his glasses on his forehead, in a closer shot, the glasses are on his nose. (01:15:28)
Continuity mistake: In the final scenes at the airport, when Rick is talking to Major Strasser, the epaulettes on Strasser's shoulders alternately appear and disappear. (01:40:05)
Continuity mistake: When Ilsa is in Laslo's bedroom, she is shown from behind looking out the window at the street below, then after an edit she is shown looking at the street from out side the window. The problem is that the first shot showed her looking through a roll-type window shade, and the second is a slat-type Venetian blind.
Continuity mistake: In the scene when Rick is discussing exit visas with the attractive Bulgarian woman (and what she is contemplating doing in order to get them) Rick's hands change from holding a drink to holding a cigarette between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Ugarte (Peter Lorre) gives Rick the "Letters of Transit", Rick places them in the right breast pocket of his jacket, but when he goes into the other room, to the rear of the piano, he removes them from his left breast pocket.
Continuity mistake: When Major Strasser's plane is about to land the people stare at it, their heads are not moving. In the angle shot from behind they're moving from left to right following the plane's movement. Shot cuts back to the previous angle and their heads are motionless again.
Continuity mistake: When the movie starts a man is shot next to a poster. A girl next to an archway appears/ disappears randomly between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Ugarte says to Rick "You despise me", his cigarette swaps from long to short and from pointing upwards to down.
Continuity mistake: Renault blows his whistle and closes the cafe. From the immediate opposite angle his arm is lowered.
Answer: It's a bit complicated and subject to interpretation. They all look as soon as they hear the engines starting. For each one it signifies something different. Ilsa knows she must part with Rick, the man she loves, and stay with her husband, Victor, to support him and help with his work. For Rick, he knows he is losing Ilsa, by his own choice because he has chosen to stay behind to aid the war resistance and may not survive. Victor knows his wife Ilsa really loves Rick and he will be out of their lives, but she is staying with him out of duty.
raywest ★