Dr. No - Deliberate Continuity Errors - Miss Taro's Bungalow

One area of filmmaking that hasn't gotten its proper share of attention is the deliberate continuity error. Some directors love to fool their audience by putting these things in. Current filmmakers do this as well, but with DVDs, it becomes a lot harder to get away with things without getting caught. Naturally, it was somewhat a different mindset years ago when films were generally seen only in theatres and without the benefit of rewind or slow motion.

One extended scene that has a lot of deliberate goofs is when Bond visits Miss Taro's bungalow in the film Dr. No.

Admittedly, it's not always easy to decide what is deliberate versus just a mistake (goof). The best way I know how to spot them is when the director tips his hand. One of these techniques that give the director's intent away is what I like to refer as the three step mambo.

The first step is to establish something. Here we have Bond with short socks and the ashtray hidden behind the lamp.


The second step is to hide what was established either by blocking it from the audience's view or moving away to another shot so the audience forgets things.


The third step is to give us the first shot with things changed. Here, two of the bigger changes are the ashtray is now visible (before it was hidden by the lamp). And Bond is now wearing long socks.


I put together an audio commentary of the bungalow scenes as well as video/slideshow hybrid that show off some of these continuity errors.

http://www.omnisio.com/filmsyncs/dr-no-deliberate-continuity-errors



A list of the continuity errors that occur to me, follows:

1. A vent in the left side of the front door is open
2. Vents on right side of door (from the outside) are closed
3. Shadow on back window blind is now present
4. Bird Cage in angled position from before
5. Lampshade by Miss Taro’s bed is now huge
6. Fan shadow on back wall toward moves to cast shadow over the bedroom door
7. Fan shadow on bedroom door moves to cast shadow over table
8. Bottom picture tucked in vanity mirror appears more slanted than when first scene but this is not certain
9. Bright, pink light shine on framed pictures as Miss Taro comes over to the bed with Bond on the phone
10. Miss Taro agrees that her street address is 2171 Magenta Drive when before she had said it was 2391
11. The large slant in the lampshades by the bed has been lost
12. Sound of Bond descending the steps has him taking six steps where there were eight before
13. Pot on second step is now smaller and now on top step
14. Frond Door Vent is now closed
15. Turntable is now on the bar
16. Interior shot of moonlight in the bedroom has shadow that wasn’t present as Bond walks into the room
17. Ashtray that was on the table next to the bed is now by the table near the door
18. Bond’s tie is missing as he puts the silencer on his gun
19. The gun is a FN Browning with the scripted FN visible on the gun in a close-up, when the gun is suppose to be a Walther PPK
20. Bond’s watch had not been very visible (under his sleeve cuff) now is much more visible
21. Shadow of fan over Bond’s solitaire game with the fan moving much slower than prior shots
22. Golden rings on porcelain base of lamp point in a different direction than at first. The position of this lamp changes so often, I’m not going to mention the other changes
23. As Professor Dent opens the door, the strap on Miss Taro’s purse now leans forward into the room
24. The hammer of Dent’s gun stays in the cocked position as shots are fired. I think this was done with a special prop. Notice that the hammer doesn’t appear to be centered on the gun, more a bit behind it. This way the gun fires normally and the prop is just a tacked add-on allowing for a bit of silliness.
25. There is already a hole in the pillow before Dent fires his first shot
26. The shadow of the light next to the bed has shifted and no longer captures the shape of the light
27. The light changes making it brighter in the room so Professor Dent’s bright shadow is not longer seen through the door
28. The position of the box on the coffee table changes
29. The stack of cards that were in Bond’s hand have now moved closer to the edge of the table
30. The chain by the (closed deck) has now shifted position and the clothing hung over its back have shifted too
31. The bedspread is much more clumped on the floor
32. The table lamp by Bond is not tilted the same way
33. The fan is now going faster again and casting a different shadow
34. With the lights now on, the fan shadow stays present but in the cut to Bond’s face, the shadow is now missing
35. The light switch cord moves a bit on the chair arm
36. Red tassel (or the like) is on or in the mirror when it wasn’t present before or will again
37. In a reverse shot, the light switch cord which was on one side of the table is now over two edges
38. Professor Dent’s tie gets much neater than it was before
39. The ashtray that was hiding behind the lamp is now in sight
40. Bond is now sporting longer socks
41. Professor Dent’s left hand is further back on the table
42. The red women’s shoe behind Professor Dent have shifted position
43. Professor Dent’s right hand is now clenched
44. Professor Dent’s right hand is now open
45. Professor Dent’s left hand moves back to the edge of the table as he tries to move the bedspread with his foot
46. Ashtray is now between cord of light switch
47. The cord is just near ashtray
48. Bond now has long socks on
49. Gun is now further away from Dent than it was a minute ago
50. Ashtray now moves to the very corner of the table as Dent tries to kill Bond but hasn’t any bullets left
51. Bond gun changes from dark metal to brighter steel as he shoots Dent and then back to a darker metal
52. Silk belt on bench behind Dent changes positions slightly as Dent falls to the ground
53. Clothing is visible in the open drawer of the desk when it wasn’t visible in other shots
54. Cigarette magically gets into the ashtray as Bond takes the silencer off his gun