It's a Wonderful Life

Continuity mistake: When George comes downstairs to eat with his parents, there's a lot of commotion including a barking dog. George looks down at it and the scene cuts instantly to a wider shot. He is no longer looking down.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: When George is trying to open the gate to Mary's house, the walking stick in his right hand is pointed up, but the next shot it's pointed down.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: The walking stick carried by George as he wrestles with opening the gate to Mary's house is raised up in the closeup shot, then immediately down in the long shot when he finally is able to open the gate.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: In the run on the Building and Loan scene, Ernie approaches and stands close to Mary's left shoulder, but the long shot of George confronting the crowd shows Ernie further away from Mary and partially hidden by a column in the office.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: In the drugstore scene, young George is holding up his latest issue of National Geographic magazine for Mary to see, but the next shot shows George bending down to fill Mary's ice cream dish.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: When Violet is leaving for New York, right before she says "I'm glad I know you George", the scene cuts. This is the same camera angle as before so the scene appears to be an edit splice. The jump cut is obvious. The reason for the rough edit is that a short sequence was cut where Violet asks George to run away with her to New York. It doesn't excuse the jump, but does help explain it.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: On the day before Christmas, George is showing a couple guys the newspaper about Harry being decorated by the President. The paper goes from being folded in half to open depending on the angle.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: At the beginning in the soda shop, the first little girl (Mary) is facing toward the camera, away from the other girl that comes in. When they start talking however in the next shot, both are facing outward.

manthabeat

It's a Wonderful Life mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In a scene near the end of the movie, George enters the Building and Loan with a Christmas wreath on his arm. On hearing that he has a phone call from his brother Harry, he tosses the wreath on a table and picks up the phone. In the next second, the wreath is back on his arm. (01:17:35)

More mistakes in It's a Wonderful Life

Mary: Bread, that this house may never know hunger. Salt, that life may always have flavor. And wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever.

More quotes from It's a Wonderful Life

Trivia: During the scene where a drunken Uncle Billy walks home, a loud crashing sound is heard. The crashing sound was due to a crew member dropping a large tray of props. Thomas Mitchell quickly ad-libbed the line that he was all right. The crew member who dropped the tray was afraid he would be fired but instead director Frank Capra gave the crewman a ten dollar bonus for "improving the sound."

More trivia for It's a Wonderful Life

Chosen answer: We know that Tilly (Matilda) Bailey is not Uncle Billy's daughter, because when Billy "loses" the deposit money and rushes back to BBB&L, George tells him that Harry's on the telephone and we hear Tilly say, "Hurry up Uncle Billy, long distance from Washington," so presumably she's George's cousin and Uncle Billy's niece. (When there's the run on the bank we see her desk, and there are a few photographs of men, one of which may be her father).

Super Grover

More questions & answers from It's a Wonderful Life

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