Other mistake: Marlowe fires several shots at Art Huck and Lash Canino but if you look at the chamber when he takes the gun out from under the dashboard, there are no bullets in it. (01:41:45)
Revealing mistake: When John Garfield is trying to stop Lana Turner from calling the District Attorney, Garfield holds the receiver up in the air off the hook. Then the phone rings. But a phone cannot ring when it is off the hook.
Continuity mistake: Watch Devlin's hands in the cafe in Rio. They open and close between shots.
Revealing mistake: When Ballin's plane flies and finally crashes, it becomes obvious that the horizon is a still image with the film of the explosion superimposed directly onto it.
Continuity mistake: The postman hangs his bag to the hook on the wall. By the noise, he knows a split-second in advance that an explosion is about to happen, and ducks. The actor ducks out of view; we are not supposed to notice that once he disappears, film editing inserts the part when the background partially detonates. We however do, because the bag in the foreground changes position in the space of a single frame. (00:05:25)
Continuity mistake: The Cadillac limo changes models at times, also having blackwall or whitewall tires.