Factual error: The captain of the Bantu Wind, Katanga, wears a hat that originated from the Yugoslav People's Navy. But the Yugoslav Navy wasn't formed until 1945, 9 years after this movie takes place.
Factual error: During the fight scene at the German flying wing, the pilot ducks into the plane and pulls out a pistol and cocks it. The pistol is a P38 9mm semi-auto that the Germans did not issue until 1938, two years later.
Revealing mistake: When Indy jumps across the pit to pursue the spy that took the idol, he barely makes it across, grabbing the ledge on the opposite side with his hands. When he pulls himself up, he kicks loose a rock and the entire "solid" rock wall shakes like it's nothing more than a foam wall.
Continuity mistake: When the village crowd separates and reveals a standoff between Indy and the black-robed swordsman, the rear shot of Indy shows his hip-bag to the rear of him, the frontal shot of Indy shows his hip-bag on the forward part of his hip.
Factual error: When Indiana Jones is fighting the big German by the airplane, the German punches Indiana Jones on his right cheek. Indy's face and body are both knocked down to the right, in the direction of the punch. When you watch this, you can see it's impossible to be knocked down in such a way. (01:17:55)
Visible crew/equipment: When Indiana is chasing the Nazis in the truck, look closely at the convertible, you can see the camera on the windshield. (01:23:25)
Continuity mistake: When Belloq is talking to Indy and Marion in the Well of Souls, he's shown holding his hat with his right hand. But in the only over-the-shoulder shot (looking into the Well of Souls) the hat is laying on the ground and Belloq tosses a stone down with his right hand. Then the hat is back. (01:10:35)
Visible crew/equipment: When Indy and Sallah are deciphering the head piece there is a shot over Indy's shoulder. As he turns you can see the reflection of a fluorescent light in his glasses. (00:48:40)
Continuity mistake: Marion's bar in Nepal is built with thick stone walls, but after the fire, all you see is the burned-out shell of a wood-frame building.
Factual error: Indy's satchel is a Mk VII gas mask bag, which was created for use in World War II, so it didn't even exist at the time the film takes place (1936). The similar Mk V existed at the time, though.
Revealing mistake: Where is all the light coming from in the Well of Souls, even after the entrance was re-sealed, and the only torch still burning went out?
Factual error: When flying from Nepal to Egypt Indy passes over Arabia. The state of Jordan is shown, but in 1935 Jordan was called The Emirate of Transjordan.
Factual error: It should be a tricky task to put an object the size of the Ark on board a German VIIC submarine; perhaps you can find enough place inside but how do you manage to introduce that bulky case through the narrow hatches of the sub? Even the torpedo load hatches were just a little more than 21 inches in diameter.
Continuity mistake: Just after Indiana (barely) escapes the tumbling boulder at the beginning of the movie, he leaps through a veil of spider webs, only to be held up by the native hunters and Belloq, who takes the idol from Indiana. Watch carefully - there is a thick strand of webs attached to the idol as Indy hands it to Belloq, but they disappear in the next shot as Belloq hefts the idol and holds it up in the air.
Plot hole: Indy stows away on the Nazi sub on the way to the secret Nazi base somewhere near Greece. Where did he stay all that time? Inside? On a VII-Class boat, there's barely enough room for the regular crew, and hardly any places to hide. Also, everybody knows everybody, so no passing yourself off as "the new guy." Outside then maybe? Well, the boat did dive, it's in the dialog, and while on the surface, German U-boats always had a bridge watch on the tower, so no luck there either. Note that by all accounts I could find, German submarines were required to always post a bridge watch, if only because otherwise they would be running essentially blind. It's not like the helmsman's station in the tower had any windows.
Continuity mistake: When Indy and the Peruvian are entering the cave and clearing the cobwebs, you can see at least one spider on Indy's back. The next shot shows a clear, long shot of Indy's back with light reflecting on his jacket and no spiders. In the next shot, the Peruvian notices the spiders. (00:04:20)
Continuity mistake: When the government comes to see Indy at the University he is teaching, they enter the large room, I think it's a gymnasium. He puts the huge book on the table and one of the buckles comes undone. But when he goes to open the book to show the g-men a picture of the Ark he undoes both buckles. (00:15:30 - 00:19:30)
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film, Indiana Jones uses his whip to disarm a man with a handgun. The scene showing this action includes several quick shots, but as a result of the use of these multiple shots it can be seen that the whip descends twice. (Slow motion helps, but isn't required.)
Factual error: At the beginning of the movie, when Indiana is looking for the temple, you can hear a bird call. It also can be heard when Indy is running from the natives. The bird is a willow ptarmigan. It lives in very cold areas in the far north of North America. Even a very directionally-challenged ptarmigan could not possibly end up in South America. You can also hear the unmistakable laughing sounds of the kookaburras, only found in Australia.
Continuity mistake: In the beginning, Indy's partner takes the idol, throws down the whip, and leaves him hanging on a ledge with the ceiling closing down to the ground. While he is hanging the you can see that the ceiling barely has enough room for Indy to fit. Indy struggles to get up which during this time he would have no room to get under, yet when he finally gets up the ceiling has risen giving him plenty of room to get under. (00:08:45)
Answer: I also remember this scene. After the ark is sealed, the camera performs a close up of the side of the crate. The stamp reads "Top Secret Army Intel 9906753 Do Not Open" This stamp is burned off just like the swastika is in the scene on the submarine, because in the eyes of God, no nation is holy or worthy enough to claim ownership of the ark. However, this final scene was cut (the burning of the stamp) from the film for a variety of unclear reasons. While it was in theaters, this scene was not included on the DVD version.
Add me to this. We saw the movie in a "pre release" version in Orlando Florida. No advance warning of the movie. We went to see another flick and at the end were "invited" to see this if we were willing to critique it afterwards. This scene was included. I also always wondered why the change.
I also remember seeing this mysterious 'burning' of the logo, most likely it was on a VHS copy of this movie. Yes, it did exist.
I saw it in former Czechoslovakia in the second half of 80's in cinema (west movies came to the east countries' cinemas years later). And I thought it was a great joke that burning out the swastika wasn't just because the Nazis are bad but because nobody is great enough to own the arc. Then after the Velvet revolution I saw the film again on TV (beginning of 90's) and said everyone around: watch it until the end, wait on the post-credit scene, there will be a surprise.
And there was a surprise. The scene was cut off! I was angry on the TV they didn't show the scene. I cannot be influenced by internet discussion or urban legend. The internet didn't exist yet.
I saw it in Portland, Oregon, and was so impressed with the message it carried, that I told friends and we went several times just to see it. Funny thing was when I mentioned it a few years ago, many people said I was a LIAR that it never happened. I could not convince anyone. It was removed because it wasn't Politically Correct. USA is a force for good, God would not burn off AMERICAN TEXT! BUT WE DID SEE IT. Thanks to our Australian eye witness, we know we did not imagine it.