Excalibur

Continuity mistake: After the fight Lancelot lies dying and King Arthur says to Merlin, "Bring him back, whenever the cost". Guinevere lifts Lancelot's left hand and kisses it but in the next shot both of her hands are on his wound. (01:20:20)

????

Continuity mistake: At the siege of Leondegrance's castle, Arthur gives Uryens Excalibur and asks him to knight him with it. Arthur has been out of the water for a few minutes but as he is being knighted his hair is dripping wet again and a large area of blood appears on his neck. (00:41:10)

????

Continuity mistake: Mordred brings Perceval to his mother Morgana and we see the metal pendants hanging from her crown are almost motionless. In the next close-up shot of her holding Mordred the pendants are all moving. (01:40:50)

????

Continuity mistake: Perceval throws Excalibur into the lake and we see that it's full of blood as it flies through the air, but as the "Lady of the Lake" catches it there's no blood on it. Then as she lowers it into the water there's blood on it again. (02:16:30)

????

Continuity mistake: As King Arthur addresses the Knights of the Round Table he says, "Only the Grail can restore leaf and flower" and Perceval and the other nights are facing him. In the next shot Perceval and the knight to the left of him are facing forward with only their heads turned towards Arthur. (01:35:30)

????

Continuity mistake: Arthur instructs Perceval to, "Take Excalibur, find a pool of calm water, throw the sword into it". No one ever removed the spear that Mordred thrust through his chest but now as Arthur dies it's gone. (02:13:25)

????

Continuity mistake: After the final battle Mordred thrusts a spear through his father Arthur's chest. It goes totally through him but if only the very tip has blood on it. Later on in the scene it's entirely bloody. (02:12:40)

????

Continuity mistake: King Arthur asks Merlin where evil is in his kingdom and he replies, "Always where you never expect it, always". In the next shot Morgana walks back to her seat at the table as Gawain blurts out, "I know where" but then two shots later we see her back at the wall where she was speaking to Merlin. (01:10:20)

????

Continuity mistake: Igrayne Says, "My lord" as Uther takes her into his arms. At first she holds him with her right hand around his waist but in the next shot her right hand is on his arm. (00:14:25)

????

Continuity mistake: Uther wants Merlin to get Igrayne for him to sleep with and they both climb to the top of a hill so that Merlin can cast a spell on her. Merlin says, "Annal Nathrach" with his scepter held high in the air but in the next shot the scepter is at eye level. (00:10:00)

????

Continuity mistake: As Morgana and Merlin speak, the position of the vial that she's wearing changes between shots. In the shots where we see Merlin's face a gold spec (many are included as decorations in the veil) is next to her cheek. In the shots where we see Morgana's face the gold spec moves and is next to her right temple. (01:01:45)

????

Continuity mistake: In a long shot, Mordred brings Perceval to Morgana and she says as she holds him, "My lovely, clever boy". The next shot is a close-up and the blankets covering her throne are entirely different. (01:40:50)

????

Continuity mistake: King Arthur's second horseman carries three extra jousting sticks as they ride to the far end of the field preparing for the joust. After the first charge Lancelot says, "You joust well, Sir, I offer you another lance" and King Arthur rides back to his second horseman who now only has one jousting stick. (00:48:15)

????

Continuity mistake: During the knight's feast at the round table Morgana and Merlin go off to chat and he says to her, "I've shown you too much already". We see three dogs (one lying down and two standing) bathed in a green light behind his head. Two seconds later we see this spot again and there are two dogs standing in natural light. (01:09:30)

????

Continuity mistake: Morgana becomes old after she recites "The Charm of Making". They use another older actress to portray her and she's wearing the same costume and head dress but they neglected to put on the long dangling earrings that she was wearing in the previous shots when she was younger. (02:07:00)

????

Continuity mistake: When Arthur thrusts Excalibur through Mordred there's a dead white horse behind them. When we first see it, the head is facing away from them but later as Mordred falls dead the horse is reversed with the head closer to them. (02:13:00)

????

Continuity mistake: As Guinevere drinks from the chalice the priest gives them, she lifts her veil with the fingers of her left hand in a horizontal position. In the next shot her fingers are pointing upward. (01:00:25)

????

Continuity mistake: When Arthur is dying after killing Mordred, he drops to his knees with the spear still through him. When Sir Percivle is next to him getting his last instructions, the spear is gone.

Continuity mistake: Guinevere and Morgana walk down a staircase inside Camelot and get to the 10th step. In the next shot Guinevere notices Lancelot at the entrance and says hello and now they are on the 7th step. (01:06:30)

????

Visible crew/equipment: After Arthur drinks from the Grail and goes to visit Gwinevere at the convent and she gives him the sword back, he paces around her chamber- you can clearly see the film crew reflected in his armor.

More mistakes in Excalibur

Arthur: I was not born to live a man's life, but to be the stuff of future memory.

More quotes from Excalibur

Trivia: Producer/screenwriter/director John Boorman deliberately chose renowned stage actors Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren to play the sorcerer Merlin and the sorceress Morgana, knowing very well that Williamson and Mirren hated each other in real life (because of a disastrous stage production of Macbeth they worked on, years earlier). Boorman anticipated real friction, tension and anger between the two actors, which was the effect he wanted onscreen. On the contrary, the experience of working together in "Excalibur" completely changed Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren into the best of friends.

Charles Austin Miller

More trivia for Excalibur

Question: IMDB lists a character named Sunshine, played by an uncredited Prudence Wright Holmes. Who is she?

Answer: Sunshine is the name of one of Gueniviere's handmaidens. She is also mentioned in L'morte d'Arthur.

More questions & answers from Excalibur

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.