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Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, and Jean Arthur in Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Goofs

Only Angels Have Wings

Edit

Continuity

(at around 43 mins) Bonnie is eating breakfast. Her knife and fork change positions several times while talking with Geoff. Sometimes they are on the table, sometimes she's holding both, and sometimes just the fork.
In the immediate aftermath of Joe's crash, distant shots show Bonnie with her left arm cocked at a right angle, but close shots show it limp at her side.
Before Kid's injury, the blood and wounds to his face keep changing.

Factual errors

When Joe's plane clips the tree and loses the right wing, the plane rolls to the left. In fact, asymmetric lift would roll the aircraft to the right due to greater remaining airfoil surface on the left side.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs

A 10,000 ton freighter pulls up to a rowboat dock to take on and discharge passengers.

While not typical (or even practicable), the situation portrayed required this; i.e., it's artistic license. Per IMDb Guidelines for "Unacceptable Goofs", "Nitpicking: It's not the viewer's job to pick apart movies and find fault with them. Allow room for artistic license."
When Carter is shot by Bonnie Lee, the hammer on the revolver had not been drawn back. It is thought that a revolver will not discharge from just being dropped on table unless it had been cocked, and even then it's not a certainty. However, an impact to the hammer commonly will discharge a round unless the cylinder behind the hammer is empty; that is how it is safely carried. (In modern revolvers, the transfer bar safety mechanism prevents this.)
When the trimotor has two engines on fire, the radio at the station says, "Number four, left outboard, is on fire." The bird is a Ford Trimotor, with only three engines.

While one might think that he is referring to engine number 4 (on a plane with only three engines), he, in fact, is talking about Plane Number 4.

Revealing mistakes

Early in the movie, when Tex the lookout radio man says, "OK, it's open", the whole mountain range in the background shifts slightly to the right. (Apparently, someone was moving the set backdrop or bumped into it while the scene was being filmed.)
When Geoff enters his room and, unknown to him, Bonnie Lee is taking a bath, there is a coffee pot brewing on the hot wood-burning stove. Bonnie places the pot on the table. The steam coming from the hot pot is not real; steam rises. To simulate steam, it appears to be dry ice in the pot, as the vapor falls to the table, and there is an overabundance of it.
When McPherson takes off with the patient, the chimney smoke shows he's taking off with the wind instead of against the wind. Taking off against the wind would increase his relative speed and help him take off.
The 'condors' have white rump/lower back and underwing-coverts - which Andean condor does not have. They are Old World Gyps vultures, completely unrelated to condors: either white-rumped vulture (Indian subcontinent only) or white-backed vulture (Afrotropics only).
Just after Bat takes off from the remote airstrip, the shadow of the camera-plane is present alongside his.

Plot holes

After Geoff Carter is shot, Kid Dabb says he's better than anyone else around here while looking at Bat McPherson. However, Gent Shelton, although fired earlier, is shown several times in the bar, and therefore could be available to make the ill-fated flight.

Character error

When Geoff is accidentally shot, in the excitement of the moment, various characters refer to "Papa" and "Kid" interchangeably.

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Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, and Jean Arthur in Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
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By what name was Only Angels Have Wings (1939) officially released in India in English?
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