Continuity mistake: During the dinner scene at Tom's, a couple of shots before Tom's phone rings and he goes to answer it, Nick's wine glass is about half full. After Daisy leaves to go to Tom and the shot cuts back to Nick, the level of wine in his glass has notably decreased, without him touching it. (00:09:50)
Continuity mistake: When George kills Gatsby, Gatsby falls into the pool with his arms by his side, but from a reverse angle, his arms are raised in the air. (02:02:35)
Continuity mistake: When Gatsby points out to Tom that his house is across the bay, there is then a shot of the house from Tom's view. The shot returns to Tom where we can see nothing around the top few inches his abdominal area. In a side angle of him, his cigar has suddenly appeared there. (01:28:35)
Continuity mistake: At Gatsby's second party, a band starts playing. The shot cuts to Gatsby, Nick, Daisy and Tom watching them. In this shot, Gatsby and Tom are a foot or two away from each other, but in a sudden close-up of the two, they are suddenly closer together. (01:12:30)
Continuity mistake: Just after Gatsby asks Nick his opinion of him, there is a cut to a low angle of him driving. In the shot from behind the car, the number plate is on the right hand side of the back of the car. This is only visible for a fraction of a second, so you have to be quick when you look at this. 2 shots later, the number plate has moved to the left side of the back of the car. (00:36:10)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Meyer is having a conversation with Nick in the bar, the dancers on the stage begin to walk off and walk around the bar. One of them walks behind Meyer and places her hands on his shoulder, but in the next shot, the dancer's hands are no longer on his shoulder. (00:42:50)
Continuity mistake: As Jordan walks to Gatsby's room at his party, she begins to walk and has already walked past a waiter who goes to take a step forward. But in the following wide angle, Jordan is yet to walk past the waiter who is now standing still. (00:31:55)
Continuity mistake: Just after Nick finishes the first part of his story where he says Gatsby was his neighbour, Nick stands in front of the right hand side window. It then cuts to inside the sanitarium and he is suddenly standing in the middle window. (00:05:20)
Continuity mistake: When Nick is telling the doctor about his new cottage near the start, he goes to his porch with a book and stands next to one of the pillars. In a wide angle, he is standing next to a pillar with leaves around the pillar, but in a sudden close-up the leaves around the pillar have vanished. (00:04:40)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning scene, Nick has a conversation with his doctor in the Perkins Sanitarium. The shot after Nick says "When I came back from New York I was disgusted" shows the doctor open his file. When he opens up the file, Nick's name is placed next to patient name and below it is "Patient Report (by board of examiners)." In this shot the "N" is directly above the "Y" in "by." But in a quick close-up of the file,"N" is now directly above the "O" in "board." (00:02:00)
Chosen answer: This has been answered before. Gatsby grew up in a poor, mid-western family. He is a self-made millionaire (through illegal means) but pretends he comes from wealthy, upper-class society. He has adopted a fake posh accent to help support the illusion of his bogus background. It is how he believes well-bred people speak.
raywest ★