The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964) - 37 major mistakes

Factual error: Solo blows open the ceiling vent of Illya and Marion's cell, and she stands on Illya's shoulders until Solo can reach her and pull her out. This leaves Illya with nothing/no one to stand on, no way to reach the vent and no apparent way out of the cell. But he's out just the same in the next scene, with no explanation as to how.

Factual error: Ole and all the Thrush baddies call the missing chemical component a "catalyzer," repeating the term throughout the episode. This was a scriptwriter's error, which only David McCallum, to his credit, corrected: he had Illya say "catalyst," which is what the writer meant. "Catalyzer" isn't a word.

Other: Solo seems to forget just who called whom when he calls Illya on the communicator. After Illya picks up, Solo answers as though Illya had called him instead.

Revealing: Every time the villains' deadly gas, "hydro," is mentioned, the word is badly and very obviously dubbed in, and doesn't match what the actors' lips are saying. This occurred because the original name used, "freon," turned out to be an existing (and patented) refrigerant gas, so the name had to be changed to avoid a trademark lawsuit.

Continuity: At the end, Solo and Illya are sitting at a small bistro table as the captured bad guys are marched past them. Solo wears a green fez, and between shots, Illya suddenly acquires a red one. It wasn't in his hands or on the table before that: it just seems to appear on his head out of nowhere.

Continuity: Solo & Illya are locked in a cell in the windowless baggage car. But all of the exterior shots of the train show it hauling only window-lined passenger cars, and no baggage car at all.

Factual error: Apparently, U.N.C.L.E. bullets can do 180s. Illya fires at the fleeing Thrush limo from behind, and without hitting any of its other (closed) windows, somehow puts two bullets through the car's front windshield.

Continuity: Stock footage strikes again. Delgado's plane changes from a blue and white 1960s aircraft to a 1950s-style silver prop job when it lands.

Continuity: When Solo begins trying to seduce the dancing girl with the line, "We shall taste paradise," he's standing at least a foot away from her. But in the very next shot, they're suddenly in a clinch: her hands are on his cheeks and they're about to kiss.

Revealing: Solo's boat is blown up by Strago's new superweapon. But stock footage used for the explosion is a little too obvious: the picture abruptly changes from color to black-and-white.

Continuity: In the intro, Illya gets into the car and as he's talking to Solo, finishes the last of his breakfast donut in close-up. When we cut to a two-shot, he finishes the donut all over again.

Revealing: Illya's stunt double during the balcony fight is painfully obvious: his face and bad wig are visible throughout the scene.

Visible crew/equipment: After George's hypnosis and brainwashing are complete, the boom slips into the shot at the upper right corner of the screen.

Plot hole: U.N.C.L.E.'s pen communicators worked much like modern cell phones: when one agent called another, they "rang" with a 2-tone signal. For some reason in this episode, Solo's pen, which isn't on an open circuit, transmits Illya's voice without ringing first. It signals normally a few scenes later, though.

Visible crew/equipment: As the bus door is pulled shut at the end, the glass in its window captures the reflection of a big round studio light.

Continuity: Solo picks up a book, The History of Pacifism, and shows it to Illya, holding it at the bottom. Cut to a close-up insert and his fingers have instantly migrated up to the middle of the book. Cut back to the wider shot, and he's no longer holding the book at all. It's back on the table.

Factual error: The jailed student protestors are dancing in their cell to a jazzy tune. But they have no radio or record player - just one guy with a guitar. They seem to have conjured the accompanying saxophone, jazz clarinets and percussion section out of thin air.

Continuity: The glass in the windshield of Solo and Illya's car is there, then not there, then there again and so on, depending on whether the shot is actually outdoors or processed in studio.

Revealing: Gardner and Illya are chained to a mine shaft post and the Thrush bad guys trigger a cave-in to seal them in. As the debris falls, you can see the entire "stone" wall behind them rock and wobble flimsily from side to side.

Continuity: A swarm of bees blackens the windshield of Solo & Illya's car. We see them in all the interior shots, but every time it cuts to an exterior view, the windshield is perfectly clear.