The Birds

Continuity mistake: The windshield of a blue and white car that crashes into a stop sign gets broken on the left side. In the next shot as Melanie looks at it up close from the phone booth it's not broken. (01:26:30)

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Continuity mistake: Walking up the hill both sides of Melanie's collar are turned up by the wind. In the next shot at the top of the hill her collar is turned down. (00:48:10)

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Continuity mistake: In her room Melanie walks past a mirror that shows a reflection of the blanket on her bed. After she looks out the window at the pick-up truck she walks back and the lighting on the bed is turned off and the reflection is now dark. But if you look closely it's not dark enough to tell the bed has now been made up. (00:58:20)

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Continuity mistake: When Melanie looks out the window to see the gas station attendant attacked by the birds the coat hanger that was there earlier in the scene, next to the window, is gone. (01:24:30)

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Continuity mistake: As Mitch starts to run out of the restaurant the angle of the drapes to the left of the old drunk at the bar changes between shots. At first it's spread out more at the bottom, then up close it hangs straight down. (01:24:40)

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Continuity mistake: As Melanie parks in front of the school there's a big hunk of black tar on the rear quarter panel of her car behind the tire, that wasn't there in the previous shot. (01:08:15)

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Continuity mistake: As Melanie returns to Annie's house the sun is shining brightly overhead and not casting any shadows onto the front door. In the next shot as she rings the doorbell there are two distinct shadows of her on the house, one to her left and one to her right. (00:31:05)

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Continuity mistake: When we see Mitch's red barn up close the sun is not shining and there are clouds behind it. The next time we see it a few seconds later it's a bright sunshiny day with a blue sky behind it. (00:21:55)

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Continuity mistake: As Lydia walks into Mr. Faucet's room her shadow from the window in front of her falls on the wall to the right of the hallway. In the next shot looking at her coming through the door there's no shadow on the wall. (01:00:15)

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Continuity mistake: As they go up to the restaurant to get help Melanie says, "I had a booster before I went abroad last May" and the background changes abruptly between shots. (00:26:15)

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Continuity mistake: The flashlight is aiming right at the doorknob before Melanie walks into the room. In the next shot, as she walks through the door (before they turn the spotlight on) there's no light because the flashlight is off and isn't pointing at the doorknob. (01:47:30)

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Continuity mistake: How does Tippi Hedren (Melanie), every time she is attacked by birds, manage to get to a top-notch hairdresser before the next scene? Melanie's hair changes many times in consecutive shots throughout the film.

Continuity mistake: In the scene with the policeman, Melanie suggests that she should stay for the night. Look closely at the mantle above the fireplace to in the right of the picture there is a jar with something sticking out of it. In the previous shot this jar is empty. (00:55:55 - 00:57:45)

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Continuity mistake: As they look across the bay at Mitch's house, the store manager changes position between shots. He moves closer to Melanie as he asks her if she wants him to order a boat for her. (00:14:10)

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Continuity mistake: The body of the gas station attendant moves to the left between shots, as Mitch runs to help him, and Mitch's position changes after he runs to help. (01:24:55)

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Continuity mistake: Annie's body changes position on her front steps. At first her head is on the edge of the sidewalk and Mitch doesn't move her. Then after he runs to get Cathy he comes back and covers her with his jacket and her head moved about six inches from the edge of the gravel sidewalk. (01:30:20 - 01:31:35)

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Continuity mistake: When Annie turns to look at Lydia coming out of the house there are no shadows against the side of the house where the door is. In the next shot there's a shadow of a balloon there and the shadows on the back wall are spaced closer together. (00:51:50)

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Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie when Mitch catches the yellow bird under his hat take a good look at the injury (subungual hematoma) he has under his left thumb nail. It takes weeks for these to go away, but Mitch's is gone when we see his left thumb again as he holds Melanie in the kitchen. (01:02:15)

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Continuity mistake: Before Lydia walks up to Mr. Faucet's door the day is overcast with no sunlight shining underneath his porch. As she walks through the door it looks as though she's in bright sunlight with her shadow casts on the screen door. (00:59:25)

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Continuity mistake: As Lydia sits in her bed and says to Melanie, "I don't think I can bear to be left alone" watch the picture behind the door to the right of Melanie. The shadow of the door on the picture changes from the right to left between shots. (01:07:00)

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Continuity mistake: A blond boy in a light brown shirt is attacked by a crow and goes from having no blood on his neck to having a lot of blood smeared on his neck between shots. (01:14:10)

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More mistakes in The Birds
More quotes from The Birds

Trivia: When we see the school children running away from the birds, they were actually running on a treadmill with Bodega Bay footage added in the background.

More trivia for The Birds

Question: When the birds attack the town a gas station attendant is hit by a bird and drops the gas hose he is using to fill a car. The gasoline flows down the street and under a car; a man drops a match and lights the gas causing an explosion. Why didn't the gas pump shut off when the man dropped it?

michael g

Answer: The movie takes place in the 1960s, so presumably gas pumps worked a bit differently back then. This is also a small town and probably the gas station had not modernized. There may not have been automatic shut-offs, or if there was, it was faulty.

raywest

The automatic shut off is in the handle of the hose. When a person grips the handle they have to lift a levered switch to allow gas flow; the lever is spring loaded so that if it is released the gas will stop flowing. I have looked at older antique gas pumps and they are all the same; even the visible glass gravity flow ones. If that hose was dropped the the gas should have stopped flowing.

michael g

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