Revealing mistake: Near the very beginning of the film, we see the Moroccan police car with five officers speeding through the busy street with siren blaring and people jumping out of the way. The siren continues to be heard, as the scene shifts a total of five times within eight seconds to show the panic and confusion in the streets. As the siren continues, the scene shifts back to a glimpse of the police car once again, which is going through the same section of street, with the same buildings and painted mural and the same actors on both sides of the street. Watch the man in the white suit and hat jump out of the way of the same car two times within nine seconds. (00:01:00)
Continuity mistake: Renault folds the paper he's holding, but a shot later he is writing on it. (00:01:25)
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, the man with expired papers runs and is shot next to a large mural and an empty archway. The camera angle changes to show the police running up to him and there is now a bored looking young girl leaning on the inside of the arch. (00:03:35)
Continuity mistake: When we first see Rick he picks up a cigarette and a chess piece. The camera angle changes to show people entering the room and Rick is now fiddling with his glass. (00:09:10)
Continuity mistake: When Rick and Renault are sitting at a table outside Rick's Cafe, a bottle disappears from the table between one cut and the next and then reappears. In the shot without the bottle, there seems to be a champagne bottle at an angle in the background, something that is not visible in the other shots when the first bottle is on the table. (00:16:00)
Continuity mistake: In scenes at Rick's Cafe, Captain Renault is wearing a white dress jacket with three medals. The right-hand medal, possibly the Légion d'Honneur, is first seen on a long ribbon. Less than a minute later, it is on a short ribbon; over the next nine minutes, it becomes long, short, long. It's not a medal, it's a yoyo. (00:16:30 - 00:26:40)
Revealing mistake: When we see the shadow of Rick opening the safe, there is also the shadow of a candle centered in the shadow of an archway. When we see Rick closing the safe, the shadow of the candle is now at the edge of the shadow of the archway; showing that the two shots were lit differently. (00:18:00)
Revealing mistake: Dooley Wilson (a singer, drummer, and leader of his own touring band) who played "Sam" in the film, couldn't play the piano. A pianist was playing offstage while he sang the songs. If you look at Dooley's hands whenever he is 'playing' the piano, you can see that he is not playing the proper notes. (00:25:30)
Continuity mistake: Strassers' hands and arms constantly change positions when he talks to Rick: crossed, bent, hiding a notebook. (00:30:45)
Factual error: When Rick is talking about the German guns shelling near Paris, he describes them as 77's (non-existent) - likely meant the famous 88's used as anti-aircraft and tanks as well as for wheeled guns. [The line was originally "88s" but was changed at the request of the War Dept. so as to not tip the German's hands that we knew about the 88s.] (00:44:25)
Continuity mistake: When Bogie is reading the note from Bergman, it is dissolved by the heavy rain and he is dripping wet, so is Sam, who delivered the note. But then he is standing on the step of the train totally dry. (00:47:00)
Continuity mistake: When Rick goes to see Ferrari at the Blue Parrot the first time, there is a bottle on the table between them. Ferrari is shown taking the cap off the bottle, pouring a drink, and then returning the cap to the bottle. In the next cut, the bottle is gone, and in the cut after that the bottle is back, but without the cap, which should still be on it. (00:56:05)
Continuity mistake: When Ilsa shows up Rick's hand is on the bottle. A shot later it's away. (00:56:45)
Audio problem: Strasser arrives at Rick's and a woman is playing a guitar while the band behind plays all kinds of instruments, but just the piano is heard. It looks quite ridiculous. (01:09:29)
Continuity mistake: When the German officer slaps a French guy who insulted a woman, the French guy's head swaps between tilted or straight depending on the angle. (01:10:44)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie a man comes outside the door to look for Rick and the spotlight passes by him. When he walks over to Rick it passes by him again. All the other times the spotlight passed it took about a minute to come back around again. (01:12:00 - 01:15:30)
Continuity mistake: After his bar has been closed, Rick discusses his financial situation with Carl. In long shot you see Carl wearing his glasses on his forehead, in a closer shot, the glasses are on his nose. (01:15:28)
Continuity mistake: In the final scenes at the airport, when Rick is talking to Major Strasser, the epaulettes on Strasser's shoulders alternately appear and disappear. (01:40:05)
Continuity mistake: When Ilsa is in Laslo's bedroom, she is shown from behind looking out the window at the street below, then after an edit she is shown looking at the street from out side the window. The problem is that the first shot showed her looking through a roll-type window shade, and the second is a slat-type Venetian blind.
Factual error: Major Strasser refers to Rick as a "bumbling American." Capt. Renault then replies, "We mustn't underestimate American blundering. I was with them when they blundered into Berlin in 1918." During World War I, no Allied soldiers ever attacked or occupied Berlin. In fact, when the war ended Germans still occupied some French territory. This led in part to the rise of Hitler and World War II because of the belief that Germany did not really lose World War I but was sold out by various conspirators.
Answer: She was married then, and discovered that Lazlo was still alive.
scwilliam