Continuity mistake: There's a very cool shot of Katherine Cross and Hollis Mulwray's reflection in the camera lens as Jake takes their picture from a roof top while they're having lunch. The problem is as the cameraman zooms in, Jake's hands are shaking but the reflection in the lens doesn't. (00:16:05)
Continuity mistake: In the very first scene of the movie Curly looks at the pictures of his wife that Jake took. He gets to the fourth picture and rotates it 45 degrees to get a better look. As he goes on to the next picture he lifts the fourth one up, and in the next shot he's holding a different picture. (00:02:00)
Continuity mistake: Gittes finds Mrs. Mulray's big house being shut down, finds the eyeglasses in the saltwater pond and races to the small house where Mrs. Mulray's daughter had been staying. All their luggage was there at the small house because they were leaving there to go directly to the train station to make their escape to mexico. The Mulray entourage (daughter and servant) hurriedly leaves the smaller house without their luggage since Gittes had called the detectives. After Gittes takes the detectives on a deceptive trip to Curly's and eludes the detectives by Curly driving away with him, the next scene has Curly and Jake putting the last of Mrs. Mulray's entourage's luggage into Curly's truck in front of the Mrs. Mulray's large home, not the smaller house where the daughter had been staying and where they had all their luggage together to go straight to the train to escape to Mexico. The sequence should have had Gittes retrieving luggage from the smaller house.
Continuity mistake: When Jake walks into Ida Sessions' house he looks into her bedroom and the shade on the left window is three quarters of the way up and in the dark. Several shots later we see this spot again and now the window is lit up and the shade is halfway down. (01:38:55 - 01:42:10)
Continuity mistake: After he takes a shower Jake draws his shades and the light goes dark from the wrong direction, behind him instead of from the window. (01:35:45)
Continuity mistake: The farmer's son hits Jake over the head with his crutch and as he falls to the ground the bandage around his right nostril has moved from earlier in the scene. (01:12:25)
Continuity mistake: At Hollis Mulwray's office, Jake holds up the same envelope that we saw as Evelyn Mulwray talked to him in the restaurant. The address is now different and the street number is smaller. (00:51:10)
Continuity mistake: When Jake and Noah Cross sit down to eat, their glasses are empty. In the next shot Jake's glass is filled with white wine. Later the waiter fills the empty glass again with white wine. (01:01:20)
Continuity mistake: As Evelyn Mulwray and Jake talk at the restaurant, look closely at the seat behind him. In the long shots of Jake, both sides are lit up, but, in the close-ups, the left side is in the dark. (00:48:30)
Continuity mistake: When Evelyn Mulwray meets Jake at the restaurant, look closely at the table behind them in the center of the screen. Two men are eating there and the tablecloth and napkin in the man's lap are rearranged between shots. (00:45:45)
Continuity mistake: Jake walks into Hollis Mulwray's office and there's nothing on the green desk mat in front of his secretary. In the next shot her right arm is leaning on an appointment pad. (00:20:45)
Continuity mistake: As he returns to his office, Sophie tells Jake that Evelyn Mulwray is in there. Notice the three pictures on the wall between the two windows, which are perfectly straight. In the next shot after he walks in the bottom picture is crooked. (00:57:05)
Continuity mistake: At night, Jake goes back to the Oak Pass Reservoir where Hollis Mulwray was murdered. At first he stands to the left of the no trespassing sign but in the next shot he's on the right of the sign. (00:40:35)
Continuity mistake: As Jake gets a shave in the barber shop look at the rings holding up the lower drapes in the front window and you'll see that they move between shots without anyone going near them. (00:17:15)
