North by Northwest
North by Northwest mistake picture Video

Revealing mistake: In the shooting scene in the Mount Rushmore cafe, a boy in the background puts his fingers in his ears, because he knows the gun is about to be shot.

North by Northwest mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Cary Grant writes a message on a matchbook and Eve Marie Saint reads it, the number of lines in the message changes. He writes 3 lines, she reads 4 lines. (01:58:30)

North by Northwest mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Thornhill is about to be run over by the truck his jacket is covered in dust. When he falls on the ground it's spotless, only to appear dirty a shot later.

Sacha

North by Northwest mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Thornhill's cab arrives at the UN there's a couple behind him, a rear projection. Later on, when Valerian's car arrives at the UN the same projection is used, with the couple a mere two meters away form where they were before.

Sacha

North by Northwest mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When the crop duster and the truck are about to explode and the truck drivers run away, one can tell it's not Cary Grant watching the havoc but his stunt double because of his rounder face and slightly different hairstyle. Also confirmed by actress Eve Saint-Marie.

Sacha

North by Northwest mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Thornhill watches the road from the crop field, the way he holds the crop and how the leaves bend, differ between the front and back shots. Also, his hands disappear and the leaves swap between dry and green.

Sacha

North by Northwest mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Thornhill makes a call at the train station the cord of the phone is curled in the wide angle but straight in the close-up.

Sacha

North by Northwest mistake picture

Other mistake: At the train station, the same red-haired woman in a green dress with two distinctive suitcases appears three times in different places despite her walking the opposite way. Sometimes she has a hat and others not.

Sacha

North by Northwest mistake picture Video

Revealing mistake: In the shooting scene in the Mount Rushmore cafe, a boy in the background puts his fingers in his ears, because he knows the gun is about to be shot.

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Question: Several times in the movie one character is able to ascertain in which hotel room another character is staying simply by asking the front desk for the room number. Was this realistic at the time the movie was made? Today, a hotel would never divulge a guest's room number to a stranger, since such information could potentially be used by burglars and/or predators to gain access to hotel rooms. Was security really that lax in the 1950s?

Answer: Not really. You could (and at some hotels are still able to) keep your room number private or you could not - i.e. you could ask the hotel staff to keep your number secret from strangers, or you could ask them to tell anyone who might ask. Not having seen this movie, I don't know how likely it would be in the situations you speak of that the hotel guest would choose the latter option- it might be a mistake.

Blibbetyblip

Answer: Yes, security was that lax in the 1950s and beyond. People could acquire all kinds of information about individuals from various types of businesses. Not all were so careless, but many were or they naively didn't see a concern. In the late 1980s, I was a student at a university where a non-university person obtained his ex-girlfriend's class schedule simply by requesting it in-person from the registrar's office. Using that information, he was able to locate and fatally shoot her on campus.

raywest

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