Mistakes in Citizen Kane

Mistake #1

In the scene with the lovely dancing ladies, Cotten blows cigar smoke just before a cut to him from the opposite angle. From this angle there is no smoke. This takes place just before Wells throws his jacket to Cotten.

Mistake #2

When Kane and Susan are speaking in their mansion, Susan is busying herself with jigsaw puzzles. The wide shot shows the jigsaw puzzle almost completed, but Susan's close-up shows the jigsaw puzzle in pieces.

Mistake #3

To save money during the beach picnic scene, Welles used stock footage from King Kong (1933) for the jungle background. You can quite clearly see pterodactyls flying in the background (confirmed on DVD commentary).

Mistake #4

When we see the Spanish newspaper reporting the death of Kane, the title says "el Sr. Kane se Murio". No self-respecting newspaper would omit the accent on "muri�". Also, Kane was supposedly a worldwide household word, so he would never deserve "el Sr.". Finally, the colloquial "se" is out of place in a printed title such as this. The title should simply be "Muri� Kane".

Mistake #5

When the Parrot (or whatever bird it is) cries in a close-up, one can see straight through his eyes onto the sea in the background. Probably a mistake in an optical printer.