Continuity mistake: Near the end, when Scotty is driving Judy to the Mission, the view from inside the car of the road shows that Scotty is driving on the left-hand side when he should legally be on the right. It is not a one-way road, and it appears that the shot was flipped.
Continuity mistake: In the final scene, parts of Madeleine's hair come undone in the struggle inside the bell tower stairwell. At the top of the tower, before she falls, her hair is in perfect shape again.
Visible crew/equipment: At the end after Madeleine falls, the camera pulls away from the church tower. You can see the shadow of the camera. (02:07:40)
Continuity mistake: When Scottie (James Stewart) visits a bookshop to question its owner, the book display in the shop's window changes between the time he enters and exits the store. (00:33:50)
Continuity mistake: Directly outside Scotty's living room window is an uninterrupted view of Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill. However, when the apartment is seen from the outside, there is a building across from where the window would be and Coit Tower is much further to the right.
Continuity mistake: James Stewart sees Kim Novak entering a flower shop by the back door. Watch the shadows on the ground: in the very next shot, when Stewart follows Novak, the shadows are very different. (00:20:12)
Continuity mistake: At the point where Scottie is following Madeleine in the side-street, she enters a building and he follows. When he is inside, in one shot the light reflecting on the door window is white and in the next it is green.
Revealing mistake: In the final scene in the belltower you can see shadows from the surrounding trees. That's because this scene was shot at 3 in the afternoon. They just used a filter to make it look like it was night.
Continuity mistake: When Scottie follows Madeleine back to his home and joins her at his porch, Scottie holds the banister on his front porch as he climbs the steps & then moves his arm to his side twice.
Character mistake: In their meeting, Gavin Elster tells Scotty that the speedometer on Madeleine's car showed she'd driven 53 miles.
Continuity mistake: When Scottie is reporting to Elster about his findings, there are ice cubes in their drinks, but in subsequent close-ups, the ice cubes are not there. (00:38:15)
Continuity mistake: In the scene In the McKittrick hotel, the manager tells Scotty Madeleine often stops by but hadn't been by today. Incredulous, he insists on seeing her room but finds that she has disappeared. One shot shows her door left open and another shows it closed.
Suggested correction: A couple things. Scotty tells the manager to go look in the room while he waits downstairs. She goes up, then calls down to him and asks if he wants to see the room. As they walk down the hall, the door to Madeleine's room is closed. The manager opens it, and she and Scotty go inside. The door was always closed until they went in. The lighting on the door in the first shot of it makes it appear much lighter in color, giving the impression that it was open and the interior is being seen, but it is closed.
