Audio problem: In the mine chase scene, when both carts are parallel to each other, Indy punches a thug. A frame later, from a different POV, two quick punches are heard, but no one is punching anybody.
Continuity mistake: When the assassin's head is about to hit the fan, in the first shot of him going up, his head is very close to it, but in the next shot, it's further away.
Audio problem: While they're in the tunnels, Willie's face appears to be normal while there's a scream of her in the audio background. (01:36:05)
Continuity mistake: When the Indian guest is given a beetle to eat during the dinner sequence, he pulls off the back of the insect. When he notices that Willie is not eating, you can see that he is only holding the beetle, but when the camera angle changes in the next shot, the guest is holding the insect with the part he pulled off next to it.
Continuity mistake: When Indy throws a flaming skewer at the Chinese guy, the right side of his scarf runs down to his waist, yet in the close-up it's shorter and stops by the ribs, check out the black lettering embroidered on it.
Continuity mistake: When Mola Ram tells the Thugees to get to the huge cauldron, there's big clouds of smoke all around it, which disappear a frame later from a different angle.
Continuity mistake: When Indy throws a block of wood on the rails, it lays parallel, yet a frame later, from a different angle, it lays sideways.
Continuity mistake: When the mine cart is about to stop, Indy's left hand is alternately covered by Willie and Shorty's or not, depending on the angle.
Continuity mistake: When Indie and Willie are about to jump out of the bar's window, there are some cables along the window which disappear when they crash through it.
Continuity mistake: When the heroes leave the village, the shrine where the Indian is standing swaps from having a blue sky to a dark grey one, and smoke from a campfire all over.
Audio problem: While Indy and Short are trapped in the room with the spiked ceiling, Indy takes his hand out through a hole and grabs Willie's hand by surprise. A loud cry is heard, but she doesn't mouth it nor reacts with surprise.
Continuity mistake: During the hanging bridge scene, the brown mountain has some white rocks on the right side which sometimes disappear, or even appear on the opposite side as when Mula Ram throws the Thuggee down.
Continuity mistake: A man takes the wooden blocks off of Laoche's plane wheels but disappears in the next angle.
Continuity mistake: When the Maharajah enters the palace for the first time he is escorted by two guards. A frame later the guards are gone from behind and are already formed along the aisle.
Continuity mistake: The movie starts with a guy playing a gong, holding its hammer from the lower part. A frame later his upper hand is holding the hammer from a much higher position.
Continuity mistake: When Short starts to jump on the bridge, the part where he's standing is in the shadows, while the rest is on the sunny side. When he falls through the hole, the whole bridge is shadowy.
Continuity mistake: Short is in the mine pretending to hammer some rocks and a guard whips at him. Short's fringe style is different depending on which angle focuses.
Revealing mistake: At the bar Indy has swords thrown at him. The string to make them fly is visible attached to the sword on the left side. Also, the swords disappear in the next angle.
Continuity mistake: After the Indians fire arrows at the bridge, Willie and Short step repeatedly on Mula's hands. The position of his hands changes from spread apart to close together from one frame to the other with no movement in between at all.
Continuity mistake: In the mine, while Short punches the Maharaja, the Thuggee smashes a rock against Indy's head, turning it to the right side. A frame later, from a wider angle, Indy is turning his head to the opposite side.
Chosen answer: His neck was snapped by the whip getting caught in the fan. There isn't always blood with a hanging. Since the fan wasn't designed to hold a man's weight, the motor in it would have stopped or given out.
Captain Defenestrator