The Parent Trap

Other mistake: When the girls leave camp, if you look closely it is obvious that one of the girls (the one in the distance) is a double who does not look like Susan / Sharon at all.

Other mistake: After the camping trip, in the kitchen, Maggie McKendrick remarks that the camping trip ended early. (It did so because of the blowout with Vicki.) Later, Maggie tells Mitch that she had made extra food for him and Susan for the next evening (done before they got home), because she and Sharon would be leaving in the morning. This is inconsistent.

Continuity mistake: In the cabin when they are coming up with the idea to swap places, Susan has on white sneakers in the beginning of the scene when she is on the bed, and Sharon has on the black Mary Janes. Later in the scene, with no time to change shoes, Susan is seen walking around the cabin wearing the black Mary Janes.

More mistakes in The Parent Trap

Mitch Evers: Hey, Maggie, you look pretty good. What did you do to yourself?
Margaret 'Maggie' McKendrick: Do to myself?

More quotes from The Parent Trap

Trivia: Hayley Mills had one stunt double that can be seen in the movie when one of the girls has her back to the camera or when Hayley is doing something she can't do by herself. The stunt double girl received a Duckster award for the best unseen performance by an actress - only three have ever been awarded.

More trivia for The Parent Trap

Question: What kind of judge would agree to this kind of custody arrangement?

Answer: None. It's total fiction made up solely for the purpose of the movie. Even for a movie, it's far beyond the "suspension of disbelief" that siblings would ever be divided up between the two parents, and neither would have no contact with them, much less be prevented from knowing they had a brother or sister.

raywest

It was during the 1960s, the courts had no way of forcing parents to share children. They could have very easily just stayed away from each other out of the view of the judicial system.

This is what I always assumed as well. That this wasn't decided by court, the parents decided this on their own and did not bring it up to the court.

There has actually been a history of separating identical twins as babies, as there has been a fascination in studying what ways they'd be alike, and how they'd be different. During this time period, there were even agencies that would pay women who gave birth to identical twins to give them up for adoption, and have them be adopted in separate families. In today's world, this would not happen, but I wouldn't put it past a judge back in the 1960s.

More questions & answers from The Parent Trap

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.