Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Revealing mistake: Johnny Depp's and Orlando Bloom's stunt doubles, Tony Angelotti (Jack) and Mark Aaron Wagner (Will), not only fight each other's 'alter ego' as well as other pirates and soldiers, they also duel directly with each other in the blacksmith shop in many shots. They are also too obvious in the scenes on Isla de Muerta, and during the rescue of Jack from the gallows, as they run and fight the Marines. There are notable differences between the two Jacks and two Wills within all the shots, throughout the film. (00:24:45 - 02:07:00)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Barbossa looks through his telescope at Interceptor, before Jack says, "I'm having a thought..." she's a good distance away from the Pearl and all her sails are out. Then in most of the wide and close-up shots of Interceptor, some of the sails differ at the bow and stern. Sails raised in one shot, are lowered in another, then some raised again and also some are raised but blowing wildly, then in the successive shot, it's down and still. Their proximity varies throughout and there are way too many changes between shots. (01:20:45)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When the pirates arrive on shore at Port Royal, Ragetti and Pintel are standing in front of the boats. Ragetti has his false wood eye in his hand, as he sharpens the 'iris' with his knife point. As he does so, the eye socket does not look empty in this shot, only covered. (00:30:45)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Jack walks down the dock to the Interceptor, Murtogg and Mullroy are sitting with sacks, crates and barrels in a deep shadow, but the sun is seen afar. A few shots later, after they intercepted him, those same sacks, crates and barrel are brightly lit by the sun. The shots were probably filmed at different times of the day. (00:11:45)

Sereenie

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Revealing mistake: Norrington says, "Gillette, Mr. Sparrow has a dawn appointment with the gallows..." and he's standing at the dock. When he says the name Gillette, there is an unobstructed view. Behind Norrington to HIS right is the bottom part of the mountain's rocky cliffside and we do not see Dauntless moored. At this angle the Dauntless should be seen, though the digital editors neglected to add it. (00:20:30)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Jack hides behind a statue outside the blacksmith shop. The soldiers run past a woman and her vegetable cart whose wheels are closest to the blacksmith shop. After Jack removes his sword, he looks around the courtyard. The cart's legs are now closest to the blacksmith shop and the wheels are now at the other end, the complete opposite of how the cart was positioned in the first shot. (00:20:35)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After cutting the corset, Jack picks up the medallion in a close-up shot of Elizabeth and her hand is next to her head. In the next wide shot, as Norrington rushes over, her arm is stretched out, up past her head. In this wide shot, the neckline of her slip is different than the two close-ups, before and after. In her next close-up, her hand is back near her head again. (00:16:45)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Will goes to the fort and pleads with Norrington to find and save Elizabeth. On the table are two distinct feather quills. They're in different positions in the wide shot and in the close-up when Will slams the axe down on the map. Also, in that wide shot, there is a small bottle in front of the quill holder, whereas in the close-up, the small bottle isn't there. (00:41:40)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the beginning, after the young Will is pulled on board, when Will says his name, the medallion is protruding out of his shirt. After young Elizabeth tells him, "I'm watching over you Will," in the next shot of Will, the medallion is completely hidden in his shirt, and his position differs between shots. (00:03:50)

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: At the opening of the scene in the cave of treasures, Jack lifts up a well endowed golden statue, looks at it awhile and tosses it back into the pile, as he clues Will with talk of honesty and dishonesty. Later in the scene, Jack and Barbossa are fighting in front of that same pile and the golden statue that Jack had thrown earlier is now sitting upright behind the chandelier. (01:51:40 - 01:52:40)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Elizabeth is hiding from the pirates in the closet, and the pirates first enter the room, you can see that the carpet is folded back (from her opening the door) quite a bit. When the pirates see the carpet pushed back and know where Elizabeth is hiding, just a small corner of the carpet is pushed back. (00:33:35)

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As the soldiers are firing at Jack after his escape, he runs across the footbridge. In the far wide shot, he crosses the center of the bridge and passes the man with the sack on his back. In the next close-up shot, Jack is just getting to the center of the bridge and starts to pass the man with the sack on his back. (00:20:20)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: During the pirate attack on Port Royal, Will opens the door of the blacksmith shop, just as Jacoby runs past chasing a woman, and to Will's right, three men run up the stairs into the alcove as Will takes out his axe to start after Jacoby. In the very next wide shot of Will and the alcove, those three men aren't seen at all, but as soon as Will lifts the axe over his head to throw, one of those men from the previous shot is seen running up some stairs, past a shop. (00:31:10)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Jack chases after the monkey on the broken mast leading across to the Black Pearl. When he gets there, Barbossa says, "Why thank you, Jack." Barbossa's left arm is up and he's holding the rope. In that first shot, much of his white sleeve is out. In the next shot of Barbossa, the white sleeve is mostly covered. Then in his next shot, much of the white sleeve is out again. (01:29:50)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Jack and Elizabeth are on the island Jack lifts the hatch to the underground cache of rum. In the first shot from below, the top stair is visible at the opening above. In the next shot from above the design/shape of the top stair is very different. Bramble disappears between shots as well. (01:36:00)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Elizabeth asks, "Well, then can't we lose them amongst those shoals?" in the front shot, her hair is in front of her shoulders and in the side shot, her hair is behind her shoulder, on her back. This occurs many times throughout the film with Elizabeth's loose, long hair - wet and dry, such as on the dock, after Jack rescues her in Port Royal, and after Will rescues her when they board the Interceptor. (01:21:40)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Pintel yells out, "How do we tell?" and his jacket is covering a reasonable amount of the white shirt underneath. In the next shot of him when he's shot by Barbossa, more of the white shirt is visible, so the bullet hole can be seen. (01:12:50)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Elizabeth first boards the Black Pearl, in some shots the end of the sleeves of her white nightgown are seen with the sleeves of her floral robe, yet in some shots the white sleeves don't show. Also in some shots, when the white sleeves do show, the amount of white sleeve varies. (00:38:00)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the blacksmith's shop, on the two stationary wood posts near the donkey, that have the assortment of swords hanging, the direction of some of the sword handles change in some shots. Seen in the background of some shots or when Will grabs for a sword. One example is, when Jack looks at the red hot poker after poking the donkey and when Will comes in, jumps down the step, then stops the donkey. (00:21:45)

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the morning, when Will is with Jack at the prison, Will has scratches on his right cheekbone and jawbone and the left side of his forehead. However, after they commandeer the Interceptor, all of Will's scratches are barely even noticeable, but it is STILL the same day. (00:42:30 - 00:52:15)

Continuity mistake: When Jack holds the chain to Elizabeth's neck, and subsequently swings about, there are about ten links between the wrist shackles. When he tosses the links over the rope, before he slides down, there are at least fifteen attached links. Then at the blacksmith shop, when Jack sits at the anvil, there are eight links, and after he breaks it there are three links dangling from the right shackle and seven dangling from the left, totaling ten. (00:19:50)

Super Grover

More mistakes in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Barbossa: You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You're in one!

More quotes from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Trivia: Johnny Depp uses the phrase "Interesting..." as his trademark in many of the movies he stars in, including Sleepy Hollow. He uses it in PotC when Koehler's skeletal hand tries to grab him in prison.

More trivia for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Question: After Elizabeth is brought to the Pearl, she threatens to drop the medallion overboard. Barbossa feigns disinterest but when Elizabeth pretends to drop it, the pirates gasp in panic. Why? So she drops it, big deal. They can't drown, the gold "calls to them" so what does it matter if she were to drop it?

Jacordx

Chosen answer: Because they'd have to find it. The gold may "call to them", but it obviously doesn't function as a millimetre perfect homing beacon or they'd never have missed the medallion years earlier when they attacked the ship carrying the young Will. Elizabeth drops it into the sea and they're going to have to spend what could be months trying to locate it - currents could take it well away from the dropping point. They've found the final missing piece; they're potentially just hours away from finally being cured. The last thing they want is to see it thrown into the sea.

Tailkinker

Well, if the crew was anxious to get the medallion then why did they act like they weren't interested in it before Elizabeth pretended to drop it?

Reverse psychology.

Ssiscool

What do you mean by reverse psychology?

By showing they are not interested in the medallion they are hoping Elizabeth will just drop it on the floor or chuck it to them as it's of no real value. However when she releases a bit of chain and the medallion drops, and the pirates lurch forward revealing that they really want the medallion and as such Elizabeth now has the upper hand in negotiations.

Ssiscool

I'm guessing Elizabeth wasn't fooled when the pirates showed disinterest in the medallion.

That's not called reverse psychology, which is used to encourage someone to change his or her mind. Doesn't work with a threat. They are feigning indifference to hide the importance of the object.

lionhead

More questions & answers from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

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.