Goofs for
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) More at IMDbPro »

• Factual errors: The prologue narrator refers to stars and regions of gas between them, then says that "the starlight makes the gas transparent, and where there are no stars, it appears as dark obscuring clouds." Transparency is actually caused not by starlight but by the absence of dust; starlight will either have no effect on the appearance of gas, or will cause it to be illuminated or perhaps to fluoresce. Dark obscuring clouds are those that contain dust and are not illuminated.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the prologue shows the Earth and moon, the sunlight is falling on them from different directions. Also, their motion is in the wrong perspective with that of the stars as the viewpoint moves; some stars seem to be farther away than the Earth, but closer than the moon.
  
  
• Continuity: Peter walks slowly up a very wet beach, shedding his flying gear and one boot. The camera switches to a long shot showing a line of gear and Peter in completely dry sand, the surf a long way off. Also, his shadow jumps to a different direction, indicating the passage of at least 3 hours. The pile of clothes behind him also differs between the close and the long shots.
  
  

• Continuity: When the table tennis game is frozen, the ball moves back a few inches from the first shot of the game to the second, and the position of Frank's left arm changes.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: Conductor 71 says "One is starved for colour up there" during filming, but "Technicolor" was dubbed for "colour" during post-production.
  
  
• Continuity: June's voice is heard before Peter's and she is then seen before Peter is, but the closing credits "in order of appearance" begin with Peter ('David Niven').
  
  
• Factual errors: In the end credits, Bonar Colleano's name is misspelt Bonor Colleano.
  
  
• Factual errors: The opening voice-over states that the movie opens on May 2nd 1945 an hour after a 'thousand-bomber raid' (shown as somewhere in the area of Berlin). However, the last area bombing raid of the war in Europe took place on the 15th April 1945 against Potsdam (just west of Berlin).
  
  
• Continuity: Prior to Peter's first meeting with the Heavenly Messenger he is sitting down and he asks June if she wants a drink, at which moment Peter's time stands still and the initial meeting and conversation ensues. At the point of the Messenger's departure, June says "Yes please, darling" but Peter is standing up several feet away from June.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: After Peter's second encounter with the Heavenly Messenger, this time in Frank's library, the doctor and June desperately attend to Peter's condition. June kneels in front of Peter and begins to giggle uncontrollably, then expertly hides herself behind Frank to avoid the camera.
  
  

Related Links