Continuity mistake: The protagonist tosses the dead hare between Lord Summerisle and Miss Rose. Christopher Lee sarcastically remarks that Willow loved March hares; Diane Cilento holds the goblet with her fingers horizontal, but at the next cut her index is up diagonally.
Continuity mistake: The blood trickling from Sergeant Howie's mouth in the finale changes length, in particular when he is helpless in a full nelson - in close-up it's almost halved in size.
Continuity mistake: When Rowan begins to run away, she has a head start on Howie, but at the first cut he's still leading her with a hand on her back like he was doing when he had just released her.
Continuity mistake: Punch is forcefully put in line for the 'game'; there are two girls in front of him, but at the cut only one remains.
Continuity mistake: Three women begin to repeatedly prod with sticks Howie dressed as Punch. In the very first shot, the one before they break out from the group to rush him, the natural light is different, as shown by the different angle of the shadows.
Continuity mistake: Back at the post office/sweets shop, Howie witnesses a bizarre bit of 'traditional medicine' involving a frog. The animal is held in close-up in a different way than in the first shot - the position of the last 3 fingers changes. Moreover, despite the spoken lines overlapping between shots giving the impression of continuity, the candy jar appears out of thin air, since the woman had just barely put the frog away in the other box.
Continuity mistake: In the former churchyard, Sergeant Howie walks past a woman breastfeeding and holding an egg. He looks at two mostly empty crates of fruit; the one on the right rotates 90° between shots as he approaches it.
Continuity mistake: When Sergeant Howard checks out the school register, he follows the line pertaining Rowan with his finger. His finger has gone quite a way towards the center of the book, but in the reverse shot the hand is at the edge.
Continuity mistake: Howie chalks up on the blackboard the name of the missing girl, Rowan Morrison. He then notices the empty desk and walks towards it. Now look at the blackboard in the background; the writing changed - the shape of the Rs in "Morrison" being the most conspicuous difference.
Continuity mistake: Sergeant Howie is being quite critical about the food quality at the inn. Willow tells him that he can have "peaches and cream", and he replies "Aye, from a can I suppose." The beer fills his mug up to the top section of the handle. Brief cut to Britt Ekland, and in the next shot Howie's mug is half empty even if he didn't have time to drink - nor it is implied he moved at all, the position is the same.
Continuity mistake: Sergeant Howie cuts short the bawdy song at the pub banging an ashtray on the counter. You can then notice that in the wider shots the scarf at the neck of the owner of the pub is positioned differently compared to the closer views; a bit of it is untucked/tucked into the collar.
Continuity mistake: After the part when the song mentions the 'toes' of the Landlord's Daughter, there's a bit when a burly bearded man gets behind Willow and bumps his large literal pouch against her rear, performing pelvic thrusts while his hands are kept at the height of his shoulder. Cut (during the song, played continuously) and his hands are joined above his head.
Continuity mistake: During "The landlord's daughter", the protagonists starts to realise something is quite a bit weird once one of the patrons mentions the parts that stand 'at attention'. In the background, Willow's dad walked to the right and is facing away from the crowd, but in the next close-up on Edward Woodward, he's behind him and smoking facing him.
Continuity mistake: The protagonists are in the back of the post office to see Myrtle. She is using as model one of the chocolate hares. After the first close-up on the drawing, when her mum leaves, the hare is gone, and it is back at the next cut. (00:10:55)
Continuity mistake: When Howie is saying Mrs Morrison is not dead, the little girl Myrtle has both her hands tucked under her chin. In the next shot she has nearly halfway through a piece of cake.
Continuity mistake: When Willow is doing the nude dance scene, the ring on Howie's finger changes from right to left hand and back again.The parting on Howie's hair also changes sides.
Continuity mistake: In the extended version of the film, in the scene at the police station, Officer McTaggart is reading the letter to Sgt. Howie about the missing girl on Summerisle. There's a photo of the girl included with the letter, which McTaggart holds in his right hand to look at. The next shot is a close up of the photo, which shows it being held in the left hand. The next shot of McTaggart holding the photo again shows the photo in his right hand.
Answer: He would likely die from the heat or smoke inhalation long before the wood would deteriorate enough for him to fall out. The film also makes a point to show that Howie has given up trying to fight the villagers and has accepted his fate, so even if he could have forced his way out he no longer had the will to do so.
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