Empire of the Sun

Continuity mistake: When James is eating at home alone, he flips his spoon into his water glass. In some shots it's leaning against the right side of the glass, and in other shots it's against the left side.

Krista

Visible crew/equipment: When Jim returns to the party with his father after he met the Japanese soldiers, you can see the microphone at the bottom of the screen. (More recent transfers address this and make sure it is not seen).

Dr Wilson

Revealing mistake: When Jim is riding the bicycle through the empty hospital, the "Frigidaires" begin falling through the roof. One bursts open, dropping its contents onto the floor. Something from inside must have landed on the camera because you can see it jerk suddenly.

Continuity mistake: As the family is piling into their car to go to the costume party, Jim, who is carrying a large, balsa sailplane, accidentally snaps the tail and it falls sideways. In subsequent shots the tail is upright.

Continuity mistake: When Jim finally recognizes his mom, he hugs her with his arms outside hers. In the following shot from behind Jim, his arms are under his mom's.

Continuity mistake: As the internees begin the long march they leave through an arched gateway. A bonfire burning outside the gates changes sides from one shot to another.

Revealing mistake: At the party, Jamie finds the crashed plane. His glider falls behind a small hill and he gets out of the plane to see where the glider is. When he jumps off the wing, the camera is panning to the side, revealing somebody on the left side walking on the hill, right under the tail of the plane. Jamie should see this person but still reacts shocked to see people are behind the hill. (00:17:00)

Continuity mistake: When Jim's mother (Mary) is sitting on the bed talking to Jim, she lights up a cigarette and holds it in her left hand. As she continues to talk you can see cigarette smoke rising above her hand off-screen. When Jim's Dad comes in and Mom gets up off the bed the cigarette is gone and a glass of water is now in hand.

robsuttonjr

Continuity mistake: When Jim is in bed and tells his mum about God, his hands swap between crossed over his tummy or next to his head, depending on the angle.

Sacha

Audio problem: When the movie begins and the choir sings, they're out of sync. After the shot of the Asian women on the benches the audio and the song are now out of control. Check the second boy to the left of Jim. He's absent minded and moves his mouth without control.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Jamie is about to steal the soap, he places the boots on a plank right next to a beam. In the next shots the beam is much further away.

Continuity mistake: When the Doctor is reading the lesson to Jim and he plays with the stethoscope, the paper by the edge of the table changes positions between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Jim is by the window flashing his torch, the position which he holds it swaps from waist level to head level between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After Jim grabs the marbles, a boy with brown hair stands up, and a blonde one stays on the floor. When the angle changes they've swapped positions.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When the mosquito net is being put by the dead man's bed, the shoes on the floor keep changing position between shots.

Sacha

Jim: Amatus sum, amatus es, amatus est.

More quotes from Empire of the Sun

Trivia: When Jim returns home after losing his parents, his nanny slaps him. The actors had practiced a fake slap and fake reaction, but Spielberg and the actress playing the nanny conspired to make the slap real when the cameras were rolling, so Christian Bale's reaction would be genuine. Therefore, Bale is really being slapped, and his shocked reaction is no act.

Krista

More trivia for Empire of the Sun

Question: Can anyone who speaks Japanese tell me what Jim says to the guard who's beating up the doctor? He says a few lines, then bows. The guard seems embarrassed and walks away.

Krista

Chosen answer: The first time, Jim says "Nanika no machigai desu. Bokutachi wa minna tomodachi desu yone. Senso no sei desu." This roughly translates to "There has been some sort of mistake. We are all friends aren't we? It is the war's fault." The second time, Jim only says "Nanika no machigai desu. Bokutachi wa minna..." and then gets pushed aside. "There has been a mistake, we are all...". I hope that helps.

More questions & answers from Empire of the Sun

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.