MovieChat Forums > Experiment Alcatraz (1950) Discussion > Worst continuity error ever?

Worst continuity error ever?


I've just witnessed (and submitted) what has to be one of the worst continuity errors I've ever seen on film. When Dr. Williams is in Tahoe and takes a cab to the Ace High Club - and is followed by another car - they first pull out of a road-side turn-off. In the very next shot, without the camera having moved an inch, they are shown going in the opposite direction past the very same spot as the previous shot.

A shocking example of laxity by the filmmakers - from the director and editor especially. It was so glaring I got a laugh out of it. This is one of those movies that's bad, but not so bad it's "good", if you know what I mean. I guess they just didn't want the expense of setting up the camera somewhere else - not moving it a few feet or even turning it a few degrees from the end of the previous shot. Amazing.

I'd like to hear of any other such glaring examples of a continuity error from one shot to the next. Not just something little like glasses being filled to a different level or a cigarette in one hand then the other, but something really big like this. I can't think of the title, but I saw one film where they were driving a Ford in one shot then a Plymouth the next, then back to a Ford - something like that.

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