Continuity mistake: In Farmer Maggot's field, when Merry places all the vegetables into Sam's arms one shot shows a cabbage with very loose leaves around it. In the next shot, the cabbage is now whole and firm, with almost no loose leaves around it and there are carrots that Merry placed on top of the cabbage. In the next shot the cabbage's look is different again and there are no carrots on top of the cabbage. When Sam turns to face Farmer Maggot's voice there are carrots on top again. In all of these shots, Sam's left collar is either under or over his jacket. (00:52:00)
Super Grover
Continuity mistake: In Farmer Maggot's field, when Merry and Pippin drop in on Frodo, in the first shot, as they are bending down lifting the vegetables off the ground, Merry and Pip are standing side by side, Merry on Pippin's right. Opposite them are Frodo and Sam, with Sam on Frodo's right. In the next shot, when they're upright, Frodo and Sam are across from each other, as are Merry and Pippin, with Pippin on Sam's left. In the next shot, Pippin is now on Sam's right. The change in positions has nothing to do with Merry and Pippin lifting the vegetables off the ground. (00:52:00)
Continuity mistake: After hearing noises out the window, Gandalf tells Frodo to, "Get down," and reaches for his staff leaning on the mantle. In the close-up when he grabs the staff, on the mantle there are books on the left end with a box near it, and a piece of paper leaning up against the wall between the two. In the wide shot just before this shot, there is no paper between the books and box. Also, the paper lying between the books changes from previous shots and when he starts heading for the window, behind him on the mantle the paper to the right of the candlestick changes position in the following shots. (00:42:15)
Continuity mistake: Before the Black Rider rides up to the man chopping wood, in the close-up the tree stump he's chopping on does not have wood in front of it on the ground. In the wide shot, there is wood lying on the ground in front of the stump and the man places the axe down against the stump. After he answers the Black Rider and says, "That way," the axe is not leaning on the stump anymore, but there is a piece of wood on it now. (00:34:15)
Continuity mistake: In all five shots, the wax seal on the envelope with the ring is shaped differently. 1st- when Gandalf first seals the envelope with the melted wax. 2nd- when he hands the envelope to Frodo. 3rd- after Gandalf leaves, Frodo looks at the envelope. 4th- when Gandalf returns, Frodo finds the envelope in the trunk and hands it to him. 5th- when Gandalf tosses the envelope into the fire. (00:31:20 - 00:36:40)
Continuity mistake: At Bag End while speaking with Gandalf, Bilbo packs his bag and he puts his pipe into it. The mouthpiece goes into the bag with the bowl part sticking out of the bag. Yet, when Gandalf asks, "Is that so hard?" the mouthpiece is now sticking out of the bag and the bowl part is in the bag. (00:26:35)
Continuity mistake: At Bilbo's party, as the fireworks dragon flies overhead, in the close-up shot, when Frodo calls out, "Bilbo!" the two people behind Frodo were not there in the wide shot just before this shot. This is not due to any Hobbits running. Also in that wide shot, Bilbo moves to Frodo's immediate left, but in that close-up he's away from Frodo, so Frodo has to move closer to him in this shot. (00:23:15)
Continuity mistake: During Bilbo's party, in the first shot, as Merry boosts Pip onto the back of the wagon, on the table in front of the tent there are pears, oranges and apples on it. Once Pippin is in the wagon, seen behind Merry, there is one red apple that has appeared at the front of the table to the left of the other fruit that wasn't there before. (00:21:20)
Continuity mistake: At Bilbo's party, in the first shot Merry hoists Pippin up into the back of Gandalf's wagon. We see the arrangement of the assorted things in the back of the wagon. In the next front shot, as Pippin dives into the wagon we see a different arrangement of all those things in the back of the wagon. (00:21:20)
Continuity mistake: At Bag End, with his left hand Bilbo holds a plate with pieces of a sponge cake. The small part of the sponge cake is to the left of his thumb, and the large part is opposite his thumb. When there is knocking at the door, the smaller piece is to the right of his thumb. When he's at the window, the smaller piece is to the left again. As he runs into the kitchen, the large part of the sponge cake is now by his thumb. The plate never switched hands. (00:17:35)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf reaches Bag End, in the wide shot while he's still in the wagon we don't see certain things that are seen in the next close-up shot when Gandalf stands at the front door. Seen in the close-up, the short small pink and purple flowers that are located on the ground to the right and left of the front door. Also, the large tall pink flowers growing against the wall to the left of the door seen behind Gandalf in this shot. (00:15:20)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf is riding in the wagon with Frodo, the children yell for fireworks behind them. He then shoots off some fireworks, and the children start to jump for joy. In these consecutive shots, the arrangement of the children differ in the shot from behind and in the shot of them from the front. The girl with the straw hat moves positions, when the children are all stationary. The girl with the long golden hair also differs with her arms between the two successive shots. (00:14:45)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf and Frodo are speaking in the wagon as they're riding towards Bag End, Gandalf says, "How is the old rascal?" There is no pipe in his mouth, his hands are holding the reins and they are just riding past stone walls. Gandalf continues to say in the very next shot, "I hear it's going to be a party of special magnificence," and the pipe is now in his mouth and there is another long stone wall reaching far behind the wagon to their right. Gandalf was mid thought, they didn't have time between shots to pass so much wall. This whole sequence of shots was filmed two ways, with Gandalf smoking his pipe and with Gandalf not smoking, but sucking on caramels. In editing they took certain shots of both. (00:11:45)
Continuity mistake: While Bilbo stretches at his desk and calls out "Frodo, someone at the door" the words on the page in his book can be seen. The last line written is these four words "among the very wise." Yet in the next close-up shot of Bilbo writing again, the last line on the page is these five words: "counted among the very wise." They are different variations of the same page in Bilbo's book used in these two shots. (00:09:20)
Continuity mistake: In the first close-up shot of Bilbo writing the words "Concerning Hobbits" in his book, the formation of the letters in the words "Concerning Hobbits" are written differently in this close-up than it is in the next close-up, when it shows he has finished nine lines on the page. (00:08:45)
Continuity mistake: As Bilbo is writing, in the close-up shot of Bilbo dipping his quill into the ink well the arrangement of the ink well, other bottles and various items on the shelf differs from the next close-up shot when he stretches at his desk and calls out, "Frodo, someone at the door!" (00:08:35)
Continuity mistake: When Bilbo is writing at his desk, in the first far shot, the book stand to his right has an assortment of papers on it. In the shot from behind, when he starts to say, "Concerning Hobbits," the papers on that book stand are arranged differently. In the shot after another Hobbit picks his ear, Bilbo stretches at his desk and the papers on the stand are arranged differently again. Later still, when he says, "Sticklebacks, where is that boy?" in this shot, the papers revert to the way they were in the other previous close-up shot from behind. In the next shot from behind too, the papers are arranged the same way as in the first far shot. (00:08:25)
Continuity mistake: During the prologue, in the first shot of Sauron's dismembered finger with the Ring on the ground next to Isildur, the bottom of the letters are facing the remaining finger. It is the line, "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them." In the next close-up of the dismembered finger, when Isildur picks it up, the Ring is now on the finger upside down from the previous shot, with the bottom of the letters facing the cut side of the finger. The words, "One Ring to find them," can be seen in this shot. (00:04:00)
Continuity mistake: During the prologue, after Isildur cuts off Sauron's fingers, in the first side shot, Isildur, who is lying on the ground looks to his left at the Ring on the finger near him. His hair is on his face and nose. Then, in the very next front shot, *before* the wind gust from Sauron, he is still lying down and there is no hair on his face. (00:04:00)
Continuity mistake: During the prologue, when Sauron steps on Narsil, in the close-up shot of Isildur lifting the broken sword from below Sauron's foot, there are small stones around Narsil. In the shot just before, when Isildur reaches for Narsil, the sword has no small stones around it. (00:03:50)
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