Death on the Nile

Continuity mistake: When Poirot and Race enter the doctor's room to check on Simon Doyle, they find him unconscious on the bed. There's a shelf behind the bed with a few books and amongst them the cable of the bedside lamp switch, all tangled up. They revive Doyle, and the cord with its switch dangles off the shelf, on the pillow. Throughout the whole scene now, the cable and switch keep getting on/off the shelf. (01:19:50)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Jacqueline moves towards Poirot at the end of the interview with Bowers; her vest is open in the first shot, but in the second, consecutive shot she has her hand in her pocket and her other arm across to keep it closed. (01:17:40)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When the doctor leaves Linnet's room saying he's outraged by Poirot's allegations, the cabinet to the left is closed, but in the reaction shot on Poirot and Race (and in the rest of the scene) the cabinet is open. (01:11:35)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: In the longshot where the maid approaches Mrs. Doyle's cabin, the shadows of the deck above reach just the highest part of the starboard cabin doors. When she shouts and runs to get help, the shadows cover the whole louvered top half of the doors. (01:06:50)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When the doctor creepily shuts the door behind him to have a tete-a-tete with Linnet, in the side view his hands are in front of his belly, in a stance entirely different from the front view where his arms are down his sides. (00:53:25)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Mrs. Ottenbourne is in the background while her daughter and the mysterious marxist are getting acquainted. She begins at one point shouting, putting an end to the conversation as Rosalie rushes to her. The rambling shout happens across two shots, and Ferguson's hand is in a different spot on the book. (00:44:00)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Poirot and the other tourists are walking in the section of the temple of Karnak with the ram statues, they cast shadows towards the right of the screen, their left. The action focuses on Salome extolling the priapic virtues of the beasts, and the shadow she and the professor cast is at their back. (00:42:30)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Poirot and race play checkers while Pennington tries to swindle Linnet, a single piece lies at the side of the board in the wide angle, but in the closer views you can count 3. (00:36:05)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Pennington sits at Linnet's table and begins putting down contracts to sign. David Niven in the background looks at him, closed fist below the nose, but in the next shot he's staring at him stroking his temple and moustache, and at the following cut he changed position again. (00:36:20)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Poirot tells Jackie "Turn your back on the past", Mia Farrow is wiping her neck, but in the next shot her handkerchief is pressed against the cheek instead. (00:23:25)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Ferguson says that he's "observing the decline of the capitalist system", he holds 'Das Kapital' at the top corner. His hand moved from the position in the previous shot, which was at the bottom of the same side, and changes again at the cut and switches back and forth as the angles alternate. (00:17:15)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: On the Neter Menkaura pyramid, Linnet shouts; "She's following us about, deliberately" in a close-up with all the hair in front of her shoulders, contrasting with the previous angle, where her hair was behind the shoulders. (00:12:55)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Linnet and Simon reach the pyramids, their horses change abruptly position as they dismount to tie them to the stone, and change distance again at the next overhead shot. (00:11:00)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Mia Farrow begins running towards her friend Linnet holding a box of sweets in her left hand. The next shot shows her holding it with both hands, and then she switches to just the left. (00:04:50)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Bette Davis' character bids farewell saying that the place resembles a mortuary, Maggie Smith next to her holds her bag to her chest, but in the next shot she is also holding her suitcase with the same hand. (02:16:40)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: The streak of blood on Simon's neck changes from the first time we see it to the time when the second gunshot is fired. (02:15:25)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Salome Otterbourne says she knows who killed Louise Bourget with her own eyes. She waves dramatically her left hand as she says that, and lowers it. Next shot and her hand am raised again, and it's not even the left. (01:49:30)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When the doctor arrives at the second murder scene and shouts "Killings, killings!", David Niven by the door is in pose with his arms crossed, and at the cut he has one hand on his knee and the other on the opposite hip. (01:46:40)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: The pool of blood by the maid's sleeve extends at a different length in the different shots when they find her body. (01:45:10)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Race ends up putting the stained handkerchief to (his) left of the gun, but in the close-up of the table the cloth is on the derringer's right. (01:30:30)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Bette Davis has lost her shawl there is a shot of her and Maggie Smith from far away. They talk about the time and in the background Angela Lansbury is drinking. She puts down her glass and leans her head on her hand. Then the shot changes to a close-up of Bette Davis and Maggie Smith and you can see Angela Lansbury in the background, with the glass in her hand, just about to take a drink. (00:55:05)

More mistakes in Death on the Nile

Mrs. Van Schuyler: You need a nice cool holiday, I was thinking of a trip along the Gobi Desert.

More quotes from Death on the Nile
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