Here are 20 more of such "mistakes," culled from a little book called Movie Mistakes (Take 2, Revised & Updated) by Jon Sandys, given to me by Raoul Tidalgo, Entertainment Editor and columnist also of The Filipino Reporter:
1. The Wizard of Oz – This one has been around since the film was made, and it still hasn’t been put to rest. Apparently in one scene a Munchkin hangs himself in the background. This is wrong, although unfortunately a variation on the story makes it hard to check. The vague movement in the background is actually (that of) a large bird, although it has been said that in the original copies it was clearly a hanging body, but they superimposed a bird over it later. Hmmmm...
2. Three Men and a Baby – Another classic. It’s been said that many years ago a small boy shot himself accidentally with a shotgun in the apartment where this was filmed and his ghost can be seen in the background. This is just plain rubbish. The indistinct shape behind a curtain is a cardboard cut-out of Ted Danson holding a cane (hence the long thin "shotgun" shape), which was going to be featured in another scene but never made it to the final film.
3. The Little Mermaid – A slightly dodgy one, this. Many, many, many people say that during the wedding scene at the end, the vicar taking the service gets...er...aroused, and this can be seen under his cloak. Wrong, I’m afraid. He’s got very knobbly knees, as is clear to see in other shots of him when his cloak isn’t covering them, and so the slight lump isn’t anything suspicious at all.
4. Ben-Hur – There is no car visible in the background during the chariot race – it’s nowhere to be seen, and various official sources have argued against it, too. The closest I can come to any basis in fact is that in an early take of the race there was a car visible (apparently one or two photos exist of it), but it was noticed, moved, and no shot including the car made it to the finished film.
5. American Beauty – After Kevin Spacey throws the pillow, it bounces off the couch and lands in the chair. In the next shot it’s gone, but reappears in the following shot. When Annette Bening is driving home, before she notices the new car in the driveway she starts turning the wheel, when in the background she’s going straight. When Ricky Fitts comes home and starts to watch TV with his parents, on close-up shots of the TV there are pictures and a vase on top of it, but when they show shots of Ricky and his parents, they mysteriously vanish.
6. American History X – When Edward Furlong gets shot at the end of the film, his paper flies out of his hand. But the very next shot of him shows that the paper is still in his hand, being held over his head while he falls backwards. In one of the following shots the paper is back on the floor, but it’s on the opposite side it should have been when it flew out of his hand. It’s all in slow motion and it’s very obvious.
7. American Pie – When Nadia is going through Jim’s drawer in his bedroom, a tub of Vaseline magically disappears from one shot to the next. When the boys are sitting in the living room talking about how they have to "do it" before graduation, one of the boys sitting on the couch has his legs crossed, they uncross, cross and uncross. They keep changing positions.
8. The American President – When the President and Sydney are entertaining the French President and his wife in the ballroom, they show Sydney speaking French to their guests and her hands are in front of her. The next scene shows Sydney from behind, while she is still talking, and she is fiddling with her ring. The third scene is back showing her from the front and her hands are not fiddling with her ring.
9. Animal House – In the scene where Otter and VBoon are hitting golf balls near the ROTC drills, Otter puts down the golf bag he is carrying and draws a club. The camera moves to the ROTC trainees, and when it comes back to the golfers, the bag is back on Otter’s shoulder and there is no club out of the bag.
10. Apocalypse Now – In the Playboy Bunny scene, the helicopter’s main rotor keeps starting and stopping. The day after the USO Playboy Bunny show, the patrol boat canopy is set afire by some pranksters from a passing boat. Yet, that night, in the scene at the Do Lung Bridge, the canopy is intact. It goes through some amazing transformation during the remainder of the film.
11. Gladiator – In the battle with the Barbarian Horde, one of the chariots is turned over. Once the dust settles you can see a gas cylinder in the back of the chariot.
12. Star Wars – When the storm troopers break into the control room where R2-D2 and C-3PO are hiding, look to the right – one of them smacks his head on the door as he comes through.
13. Zulu – Some of the Zulu warriors are wearing the wrist watches they were paid with – not strictly the right time period!
14. Gone With The Wind – Remember this is set during the American Civil War, with no main electricity or even electric bulbs. In the scene where Ashley is brought back wounded from the raid where Scarlett’s husband was killed, Melanie grabs a lamp to follow the man carrying Ashley to the bedroom and you can clearly see an electric cord hanging down from it – she tries to tuck it behind her arm.
15. The Empire Strikes Back – One of the storm troopers united with Han Solo before he is put into the carbonite, and watch his wardrobe – he has a disappearing/reappearing jacket on, depending on whether it’s a long shot or a close-up.
16. Pearl Harbor – In the scene in front of the hotel on the night before Ben Affleck ships out to England, Kate Beckinsale puts a scarf around his neck. There is a camera shot from his back where there’s no scarf in sight, then another one from his front and he’s wearing the scarf again.
17. Raiders of the Lost Ark – While Indy and Marion are in the Well of the Souls, and they encounter the snakes, Indy falls to the ground only to get confronted by a cobra rearing its head and hissing. Look carefully and you’ll see the reflection of the snake on the safety glass between it and Indy. Briefly, you can also see the torch’s reflection while he’s waving it around.
18. The Matrix – When Neo is going to open the door to enter the oracle’s house, you can clearly see a camera on the doorknob. Look more closely and you can see that they’ve thrown a green sheet over it, and painted a tie on the sheet to line up with Morpheus, who’s standing behind it.
19. Titanic – In the scene where the ship tilts to a vertical position, you can see people falling and hitting objects on the deck. In a close-up of that, you can see that a black metal cylinder has wrinkles in it and bends when someone hits it.
20. Top Gun – At the end, a victorious Maverick is hoisted on the shoulders of the guys. As he goes up, he isn’t wearing sunglasses, his head goes out of the shot, and when he comes down, he’s suddenly wearing a pair.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)