MovieChat Forums > The Hour (2011) Discussion > Dumbest. Continuity Mistake. Ever

Dumbest. Continuity Mistake. Ever


I'm amazed that no one appears to have picked up on a glaring continuity mistake in this series, which takes place in circa 1956, when women and men dressed in a distinctly conservative style: long dresses, long coats, long everything. "Drab" might cover it one word.

For the most part, the producers seem to get the clothing part right. But suddenly, at the 2.47 mark of the first disk of the first series, all ludicrous hell breaks loose. Romola Gatai and Dominic West are getting it on hot and heavy. West is dressed in the stuffy garb of the mid-1950s; Gatai, however, is wearing a short skirt, replete with a slit in the back because the skirt is too tight. This skirt style is taken right from circa 2010-2012. She is wearing pantyhose, unheard of in 1956; the skirt is cut mid-thigh. How this scene passed muster is beyond me. It was done in front of an army of 'experts,' including the director, producer, editor, even the actors. Surely Romola Gatai herself would have known about this glaring contradiction.

Even funnier is that someone tried to make the pantyhose with SEAMS of all things, because (I'm guessing) the wardrobe people figured it was the 1950s after all, and women's stockings all had seams. Pantyhose NEVER had seams, and didn't become popular until the late 1960s.

The series lost a lost of credibility in my eyes with that mistake. And, of course, as usual with period pieces, the dialogue missed the mark many times -- too many to count. (The characters, living in the mid-1950s, use dialogue and speech patterns from circa 2005 too many times.)

Making a period piece is risky at the best of times. It's obvious almost immediately to the (discerning) viewer if the producers are going to do it right or surrender to sloppiness. They chose the latter course in this one: sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

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Women did wear straight skirts in the 50s. And yes, they did have vents in the back to make it easier to walk and sit.

Not all clothing was drab in the 50s. I'm not quite sure where you got the idea that it was. Perhaps it's because most photographs were in black and white?

As for pantyhose, I have actually seen pantyhose with seams that were intended to look "retro." But, if Romola was indeed wearing pantyhose instead of old-fashioned stockings, that would be wrong. I honestly don't remember that scene.

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Anachronisms not continuity.

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I also found the bizarre pantyhose with seams jarring. No one EVER seems to get the whole stockings/pantyhose/bare legs thing right in 20th century period pieces -- it's a pet peeve with me. The shows really need an old person like me as a consultant! Ladies wore stockings with seams during the 40's, NOT the 50's. (My mother always reminisced about having to straighten her seams back then.) Ladies always wore stockings, not pantyhose, with dresses well into the 60's. I grew up in LA, where people were pretty "with it" regarding fashion trends, and I remember specifically the first time I saw someone with pantyhose (a girl in my gym class) was in 1967, my sophomore year in high school. Up until then, even skinny teenagers wore stretchy so-called "panty-girdles" or garter belts to hold up their stockings (we had to wear dresses to school in those days.) Many TV shows/movies show women in business dress in the 50's and 60's kicking off their shoes and having bare legs -- simply not done. Mad Men has made the bare leg mistake several times, I believe.

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My mom never talked about the seamed stockings, but I must be about a year younger than you, and yes, I wore one of those girdles with the fasteners to hold up my stockings at least in junior high school in the 60s.

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I had those things too.

But I do know that I have personally worn pantyhose with seams. They were, obviously, just for show, but I have worn them.

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I believe the seamed stockings era may have been different in Europe, extending into the 50s. My mom would laugh about how she and her gfs used to paint the seem on their legs because they were broke and in post-war germany, and how when it rained their seams would run down their legs. She told me once she was on a date with an american serviceman who after a couple of drinks, and the rain, was very confused as to where her seams went. lol This was in the late 50s.

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These are not continuity errors by any stretch.

Continuity refers to the illusion of time passing. If the character's stocking had seams in one shot and then the seams disappeared in the next that would be a continuity error.

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I remember the skirts I wore in the 50s and 60s and find Bel's short skirts distracting.

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Yes, anachronism not continuity error. As for short skirts I can still remember the Call Girl trials of 1963-4 and watching various young ladies being filmed getting in and out of cars was diverting! Many skirts were almost micro not mini!

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