National Velvet

National Velvet (1944)

20 mistakes

(1 vote)

Continuity mistake: When Velvet and her mother are sitting and talking in the attic, her mother pours some gold coins into Velvet's lap. Velvet is sitting back on her feet, but a few seconds later, she raises up on her knees to hug her mother. The coins should go spilling everywhere, but we never see or hear them.

Continuity mistake: When Velvet is standing with Mr. and Mr. Edes after they catch the Pie at the beginning, from one angle both her hands are on the bridle, but from the reverse angle, her left hand is on the Pie's muzzle.

Krista

Continuity mistake: At one point towards the end of the Grand National, the horses are seen running the wrong way around the track - clockwise, instead of counterclockwise.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Velvet is talking to her mother in the bedroom, her mother puts her hand on top of Velvet's hands. But in the next few shots, her hand is on Velvet's wrist, and Velvet's hands go from being one on top of the other to folded from shot to shot.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Velvet and Mi get in the cart to go to Mr. Edes's farm, Velvet is sitting on the left and Mi is sitting on the right. But when we next see the cart, Velvet is on the right and Mi is on the left. They only have the one delivery to make, and it's not established that they have any reason to have gotten out of the cart.

Krista

Continuity mistake: In the first scene in the schoolhouse, it looks like the youngest girls are sitting in the front row, and the girls get older each row that goes back. (Velvet is in the second row and her sister, who's in her last year of school, is in the back row and the girls in each row apper to be the same age.) But in the scene the following winter - the next school year - Velvet is sitting in the first row.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Velvet falls off the Pie, the position in which the stunt double lands on the ground doesn't match the position Elizabeth Taylor is in when it cuts to her rolling to a stop.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Velvet is running out the door for school after sitting up all night, she throws her scarf over her shoulder twice - first in her close-up, then again in the wide shot.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Edwina is folding up the Pie's horse blanket, she places it over her left arm. But in the very next shot it's suddenly over her right arm.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Velvet jumps in front of the Pie at the beginning to keep him from running away, she says "Whoa Pie." But Mr. Edes has not yet called the horse a pirate which leads to his unusual name. Given in the film the horse is chestnut-coloured, she can't be referring to his colour.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Velvet sits down next to her mother in the attic, she sits sort of behind her, near her elbow. But for the close-ups, Velvet's suddenly moved around to her mother's front for a more comfortable eyeline.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Velvet is talking about her father getting rid of the pie, in the wide shot she's barely touching the horse at all. But in the closeups, she has both arms cradling his face.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Velvet is riding the Pie for the first time, they ride past Mi, and Velvet has her crop in her left hand. But in the next shot when she turns around to ride beside Mi, the crop is in her right hand.

Krista

Plot hole: After The Pie runs away and breaks the delivery cart, Velvet jumps on Miss Ada (the family's cart horse) to chase after him. It seems very convenient that Miss Ada, whose only job is to pull the cart, is standing untied in the yard wearing a riding bridle, just waiting for Velvet to jump on.

Krista

Continuity mistake: After Mi returns the money he stole, he takes a carrot back to the white horse in the barn. The horse pricks up its ears and sticks its nose out for the carrot long before Mi is actually close enough for the carrot to be seen or smelled - obviously not the first take.

Continuity mistake: Mi leads Velvet and the Pie onto the track, then unties the lead line and lets them go. But when it cuts to the wide shot, Mi is suddenly nowhere to be seen.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Velvet is hugging Edwina goodbye, her hands are up on Edwina's shoulders in the wide shot, but in the close-up, they're suddenly down.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Mr. and Mrs. Brown talk about hiring Mi, Mrs. Brown is writing in a ledger. Her left hand goes from being flat on the table, to pointing at a page to hold her place, to flat on the page, to pointing again, to back on the table in successive shots.

Krista

Revealing mistake: When Velvet and Mi are talking to the jockey in the pub, there is a blackboard behind him listing the menu. However, all the writing is backwards. The film negative apparently got flipped, in this print at least, resulting in a reversed image. This is the only scene where reversed lettering is seen.

raywest

Donald Brown: I was sick all night.
Malvolia "Mally" Brown: That's a lie, Donald. You weren't sick.
Donald Brown: I could've been sick if I wanted to.

More quotes from National Velvet

Trivia: After filming, the studio gave Elizabeth Taylor the horse that played The Pie, as a gift.

More trivia for National Velvet

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