Four Classic Movie Set blunders

Having worked in film myself, I can assure you that if something can go wrong, it will, despite 10 weeks careful planning and scheduling.

Image by Garry Knight

Whether it’s a cowboy character revealing his very modern watch, the art department forgetting to disguise upvc  doors in a Victorian set, or a crew member wandering into shot, these things are always picked up on by eagle-eyed movie buffs. There’s no getting away with it!

Let’s have a look at some of the most famous blunders in movies – see if you can spot them next time you watch!

Image by Enokson

Pirates of the Caribbean – Curse of the Black Pearl

While most (female) eyes will obviously be on Johnny Depp, there are those who are still keeping their eyes on the blunder ball. Look out for the scene on the deck of the ship, where Captain Jack is surrounded by several salty sea dogs and the shot closes up on him and the ships helm, as he utters the words “On deck, you scabrous dogs!”

If you look over the captain’s left shoulder, you will see a long haired blonde man in a white t-shirt and tan cowboy hat, looking over the side – one of the crew has wandered into shot, the ultimate in a fireable offence on set!

The Adventures of Tintin:  The Secret of the Unicorn

If you go to Morocco, it seems that the locals have taken kindly to Tintin; effigies of him sell as well as stuffed camels in the souks there.

In the movie, an opera singer arrives in Morocco, exclaiming that it is the first time she has visited the “Third World”.

This is a classic example of script writing error – or research failure. The term “Third World” wasn’t actually coined until the Cold War, and the Tintin adventures take place at a period in history prior to this. Opps!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Location scouts can also be instrumental in causing chaos to a scene. Obviously, they would close off a road normally for shooting, but you have to inform the production team of any special restrictions!

Take this example. In the last scene of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, the main characters Erika and Martin head off in a westerly direction in a taxi. The road is Bastugatan in Stockholm. Unfortunately, Bastugatan is in fact a one way road, and you can only go east! If you happen to be in Stockholm, you can check this out – you can even see the No Entry sign if you look from the west side!

The Help

A lovely film, set in deep Mississippi in the early 1960’s, which means it’s ripe for factual errors from the era!

In several scenes the cast members can be seen talking on telephones with modular cord plugs to connect the handset to the phone – but, props people – theses kind of plugs were not yet invented!

The props department must have been “off” that day – also in the film, one of the main characters, Minny, walks past a driveway which has a few sprinklers on it. In actual fact, these sorts of sprinklers did not come into existence until 1974! Fail!

Please add any bloomers you have noticed – I do love to hear about them!

James Duval is an IT enthusiast and prolific blogger.  He loves music and movies, and writes blogs for Eurocell in his spare time. This writer highly recommends Eurocell for all upvc products.

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