Sammo

6th Mar 2022

The Colonel's Bequest

Video

Bug: I always thought I just imagined things back in the day when coming out of the hallway's window door I saw a statue randomly flying across the screen. I was never able to replicate the bug, but it turns out it actually is a legitimate bug with an explanation (it was supposed to be an airplane Easter egg, but the code fetches the wrong item). Longer explanation and even a fix in the video.

Sammo

6th Mar 2022

The Colonel's Bequest

Factual error: When Fifi changes out of her uniform teasing some sweet EGA pixel nudity, the unmistakeable tunes of Ravel's Bolero play from her Victrola. The game is set in 1925, but the famous Ravel music piece premiered only in 1928.

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Continuity mistake: When Poirot and Race enter the doctor's room to check on Simon Doyle, they find him unconscious on the bed. There's a shelf behind the bed with a few books and amongst them the cable of the bedside lamp switch, all tangled up. They revive Doyle, and the cord with its switch dangles off the shelf, on the pillow. Throughout the whole scene now, the cable and switch keep getting on/off the shelf. (01:19:50)

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Continuity mistake: Jacqueline moves towards Poirot at the end of the interview with Bowers; her vest is open in the first shot, but in the second, consecutive shot she has her hand in her pocket and her other arm across to keep it closed. (01:17:40)

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Other mistake: When Poirot questions Maggie Smith, he repeats what she said about Linnet Ridgeway "three days ago." Besides the discrepancy in dates (it was the day before the murder), Poirot at the time was dozing off on the portside deck (mrs. Ottenbourne passes him by going across) so he could have eavesdropped on the conversation in the near area, but not on that particular one which happened on the starboard deck.

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Other mistake: Poirot has uncanny hearing abilities, since he could pick up word for word the conversation Miss Ottenbourne and Ferguson were having several feet behind him at the temple of Karnak. He has also perfect memory, and yet he says that the girl asked the question about libeling the dead "two days ago." The murder (in the movie at least) happens the same evening of the visit at the temple. (01:14:50)

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Revealing mistake: After Poirot has inspected the messier of the 2 bottles of nail polish he has a laugh with Race (it almost looks like Ustinov and Niven are breaking character at the end of the shot) and they briefly pass through the murder scene again. Look at Lois Chiles' eyelashes; she's blinking, not quite dead. (01:12:20)

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Continuity mistake: When the doctor leaves Linnet's room saying he's outraged by Poirot's allegations, the cabinet to the left is closed, but in the reaction shot on Poirot and Race (and in the rest of the scene) the cabinet is open. (01:11:35)

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Revealing mistake: When Poirot gives the sarcastic explanation of the letter J to the doctor and colonel Race, the chest of the stone-cold dead Linnet quietly rises and falls as the very alive actress breathes. (01:08:35)

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Continuity mistake: In the longshot where the maid approaches Mrs. Doyle's cabin, the shadows of the deck above reach just the highest part of the starboard cabin doors. When she shouts and runs to get help, the shadows cover the whole louvered top half of the doors. (01:06:50)

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Continuity mistake: When the doctor creepily shuts the door behind him to have a tete-a-tete with Linnet, in the side view his hands are in front of his belly, in a stance entirely different from the front view where his arms are down his sides. (00:53:25)

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Character mistake: Dr. Bessner tells Linnet that the Eastern statue she'll see at Abu Simbel is 'the vocal statue', which emits a sound at sunset. The statues the doctor mentions are the Colossi of Memnon, over 500 kms north of Abu Simbel, so the movie here mixes up two very different monuments. (00:49:30)

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Deliberate mistake: Poirot riles up Pennington narrating the story of Grand vizier Ptahhotep who was crushed under the weight of the silver he embezzled. It's a lovely moral story, but Ptahhotep was actually a virtuous administrator and is credited (with various caveats) with writing "The Maxims of Ptahhotep", one of the first books in human history, and there's no record of such a story. It's likely that Poirot made that part of the story up counting on Pennington's ignorance on the subject. (00:44:20)

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Continuity mistake: Mrs. Ottenbourne is in the background while her daughter and the mysterious marxist are getting acquainted. She begins at one point shouting, putting an end to the conversation as Rosalie rushes to her. The rambling shout happens across two shots, and Ferguson's hand is in a different spot on the book. (00:44:00)

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Continuity mistake: When Poirot and the other tourists are walking in the section of the temple of Karnak with the ram statues, they cast shadows towards the right of the screen, their left. The action focuses on Salome extolling the priapic virtues of the beasts, and the shadow she and the professor cast is at their back. (00:42:30)

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Continuity mistake: When Poirot and race play checkers while Pennington tries to swindle Linnet, a single piece lies at the side of the board in the wide angle, but in the closer views you can count 3. (00:36:05)

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Continuity mistake: Pennington sits at Linnet's table and begins putting down contracts to sign. David Niven in the background looks at him, closed fist below the nose, but in the next shot he's staring at him stroking his temple and moustache, and at the following cut he changed position again. (00:36:20)

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Continuity mistake: When Poirot tells Jackie "Turn your back on the past", Mia Farrow is wiping her neck, but in the next shot her handkerchief is pressed against the cheek instead. (00:23:25)

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Continuity mistake: When Ferguson says that he's "observing the decline of the capitalist system", he holds 'Das Kapital' at the top corner. His hand moved from the position in the previous shot, which was at the bottom of the same side, and changes again at the cut and switches back and forth as the angles alternate. (00:17:15)

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Continuity mistake: On the Neter Menkaura pyramid, Linnet shouts; "She's following us about, deliberately" in a close-up with all the hair in front of her shoulders, contrasting with the previous angle, where her hair was behind the shoulders. (00:12:55)

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