Revealing mistake: Just before Mitch comes through the door to save Melanie there's a shot of the birds coming at her with the opening in the roof in the background. The opening in the roof is in color but the superimposed birds are in black and white. (01:49:15)
Continuity mistake: The end of this scene as the children near the bottom of the hill has been shot at a different time from the beginning, as the sun is now the front of them and their shadows are cast in the opposite direction. (01:14:00)
Continuity mistake: When we first see the three-branched lamp to the left of Annie's couch one branch is facing the camera and two are behind the lamp. Now, as she sits sipping her brandy the lamp has been reversed with the lone branch in the back facing the wall. It's much easier to see if you look at the branch in the lampshade. (00:41:10 - 00:43:30)
Continuity mistake: The neckline of Lydia's nightgown changes between shots as she says to Melanie, "No, no don't go." (01:05:55)
Revealing mistake: As Cathy and Melanie go to help the girl in the red sweater lying in the road look at the poor helpless blackbird on her shoulder. Its beak is attached to her sweater so that it can't get away. (01:14:45)
Continuity mistake: There's a green pamphlet right next to the ashtray that the bird flies into. When Mitch put his hat over the bird the pamphlet is further away. (00:06:10)
Visible crew/equipment: As Melanie walks into the living room to find a place to put the bird cage down the shadow of the camera appears on her coat. (00:22:20)
Continuity mistake: As Melanie walks into the elevator to go up to Mitch's apartment, we never see the shadow of the door close as we see in the next shot when it opens. (00:09:40)
Continuity mistake: Mitch holds the bottle of peroxide differently between shots. The first time he holds it close to her face with his middle finger awkwardly sticking out. In the next shot all of his fingers are wrapped around the bottle. (00:27:30)
Continuity mistake: As Mitch holds his binoculars in order to see Melanie, the left strap comes down in the middle of the palm of his hand. We know he hasn't put the binoculars down but in the next shot he's holding them differently with the strap moved over two inches closer to his sweater's sleeve. (00:24:15)
Continuity mistake: In the first shot of Annie's body lying on the steps there's an orange chair on the porch pushed up under the window on the right. At first the top of the chair is below the bottom sill of the window but in the next shot it's been moved and the top of it is now above the sill. (01:30:20)
Continuity mistake: As Melanie writes her address for the cashier, the two stacks of magazines to the left of the cash register have been pushed together and rearranged without being touched. (00:03:30)
Audio problem: As Melanie and the manager leave his store to look at the Mitch's house, they overdub the bell sound when he opens it but neglect to when he closes it. (00:13:15)
Visible crew/equipment: You can see a flash as the boom mike operator hits the light above the front door when Mitch runs back with the hammer and nails. (01:43:45)
Continuity mistake: As Melanie and Mitch get ready to leave the restaurant for Annie's the hat and coat on the coat rack cast a very dark shadow against the wall. When we saw this spot before there was only of very light shadow against the wall. (01:29:10)
Continuity mistake: As they await the last bird attack Lydia cleans off the coffee table and comes back and sits in the chair next to the piano. Her head looks left and then right between shots. (01:39:20)
Audio problem: After leaving the card by the bird cage Melanie walks on the carpet over to the window to see where Mitch is. She just walked over that spot a minute ago and didn't make a sound, but now they dub in the sound of her walking on a hardwood floor. (00:22:35)
Continuity mistake: The drapes on the far wall of the dining room to the left of the dinner table have been straightened out during the scene but no one went near them. (00:56:10)
Continuity mistake: When Lydia comes into the restaurant, the collar of her coat looks fine. In the next shot the left side of her collar is sticking up. (00:29:35)
Continuity mistake: When Mitch covers Annie's body with his jacket the back of it is not as dirty as it was a few seconds ago when they walked up to the school. (01:31:05)
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