Continuity mistake: During the procession scene, in the shot before Toht takes off his hat, about twenty soldiers can be seen walking. After Indy leaves the procession and hides behind a box, in the next shot, there appear to be twice as many soldiers as in the first scene. Just before Indy shouts "Hello!", the quantity has returned to twenty.
Continuity mistake: After the kliegs behind Dietrich, Belloq, and Toht explode, the Ark's energy begins to destroy the soldiers' guns and the kliegs next to them. In some shots, the kliegs on the altar are still working.
Character mistake: In the original Latin Spanish dubbing, Dietrich calls Gobler "Glober" while walking next to the destroyed Flying Wing.
Continuity mistake: Just before Belloq says "It's beautiful!", there is a black machine (which is not the German camera or the generator) in the bottom middle of the screen, just below the approaching ghost. It is also visible when the Angel of Death is revealed. This machine disappears when the Ark begins to kill the soldiers.
Continuity mistake: After the kliegs and generator explode, there is a shot of Belloq and Toht on the altar. Belloq has the ivory rod in a vertical position. In the next shot, the rod is horizontal.
Continuity mistake: When Indy and his excavation team arrive at the true location of the Well of Souls, we can see that it is on a low hill, just a few meters from the Nazi excavations. However, when it gets dark, we can see that the excavations have disappeared from view and now the Well of Souls appears to be on a considerably high mountain (taking as a reference the illuminated camp on the right of the screen).
Continuity mistake: When the Nazis are aboard the Bantu Wind, in the full scene of the ship deck, Toht stands behind Belloq. But, after Marion tries to hit Dietrich, the camera focuses on Belloq, then on Dietrich again. Toht is not seen anymore on the deck.
Continuity mistake: In the chapel, before Indy turns the chalkboard over to explain the staff of Ra and the medallion to the G-men, the chalkboard goes back and forth from tilting forward to tilting backward a few times.
Continuity mistake: When Belloq and the Germans are at the Well of the Souls, a top-down view shot when Indy yells, "Why don't you come on down here and I'll show you!" shows Belloq and a German officer kneeling down to the left of him, also looking down into the hole. But the side view shots show only Belloq standing near the opening.
Continuity mistake: When the Cairo Henchman pulls the knife on Marion, the blade edge changes position from down to up to down again.
Revealing mistake: During the big car chase where Indy follows the ark, he comes down a hill on a horse to get into the truck. You can tell the ground has already been disturbed by the horse from previous takes.
Revealing mistake: After the German is chopped up in the propeller and the plane explodes, you can the blasting cord exploding along the path to the explosion.
Other mistake: In the opening scene Indiana is with horses and scouts. A few minutes later he is running for his life and in a few moments he's at a waiting plane. Why does he need scouts and horses for the cave is in walking distance from the plane and how did the scouts and horses get there?
Continuity mistake: When Indy sits down in the seat of the plane look behind him, there is nobody holding a Life magazine or fitting the description of the man later shown watching him from the other seat.
Suggested correction: This is not true. Dennis Muren enters just before Indy and sits down. The camera focuses on Indy, giving Muren enough time to grab the magazine and cover his face.
Other mistake: Watch the extras playing the Cairo civilians walking around just before the big swordsman reveals himself to Indy. Several of them are just aimlessly walking back and forth as if they have no idea where to go.
Continuity mistake: During the truck chase, as Indy is fighting with the German driver, they knock over some scaffolding and a man drops down in front of the windshield. None of the workers on the scaffolding landed on the truck, much less the front of it. So, he shouldn't have been there.
Continuity mistake: When Marcus enters the classroom he leans up against a wall and there are 2 girls in the front row next to him. When the bell rings, the girls are the first two students to leave the classroom. Seconds later when Indy looks over to Marcus the same two girls are just getting up from their desks.
Continuity mistake: As the big German engages Indy in the fight, Marion is removing the chocks from one of the wheels. In the wide shot you don't see her at all, even climbing the plane to knock out of the pilot.
Revealing mistake: After Indy shoots the driver of the truck that Marion is supposedly in, the camera looks at the driver's bloody hand falling limp. In the shot of the truck tipping over, you see the stunt driver working the wheel.
Continuity mistake: While escaping from the boulder, right before the spiderweb scene, Indy runs facing forward and makes a right turn. A shot later from a wide angle he is facing backwards.
