Singin' in the Rain

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

26 mistakes - chronological order

(5 votes)

Continuity mistake: When Cosmo and Don are doing the violin routine, Cosmo's violin bow string comes loose in one shot and then all of a sudden is fixed in the next. (00:06:45)

Visible crew/equipment: During the premiere of The Royal Rascal's when the bad guy goes over the edge of the banister, you can see a crewman's hands catching his legs. (00:11:30)

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Continuity mistake: In the scene where Don Lockwood is dueling in "The Royal Rascal" at the beginning of the movie, when Don opens the balcony door and the other dueller comes after him, Don flips him over the balcony and he splashes into a puddle. Meanwhile, two guys come out after Don. The next scene, one guy is lying on the balcony, Don jumps over the balcony landing on his back, and there is no puddle, no guy lying on the ground, but a bushy garden instead. (00:11:55)

Liz Kerr

Continuity mistake: When Gene Kelly and Donald O'Conner stop for car trouble, a trolley goes by. After Gene gets bombarded by fans and runs away, he runs after another trolley going by and jumps on. The same people are in the trolley each time. (00:14:50)

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Continuity mistake: When Don jumps into Kathy's car, in the long shot, as he lands her hand is on her hat. Cut to the close up, and both her hands are on the wheel. (00:15:30)

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Continuity mistake: As the girls are dancing at the after movie party, during one spot the streamers being thrown get tangled around their legs. Then in the next shot it's cleared itself up. (00:24:00)

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Continuity mistake: During "Make 'em Laugh" Donald gets flipped off the board, and sings on the ground. There is a man sweeping next to him. You see the broom coming in and out of frame near his feet. When the shot goes long, the sweeper is behind Donald, and no one is next to him. (00:28:15)

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Continuity mistake: During "Make 'em Laugh" the green couch moves to the right from the time he dances with the mummy to the end of the number. (00:29:10 - 00:30:30)

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Continuity mistake: During "Make 'em Laugh" Donald is hopping on one foot and falls down. The couch is behind him and he falls at an angle. The camera changes, and he's suddenly perpendicular to the couch instead of at an angle. (00:29:10)

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Continuity mistake: During "Make 'em Laugh" Donald is dancing on the green couch with the 'dummy'. When he spins around and jumps on the back of the couch, his hat changes from down low over his brow to higher on his forehead between long and close shots. (00:29:15)

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Continuity mistake: After Kathy and Don find each other again, and he's trying to tell her how he feels for her, they are walking outside on a sunny day. He opens a door to go into a set, but when the camera angle changes, it appears as though they are walking from a dimly lit hallway. (00:41:30)

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Continuity mistake: When the diction coach working with Gene Kelly is saying "sniffed his snifter" he has his hand in the air, and in the quick cut, it's suddenly on the book he's holding. (00:47:25)

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Continuity mistake: When Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor are with the diction coach, Donald O'Connor is making faces behind the coach's left shoulder when he gets caught. In the very next scene, he is caught again with the very same look on his face. (00:48:05)

Audio problem: When they are filming the "Duelling Cavalier" with sound for the first time, when the operator says that "She's gotta talk into the mike. I can't pick it up." his lips aren't moving at all. (00:49:33)

Continuity mistake: When Don Lockwood is telling R.F. about the Broadway scene, when he says "It's called Broadway Melody," he has his hands right in front of him and he's looking at R.F. In the next shot he's looking down at his hands and then turns to R.F. again and puts his hands up in front of him. (01:15:20)

Other mistake: In Gene Kelly's 'Singing in the Rain' sequence, the taps he makes do not match up with the actual movements of his feet - they are much more complicated than the steps he makes. Since one can't tap dance in wet loafers, Kelly had to do the dance in the studio, and the taps were added into the picture. He apparently got a little overzealous.

Audio problem: When Donald O'Connor walks onto the keys of his piano at the beginning of his Make 'Em Laugh Sequence, the sound that we hear is a chord, but in reality we would hear a much more dissonant combination of notes, because several notes adjacent to each other would be played at the same time.

Continuity mistake: When Gene Kelly does his classic Singin' in the Rain dance scene, it's only raining in the front half of the shot. In long shots, you can see that the back part of the scene is enjoying clear weather. And, as he goes left, the rain slants right and vice versa.

Revealing mistake: At the first premiere (at Grauman's Chinese Theatre), look closely at the audience. Because at the end of the movie, and several months later at the premiere of The Dancing Caviler, it is the same audience! (Same clothes and even the same seats!)

Don Lockwood: What's your lofty mission in life that lets you sneer at my humble profession?
Kathy Selden: I'm an actress.
Don Lockwood: What?
Kathy Selden: On the stage.
Don Lockwood: Oh, on the stage. Well, I'd like to see you act. What are you in right now? I could brush up on my English, or bring along an interpreter. That is if they'd let in a movie actor.
Kathy Selden: I'm not in a play right now, but I will be. I'm going to New York...
Don Lockwood: Oh, you're going to New York! And then someday, we'll all hear of you, won't we? Kathy Selden as Juliet, as Lady Macbeth, as King Lear! You'll have to wear a beard for that one, of course.

More quotes from Singin' in the Rain

Trivia: The script for this movie was written after the songs were; most were written in the 1930s, some earlier, and the latest in the late 1940s. The title song, for example, was first published in 1929.

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More trivia for Singin' in the Rain

Question: Before Lina sings "Singin' in the Rain," she keeps backing up to the curtain (to ask Kathy what song she's going to sing, and in what key). Wouldn't that tip off the audience that Lina wasn't using her own voice?

Answer: They might think she's just asking someone backstage, R.F. or something, which song it would be best to sing.

rabid anarchist

More questions & answers from Singin' in the Rain

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