Continuity mistake: The movie starts and people rush under a heavy rain. A group walks by the fruit stalls, and a sellers bumps into them and walks towards the camera. A frame later there's a quick cut and, though the angle remains the same, the people have vanished and been replaced by different actors, plus the seller has turned around and is walking away from the camera. Really odd. (00:04:35)
Continuity mistake: When Higgins scares Eliza to force her into being her pupil she is either standing in front of a barometer or next to it. (00:43:10)
Continuity mistake: At the end of the song "Just An Ordinary Man," Rex Harrison races around the room switching on several separate phonograph players (which are all mechanical devices), producing a dissonant, squabbling ruckus. But, a moment later, as he utters the last line of the song, "I shall never let a woman in my life," he switches off the one phonograph nearest to him, and ALL the mechanical phonographs in the room stop playing instantly. (00:44:36)
Continuity mistake: The white carnations in the vase on the piano (Higgin's study) move around from shot to shot during the scene immediately after the Embassy ball.
Continuity mistake: When Higgins meets Pickering, Eliza says she can be anywhere she wants and raises her arm to her bosom, then lowers it. A frame later, from a different angle, it's up again.
Continuity mistake: While Higgins is singing in the opening scene, he is sitting on a pillar and leaning over. He is shown leaning back up, but then the shot changes and he gets back up again.
Continuity mistake: In the song "I'm Getting Married in the Morning" there is a bottle of gin or something similar on the bar. When the bar-lady pours Alfred a drink, the bottle is close to the bar handles (those knob things in local pubs, they control the amount of beer pouring out), but as the song progresses the bottle gets further and further away from the bar-lady. DVD Showing.
Continuity mistake: During the "Bit of luck" song, Mr. Doolittle walks through a metal tunnel. On the next three shots he appears standing on a different spot, though he hasn't moved at all; plus the stick leaning against the wall also keeps changing places.
Continuity mistake: Higgins orders his maid to bath Eliza, who raises her arm. A frame later it's down.
Continuity mistake: When Prof Higgins orders Eliza to sit down, he points with his right hand; the next moment, from a different angle, he is lowering his left.
Continuity mistake: Watch Professor Higgins during the 'You Did It' number after the Embassy Ball. He sits down, taking off his shoes. At one point, he has a shoe in one hand and a cigar in the other. The cigar shoots to the other hand and the shoe disappears, then it goes back.
Continuity mistake: When Eliza is picking up flowers in the market and talks with her father, a man in the background suddenly appears between the first and second shot.
Continuity mistake: When Eliza is about to bathe there's a shot from the fourth wall, behind the tub, which shows a very wide space beyond the tub and the copper kettle. From the opposite angle there's a wall inches away from the kettle.
Continuity mistake: During the ascot race, Freddy is to Eliza's left. After the horses go by, everyone is laughing at what Eliza says, pics of surrounding people flash, and Freddy is on her right.
Continuity mistake: When Eliza is singing 'I could have danced all night' her maids help her put on her nightdress. The sleeve on the left arm is left undone as she enters the bathroom and is washing her face. However, when she exits the bathroom, the sleeve can now be seen tied up.
Continuity mistake: Mr. Doolittle's friends are kicked out of the pub and roll on the floor, which makes the guy on the left's hat fall off. He sits up and crawls to grab it, but a frame later he is sitting up again, though now his hat on.
Continuity mistake: During "Loverly", a man throws lettuces up in the air. The amount on the floor changes between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Higgins shows his notebook to Eliza, his hand disappears in the close-up.
Continuity mistake: When the "Loverly" song is about to start a man in a cart says to take the hats off. In the wide angles he is leaning on the cart, but in the close-ups he is grabbing a bag. This changes back and forth.
Continuity mistake: Higgins leaves with Pickering and Eliza kicks a basket at them, which lands in the middle of a huge empty street. When she kneels down to pick it up, the whole place changes completely, and a curb and market stalls are barely a couple of meters away from her.
Answer: Higgins is eccentric and a bit anti-social. He does not always follow social norms and protocol. He somewhat enjoys upsetting his snobbish peers, as well as his mother. He's also highly focused in the moment on passing off Eliza as a high-society lady.
raywest ★