Carry On Up the Khyber

Continuity mistake: During the bombardment of the British Consulate, there are several continuity errors, including a self-repairing window and blind situated behind the piano. And it cannot be put down to the nature of the film because several errors have been carefully avoided.

David Mercier

Continuity mistake: During the battle towards the end of the film, Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond tells Captain Keene to line up his men and you can see that the collar on Keene's uniform is fastened. In the next shot, Keene is fastening up his collar again.

Continuity mistake: About 30 minutes away from the end, Brother Belcher can be seen walking past the gates. Then, when he's 1 yard away from the gates just to make sure it's all clear for him to go, he gets a bullet that flies out of nowhere. When the bullet hits his hat, the hat shoots upward and out of shot. In the wide shot of all the gates and the walls, there is no sign of his hat.

Audio problem: When Sid James comes out of the building, in the scene at the end with the big fight, a man comes up to him and Sid asks, "You wish to see me?" Just before this, you see him mouth the words to that line.

James Warrender

Other mistake: The fight at the end is unintentionally quite funny for the lack of enthusiasm shown by the extras playing the Burpers. They engage the British soldiers with some half-hearted fighting that's little more than jostling, and when they disengage the fight supposedly in fear and panic at seeing the "Men in Skirts" reveal themselves, most of them are quite slow and calm as they try and get through the narrow gate to escape.

Andrew Upton

Revealing mistake: Whilst imprisoned by the Burpers, Brother Belcher calls to one of the guards. The guard's supposed to have many missing teeth, but they have just been very obviously blacked to simulate this (a very common film or theatre trick, but usually not this obvious).

Andrew Upton

Continuity mistake: As the fake chiefs escape over a wall in the palace, the door they locked is shown being battered down by Burpers. From the inside shot it takes noticeable damage, and begins to come away from the wall on the hinged side. However, when the fakir opens it from the other side everything is now fixed, and it opens just fine, no signs of damage.

Andrew Upton

Revealing mistake: Look at the table when the fakir's "severed" head is revealed during dinner at the end. It noticeably wobbles and moves about when he talks, showing his body is hidden underneath.

Andrew Upton

Continuity mistake: When everyone sits down to dinner during the battle, a part of the ceiling collapses and the dust falls on to Sid James's shoulder. The dust mark changes size throughout the scene.

Continuity mistake: When Brother Belcher is horrified to see the Fakir's head being served during the dinner sequence, the dust stains on the shoulders of his dinner jacket change between shots.

Continuity mistake: When Bungdit Din yells "Fire!" to commence the attack on the palace, he is holding his sword in his right hand. In the next shot, he is holding the sword with both hands.

Continuity mistake: Lady Ruff-Diamond is covered in plaster during the dinner sequence, but when we see her drinking her glass of wine with the others, she is spotlessly clean.

Continuity mistake: During the dinner party sequence, a bullet strikes the wine bottle that Sir Sidney is holding and his dinner jacket shirt is covered in red wine. When the orchestra stop playing, we cut to Sir Sidney and his shirt is spotlessly clean.

Continuity mistake: Brother Belcher is shown ducking under the water line in the fountain when he and the others are revealed as the fake chiefs. When the shot cuts to the side, he is above the water line again but now completely wet. Then the shot cuts to the front again and he is shown coming up from below the waterline.

Andrew Upton

Factual error: The revolvers carried and used by Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond, Captain Keene and Sergeant Major Mcnutt throughout the film (and particularly at the end fight) are Webley MkVI's, not introduced into the British Army until 1915, 20 years after the film is set. Additionally, the holsters Keene and Mcnutt carry them in are webbing holsters, not introduced until well after WW1 (1914-1918).

Andrew Upton

Factual error: After finding the soldiers slaughtered at the Khyber Pass, Sergeant Major Mcnutt and Private Widdle try to see off the Burpers with a "Maxim". The Maxims in use at this time look nothing like the gun they use, which appears to be loosely based on a Gatling gun. Additionally, it's mounted on a MkIV tripod, not introduced to the British Army until 1906, 11 years after the film is set.

Andrew Upton

Captain Keene: Fire at will.
Brother Belcher: Poor old Will, why do they always fire at him?

More quotes from Carry On Up the Khyber

Trivia: During the dinner scene towards the end of the film, a piece of plaster falls from the ceiling onto Lady Ruff Diamond who says, "Oh dear! I seem to have got a little plastered!" Joan Sims ad-libbed this line.

More trivia for Carry On Up the Khyber

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.