Revealing mistake: One shot of the family opening the Christmas presents is from above; if you look quickly near the top of the screen you can see the ceiling cut away and even shadows moving on this area - obviously a set piece.
Visible crew/equipment: Right when Adult Ralph says "A C+?", Ralph looks from his paper to the blackboard. Near the bottom of his rights glasses lens, you can see a stage light reflected in it, as well as the silhouette of a crew members head. Do not mistake it for the classroom light reflected near the top of the same lens.
Factual error: On Christmas morning when the Parker's are opening gifts, several Christmas songs can be heard playing in the background. Several of these were released long after when the movie is set (around 1940), particularly Bing Crosby's performance of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," which was released in October of 1951.
Revealing mistake: The wind up tank in the toy store window can't possibly be a continual display. Clearly a production assistant wound up and released the tank for the shot. It's not a toy that would be moving with the other display items.
Continuity mistake: The old man throws straw everywhere getting his prize out of the crate, and a lot of it goes on his back. The straw disappears when he climbs out of the crate.
Factual error: In the Chinese restaurant scene there is a Santa Claus drinking a Coca Cola poster on the wall in the background. The slogan reads "Sign Of Good Taste", which was not used until 1957.
Character mistake: Right after the firefighters have removed Flick's tongue from the flagpole, notice the police officer on the left (Flick's right). He is wearing his sidearm on his right but his Sam Browne cross strap is attached to his belt on his left. The whole point of the cross strap is to support the weight of the sidearm, so the officer is wearing it backwards.
Continuity mistake: When he shoots his gun, Ralphie's glasses are shown fallen on clean snow, but when he steps on them, the broken ones are shown on snow with quite a bit of debris.
Continuity mistake: When Ralphie beats up the neighborhood bully, the chain link fence hole area where the kids look through changes multiple times between shots, for example the vertical plant vine trunk disappears.
Continuity mistake: As the old man goes out to see the infamous leg lamp from the road, Randy is behind mom. A second later, the angle changes and Randy is suddenly in the adjacent window beside the lamp.
Continuity mistake: After Ralphie and Randy had gotten away from Farkus, Ralphie checks the mailbox for his decoder ring. After seeing that he was "skunked again", he closes the box, goes inside, and the camera pans to see Randy coming. If you look closely, the suit is totally free of any dusting of snow.
Continuity mistake: After Ralphie's mother calls Mrs. Schwartz because of the F - - word, the narrator says, "Three blocks away, Schwartz was getting his." Yet at the beginning of the movie, when Ralphie leaves his house, he has only walked past 3-4 houses when Schwartz comes out to meet him and Flick.
Visible crew/equipment: When dad hits the hubcap out of Ralphie's hands, as it spins, you can see the light rigs reflected in it.
Audio problem: When the leg lamp breaks, it makes a crashing sound like breaking glass, but then the wife asks "Jealous of a plastic lamp?" and it's obvious that the lamp is indeed soft plastic.
Visible crew/equipment: When Ralphie comes into the kitchen, he passes in front of the camera. As he does so, you can see the shadow of the camera on him.
Factual error: The narrator explains of the broken lamp that later that evening he (dad) would bury it next to the garage, however with that much snow and cold in December, the ground would be frozen and he would not be able to dig through it without some serious time, effort and equipment.
Other mistake: When dad comes home with the telegram saying that he won a "major award", look at the car. There is snow piled up on the top of the car, the windshields, and the hood, at least an inch thick. Even then, the hot engine would make the hood warm up, and in turn, melt at least some of the snow. And the windshields look like there was enough snow removed to guide the car, instead of removing as much as possible for safety. It looks like the car was simply pushed from off camera.
Continuity mistake: In Miss Shield's class there is a roll of scotch tape that is hanging over the edge of a box. A few seconds later, it's moved further on back of the box and not hanging over the edge as much.
Factual error: During the tongue on the flagpole scene, the police car that pulls up is a '46 or a '47 Chevrolet sedan. If this movie is supposed to take place pre-WWII, that car wouldn't have existed yet.
Audio problem: When Ralph and Randy are in line waiting for Santa, if you listen closely Santa keeps repeating the same lines like "And what do you want for Christmas, Billy?" "get him off my lap," "Santa can't wait all night let's go!" "HO HO HO!" but in the exact same tone, the child and Randy's screaming is also on repeat too.
Suggested correction: With exception of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Sam Browne belt shoulder strap is typically worn over the right shoulder and attached to the belt on the left side.
This is correct for military uniforms - once again, the Sam Browne is used to support the weight of a weapon (in the military, this would be an officer's sword, always worn on the left side). However, for police uniforms, the shoulder strap is worn over whichever is the non-dominant shoulder (usually the left). Once again, this is to support the weight of the duty weapon. If you look at agencies such as the Kansas Highway Patrol, New Mexico State Police, and various police honor guards throughout the U.S., you will see that the strap is worn primarily over the left shoulder, since most people are right-handed and therefore would wear a duty weapon on their right side.