On the Beach

Trivia: Ava Gardner was not impressed with Melbourne which she regarded as a sleepy little backwater, but her supposed quote that it was "the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world." was a journalistic invention by a sub-editor on the Sydney Morning Herald.

Trivia: When Moira and Bill Davidson are strolling in the pasture, they pause to admire a beautiful mare that is posing for them, and Bill offers the horse something to eat from the palm of his hand (sugar cubes or some other treat, presumably, but it's not visible). However, the horse does not react to the treat nor eat anything that Bill offers, because the actor's hand was actually empty. The trained horse was obeying cues from her trainer, off-camera, and only her trainer carried the real treats.

Charles Austin Miller

Other mistake: According to the plot, no life is possible in the Northern Hemisphere by the time the film is set. Yet, when the sailor who has been sent ashore to look around the San Diego refinery enters the premises (more precisely, when we see the smoking-prohibited sign on our right and his left) a bird can be seen flying in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.

More mistakes in On the Beach

Morgan: They pushed us too far! They didn't think we'd fight, no matter what they did.
Julian Osborne: And they were wrong. We fought. We expunged them. And we didn't do such a bad job on ourselves.

More quotes from On the Beach

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.