Thunderball

Continuity mistake: When the Disco Volante separates to escape the cruisers firing on it, the "cocoon" is seen facing the pursuing ships stern-first. When the shot changes to show the gunners firing on the ships, the back half of the "cocoon" has turned completely around. The gunners are firing from the separated mid-section of the Volante, and the stern of the "cocoon" is now facing away from the cruisers, making it easy to see which parts of the scene were filmed live and which were done in the studio.

demodon

Continuity mistake: When Bond is escaping from the island after he finds the girl is dead, he comes out of a basement/cellar and opens the hatch door. He runs off without shutting it, but when, in the next cut, his followers reach the door, it is now shut. (01:15:20)

Sarmed Mirza

Thunderball mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When James Bond is fighting underwater with an opponent, the opponent rips off James' diving mask (which is blue). Then, James rips another mask off another opponent who is lying dead on the ocean floor. This dead opponent's mask is black. James puts on the black mask, and then he turns around, and the mask is blue again. (01:57:10)

Continuity mistake: When Bond is being chased through the parade, they show the float with the girls on it. In the background, behind it as it rolls by, is a red sign that says "The Perfume Shop". Later, Bond is seen running up to the float and going inside of it to hide. When Fiona runs up to the float and sees the blood on it, the red sign is still visible, which means it was not really moving in the parade at all.

Continuity mistake: When Bond and Domino are walking along the beach in shallow water, Domino stands on a poison quill spine with her right foot. But when is Bond sucking the poison out, he does so from her left foot because Domino displays the injured foot as the left one.

Continuity mistake: Just after James Bond and Domino leave the gaming table to sit at a table to order, the two views of her back shows that she is holding a cigarette in her right hand that is not lit, but in the two views facing her the cigarette is lit with smoke. (00:51:55)

Continuity mistake: Bond opens the door to the bathroom, and finds Fiona Volpe in the bath. He stands by the door, and when he's talking takes a step forward. The next shot, he's standing by the door again.

Continuity mistake: Bond swims to the beach after inspecting the underside of the Disco Valante for the first time. As he walks out onto the shore, he is carrying his fins and he is wearing a red wetsuit jacket, black shorts and has a knife scabbard attached to his right leg. In this shot it is also clear to see that he is barefoot. He tosses the fins aside and unzips his jacket to remove it. After a quick edit he is tossing the jacket aside and he is now inexplicably wearing shoes and has somehow lost the diver's knife scabbard attached to his leg. There was no way to have acquired the shoes and lost the scabbard in that instant.

Continuity mistake: When Domino is on the beach with 007 she is given a dog tag belonging to her deceased brother, in one shot she has both hands on the tag and moves her right arm to the sandy floor but midway through a sentence the shot turns to a different angle where she has both arms on the tag again.

Continuity mistake: During the underwater fight scene at the end, Largo does not have his eye patch on under his diving mask, but when he comes onto the Disco Volante he has his mask on his forehead with the eye patch underneath.

Continuity mistake: When Bond is examining the canal behind Palymra and he comes swimming, he has bare feet. But when he climbs the stairs from the water he is wearing shoes.

Jacob La Cour

Continuity mistake: In the car scene where Bond escapes, Fiona did not have a cigarette lighter in her hand, but instead the gun with which she held James Bond. He grabs her hand with the cigarette lighter and moves it near the flame, but if that's the case she still would have had a free hand to shoot him with.

Continuity mistake: When James Bond is inside the plane that is underwater, just before he goes to remove the facemask of the dead pilot Angelo, watch closely as Bond is holding a torch in his left hand and he is about to remove the mask with his right hand, but in the next shot, it is Bond's left hand hand that removes the mask and the torch is nowhere to be seen.

Will

Continuity mistake: When 007 is diving and fights with some divers his diving mask changes colour from blue to orange.

Continuity mistake: When James Bond is being chased through the carnival parade he has already been shot in the calf and you can see the bloodstain on his trousers. Later in the scene as he is jumping onto one of the floats to escape, the blood stain is on the opposite leg and his hand.

Continuity mistake: When 007 is trying to escape from the Disco Volante, having taken underwater pictures, you see the speedboat come into contact with the oxygen tanks that 007 is using, as he is spun round you can see that the tanks are undamaged, but when one of Largo's henchmen pulls the tanks out of the water, the tank on the right hand side is damaged.

Will

Continuity mistake: In one scene, Bond and Leiter have landed the helicopter on the sea and Bond dives down to search for the Vulcan watch Leiter. One moment he is wearing long pants, the next moment shorts, and the next long pants again.

Continuity mistake: There is an underwater love scene between Sean Connery and Claudine Auger. The air hose on Claudine Auger's scuba tank switches from one side to the other during the scene.

More mistakes in Thunderball

James Bond: My dear, uncooperative Domino.
Domino: How do you know that? How do you know my friends call me Domino?
James Bond: It's on the bracelet on your ankle.
Domino: So... what sharp little eyes you've got.
James Bond: Wait 'til you get to my teeth.

More quotes from Thunderball

Trivia: While recording the title song, Tom Jones asked the songwriter what the phrase "strikes like Thunderball" actually meant. The composer admitted he hadn't the slightest clue.

More trivia for Thunderball

Question: As I watched the end scene I wondered: how do James and Domino intend to return to terra firma? They were whisked out of the boat by the plane and are hanging on the end of a long cord so the plane can't land without them being dragged at high speed along the concrete.

Answer: Look up Skyhook online and you'll find out how it was done. The person hanging from the cable wold be pulled aboard by the plane's crew.

Answer: A helicopter could lower a line to them to attach themselves to. They could then cut the rope and be lowered to safety. A bit outlandish, but this is Bond we are talking about after all.

Grumpy Scot

More questions & answers from Thunderball

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