Continuity mistake: As Melanie walks around with her flashlight she goes into the kitchen and looks at the lovebirds. This cage has 11 rungs on the side and is not the same one that she walked into the house with when she brought the lovebirds up from San Francisco, which had 19 rungs. (01:46:15)
Continuity mistake: Before Melanie walks up the stairs to the bedroom there's a shadow of a plant on her jacket. This is wrong because in the shot before we can see up the stairs and there's no plant with any light behind it. (01:46:50)
Continuity mistake: As Melanie opens the door to the bedroom there is no light except her flashlight but you can see two distinct reflections in the door knob, one of the flashlight and one of the studio light behind her. (01:47:15)
Continuity mistake: The flashlight is aiming right at the doorknob before Melanie walks into the room. In the next shot, as she walks through the door (before they turn the spotlight on) there's no light because the flashlight is off and isn't pointing at the doorknob. (01:47:30)
Continuity mistake: In the upstairs bedroom attack the first blackbird scratches Melanie's face and her left hand goes from pointing upward to pointing across her face between shots. (01:47:50)
Continuity mistake: As she's attacked in the bedroom the first scratch on Melanie's left forearm moves further up two shots later when see it again. (01:48:05)
Continuity mistake: The fourth shot of Melanie's legs in the room with the birds shows ripped stockings around her ankles looking like cob webs. The next time we see her feet, the stockings are intact. (01:48:15)
Continuity mistake: As she's fighting off of the bird attack in the bedroom Melanie looks like she is turning off the light switch on her right. There's no power in the house but the light on her does go out. It's not a reflection from the flashlight, which is aiming at the ceiling before the light goes out. (01:48:30)
Continuity mistake: When Melanie is being attacked by the birds she says, "Oh Mitch," and the cut below her right eye changes between shots. In the first shot it angles up and the second it's straight across. (01:48:45)
Continuity mistake: After Melanie says, "Oh Mitch," during the attack, they have a close-up of the knuckles of her left hand. The first time we see them they're scraped and bloody but the second time it's the palm and wrist and not the knuckles that are bloody. (01:48:50)
Continuity mistake: After rescuing her Mitch picks Melanie up and carries her down the stairs. At first her right leg is sticking straight out and her left is bent but in the next shot both her legs are bent. (01:49:50)
Continuity mistake: As Mitch picks up Melanie and swings her around we get a good look at the cut on her left shin. In the next shot, as he carries her down the stairs, the cut is totally different with much more blood there. (01:49:50)
Continuity mistake: When Mitch first picks Melanie up he swings her around and has his left arm around her neck. In the next shot as he walks down the stairs his arm is around her back. (01:49:55)
Continuity mistake: Mitch puts the glass of brandy up to Melanie's lips and we see the brandy touch her upper lip and slosh around but then as he pulls it back there's not a trace of liquid on her lips. (01:50:45)
Continuity mistake: After Melanie has been bandaged up after her attack, she sits up on the sofa, and you can see two large bloody scratches on her cheek. These scratches disappear when Mitch and Lydia walk Melanie outside to the car. (01:51:25)
Continuity mistake: As Mitch goes out the dining room door to the garage there's a big oily, drippy stain behind and to the right of his head. In the next shot it's gone. (01:52:30)
Continuity mistake: As Mitch leaves the house to get Melanie's car in the garage the large brown wooden chair that has been to the right of the door throughout the movie has disappeared. (01:52:40)
Continuity mistake: As Mitch walks up to the garage door all the birds on the ground that are near him run away and there's nothing to his right except a garbage pail. Then just before he walks through the door two birds appear pecking at his feet. (01:53:00)
Continuity mistake: When Mitch returns from the garage, the blood stain on Melanie's head is about an inch lower that it was before when Lydia put the bandage on it. (01:55:10)
Continuity mistake: As they all prepare to leave the house part of Melanie's bloody dress sticks right up towards her chin, but when Mitch and Lydia swing her around towards the car it's not sticking up anymore. (01:56:10)
Answer: The movie takes place in the 1960s, so presumably gas pumps worked a bit differently back then. This is also a small town and probably the gas station had not modernized. There may not have been automatic shut-offs, or if there was, it was faulty.
raywest ★
The automatic shut off is in the handle of the hose. When a person grips the handle they have to lift a levered switch to allow gas flow; the lever is spring loaded so that if it is released the gas will stop flowing. I have looked at older antique gas pumps and they are all the same; even the visible glass gravity flow ones. If that hose was dropped the the gas should have stopped flowing.
michael g