Corrected entry: The military's security is ridiculously inadequate. After Gort subdues the only two GIs guarding him and the spaceship, the military encases Gort in solid material, but later still only two GIs guard him and the spaceship when Patricia Neal arrives. With a development of this magnitude the US military would probably seal off the city.
Corrected entry: The man from mars knows all about our warlike attitudes. He is surrounded by army men with all kinds of weapons aimed at him. He walks out of the saucer with his helmet on which makes him look spookier and then, for a smart advanced being, he pulls the stupidest stunt he can....pulls out a device that looks threatening and snaps open. Of course he got shot....I would've shot him myself.
Correction: Why is this a plot hole? The soldiers do exactly what you expect them to, and the plot continues logically from there. Klaatu may have been naive, or he may have been testing, but it's not a plot hole by any means.
Corrected entry: In the elevator, when the electricity comes on again, Klaatu says that the time should be 12:30; Helen checks her watch and confirms this. It's understandable that he left hospitals and planes with electricity, but he also made sure that people would know what time it was?
Correction: Why wouldn't he? It would certainly add to the fear and paranoia for people to see that the aliens can pick and choose what to stop.
Corrected entry: When Gort emerges from the spaceship and walks down the runway, as he walks, wrinkles and bends are quite visibly made in his 'metal' body. This happens in later parts of the movie as well. (00:10:15)
Correction: When in the film is it ever stated that Gort is made of rigid metal? How would he walk if he was? It is obviously some futuristic super-durable plastic, which flexes and bends as he walks, as Kevlar does.
Corrected entry: How was it possible for Klaatu, posing as Mr Carpenter to take a room in a guest house without paying any money as a deposit? Surely it is the norm to pay in advance before being given a room?
Correction: It's a guest house, similar to a bed-and-breakfast. They have weekly and daily rates, but I've never heard of one charging a deposit.
Corrected entry: When Klatuu is running away from the cab, the soldier shoots him in the back. When Gort brings him to the spaceship, we see blood on the left FRONT of his coat. (01:16:20 - 01:23:20)
Correction: The bullet probably went all the way through him so he would have blood on the front. Later in the spaceship after he's brought back to life, you can see the two bullet holes in his back.
Corrected entry: When Klaatu is in the hospital his room number changes. Instead of the 3 it becomes an 8.
Correction: I watched over and over, and never saw the room number change.
Corrected entry: Klaatu neutralizes the electricity all over the world for 30 minutes at high noon Washington DC time. The Sun however was shining brightly in England and Russia at that same moment in the film. (01:02:20)
Correction: This is possible, if the scene relates to the middle of summer then noon Washington DC time is 5pm in the UK and 8pm USSR time so it's quite possible to be bright and sunny - sunset in late June is around 9pm in London and 10pm in Moscow.
Corrected entry: Klaatu supposedly neutralised all the electricity on the Earth for 30 minutes, which would explain why gasoline-powered cars would stop, because the spark plugs wouldn't work. Diesel engines (used in many trucks and buses shown in the film), however, don't use sparkplugs, so they would keep running.
Correction: Diesel engines still use an electric stop solenoid on the pump to draw the fuel from the tank up to the injectors.
Correction: Http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/articles/3617/milestones-in-diesel-technology Diesel engines based on WW2 era technology used indirect injection and their fuel pumps were mechanically driven. Electric starter motors were widely used at that time however, so perhaps only diesel engines already running or so old that they could be started by mechanical means would have been operable. There still should have been a significant number of trucks and even some automobiles (i.e. Benz products) in operation.
Correction: Klaatu's technology could stop any human technology for the duration of the event, electrical or not; but his technology was extremely selective, such that airplanes didn't fall out of the sky, submarines didn't sink, and hospitals were unaffected. It was a powerful and complex demonstration designed to send a powerful and complex message.
Corrected entry: Gort kills two soldiers guarding him with his death ray without moving an inch. A few seconds later, Patricia Neal shows-up and the robot decides to chase her first and then almost use his death ray. Was it her skirt or the perfume that got Gort to move? (01:19:00)
Correction: She wasn't armed. There is a vague hint that Gort and Klaatu were telepathically linked, and it may have required "exposing" the laser for Gort to establish that Patricia's intent was not hostile.
Corrected entry: Klaatu states that he traveled 250 million miles. Yet, the nearest stars are trillions of miles away. Scientist at the time knew that Mars and Venus were unlikely to harbor life. (00:13:27)
Correction: While not strictly accurate, this was expected terminology for films at that time.
Correction: He was probably from Ceres, the dwarf planet in the asteroid belt.
Correction: One of the major themes of the movie is the hubris of government and military powers, who rely more on inertia than on prudent behavior. Yes, even *after* Gort thumps two guards, the response is to encase him in a new untested plastic and then go back to standard procedure, confident that he has been dealt with. The inadequacy of the response is what frustrates Klaatu throughout the film, so in that respect this is not a plot hole but an intentional theme.
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