Raiders of the Lost Ark

Continuity mistake: After the door to the Well of Souls is opened, Indy and Sallah take a sneak peek at the inside, immediately after, from a new angle, Indy sneaks in again.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The morning after Indy makes out with Marion, when he goes to check why the boat engines have stopped, the position of her hands, the wrinkles on the blanket and the dress behind the bed change positions between angles.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Indy walks to the hill where the ark is, holding a shovel that keeps facing different directions depending on the camera angle. Also, Indy holds it either by its black metal part or by the wooden stick. This all changes back and forth.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the map room, Indy places his brush facing a 9 o'clock direction. A frame later it faces a 6 o'clock.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the map room, Indy brushes the sand off of a stone, leaving a clean horizontal trail. A frame later, in the close-up, the upper left part above the trail is suddenly clean.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Belloq traps Indy in the Well of Souls the sky keeps swapping between a dim yellow dawn sky, and a brilliant morning blue sky.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the bar, the Nazi plays with the fireplace and threatens Marion, who takes a cigarette to her lips. A frame later, her hand is in a totally different position.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After Marion's been thrown in the Well of Souls, a net and pair of sticks over the crate behind Belloq appear or disappear randomly between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After the kids save Indy at the bar, he exits and there's a man on the right carrying a load on his shoulder. He appears and disappears randomly depending on the angle.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indy's crew is lifting the stone door to access the Well of Souls, big clouds of white smoke come out from every corner. A frame later, from a wider angle, they're gone.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: About to grab the idol, Indy passes a stick over a pile of sand on the ground which has a leaf on the center. A frame later the leaf is on the left side.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After the guy with the patch and the monkey greets the Nazis, Marion and Indy are seen walking through town, passing by an arched door. A frame later, from a different angle, they are passing by again and the amount of people around has increased.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the marketplace standoff between Indy and his would-be attacker, in shots from behind Indy, he's facing one way, but in frontwards shots, he's facing a different way and when it cuts back to behind him, he's facing the other way again.

Clerk13

Revealing mistake: While Indy and Marion are in the Well of Souls, and they encounter the snakes, Indy falls to the ground only to be confronted by a hissing Cobra rearing its head. Look carefully and you'll see the snake's reflection on the safety glass between it and Indy. Briefly you can also see the torch's reflection while he's waving it around. You can also see Marion's reflection when she falls in later on and is face to face with the cobra. [This has been corrected in the new DVD set. You can only see it if you have the original VHS. I think it's visible in the "making of" on the DVD as well.]

More mistakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indy: There's a big snake in the plane, Jock!
Jock: Oh, that's just my pet snake Reggie.
Indy: I hate snakes, Jack! I HATE 'EM!
Jock: Oh, come on! Show a little backbone, will ya?

More quotes from Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark trivia picture

Trivia: In the Well of Souls, you can see hieroglyphics of C3PO and R2D2 on the wall.

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Question: After the scene where Indy first goes onto the German U-boat, he runs around apparently looking for something, then the scene changes to the inside of the sub where you can hear that the order has been given to dive. Was there an actual scene cut out of the film where Indy lashes himself to the periscope? (When Raiders first came out in Aus, I vividly remember seeing it with this scene.)

Answer: The scene you describe was indeed filmed. It was cut out of the US release of the film although I cannot speak for the Australian version. The scene also appears in the Marvel Comics adaptation. http://www.theraider.net/films/raiders/deleted_scenes.php has a list of this and the other deleted scenes.

Phil C.

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