Goofs

In numerous outdoor scenes in the movie, the sky in the background changes from clear to partly cloudy to overcast to rain clouds between shots, indicating that the scenes were filmed over several days with different weather each day.

The tattoo on the stomach of Luther Billis disappears and reappears when he is stranded in the lifeboat.

Lt. Joe Cable flies in on his mission in a PBY Catalina at the start, but when he walks off the short pier to the beach at his destination there is no flying boat in the lagoon behind him. Had he really just disembarked from a plane, it would still be present.

During the song "There is Nothing Like a Dame", Luther's shirt unbuttons and rebuttons itself several times.

While singing "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair", the soap on Nellie Forbush's shoulders disappears and comes back.

The appearance of African Americans as Seabees is not an error. Over 12,000 such sailors served in the Construction Brigades, despite segregation in other parts of the WWII military.

Liat does not understand English. But when her mother sings "Happy Talk" in English, she shows by her gestures that she understands what her mother is singing.

Her mother likely had sung it before and, in French, described the meaning of the song to her.

It doesn't make sense for Bloody Mary to encourage the young couple to engage in happy talk about many things, when the only language they share is a few words of French.

Per IMDb Guidelines, Plot holes are "Genuine errors in narrative structure (no personal opinion)." Also, the item also qualifies as an "Unacceptable Goof" due to "Nitpicking: It's not the viewer's job to pick apart movies and find fault with them. Allow room for artistic license."

Although the cockpit of the seaplane appears to have all its glass shot out, the crew never shows any effect from the wind that would be whipping through.

In the beginning, the controls of the pilot and co-pilot are not really linked. It's obvious that the pilot is turning the wheel, but the co-pilot's is not in sync; it's turned by an unseen hand.

When Luther Billis is paddling away from the gunfire, the cable pulling his lifeboat can be seen.

Towards the finale of "Nothing Like a Dame", Nellie jogs along and picks up her party dress from Luther although she won't even be invited to the party until several scenes later when she meets Emil.

When Luther Billis is in the lifeboat being fired upon by Japanese troops, the rear of the lifeboat shows its manufacturing date as 'APR 1956'.

In the initial Bali Ha'i sequence, the native girls are all dressed like they're heading for the 1958 prom, in typical 1950s mid-calf flared skirts, despite the fact that the story is taking place in the era of World War II.

At least one of the Jeeps shown is a model M-38 from the 1950s.

All of Mitzi Gaynor's hair styles, as well as the style and cut of her uniforms (when worn), and especially the party dress in the last sequence before the intermission, are strictly 1958 and nothing like what was being worn during the time of the story, i.e., the mid-1940s.

During "A Wonderful Guy", there's a part when Mitzi Gaynor's lips aren't synchronized with the music.

Liat's lips are not in sync with the song's words when she sings "Happy Talk".

When Nellie asks Captain Brackett if the "Frenchman" on the island she's heard about from all the pilots in the hospital is "her Frenchman", there's a complete mismatch between what she says and the movement of her lips.

Emile is supposed to be a Frenchman, but speaks English, and sings (dubbed) with a heavy Italian accent.

In one song, Nellie appears to say the lyric "Little Rock, A.K." though the abbreviation for Arkansas is "A.R." (the "A.K." is the abbreviation for Alaska, which wasn't yet a state at the time).