Continuity mistake: In the close-up of young Elizabeth, as she sings on the bow of the ship, she's standing between two posts of the railing. Each post has rope wound around it. In the next few shots of her, the existence, the amount and the thickness of the rope on each post changes drastically. (00:00:45)
Continuity mistake: As young Elizabeth sings, the next shot from behind her to her right we see the cannonballs lined up at the bottom of the rail going around the deck. When she yells out, "Look! A boy..." Now there is a cannon in the corner of that bow. (00:00:45 - 00:02:20)
Continuity mistake: Young Elizabeth's individual hair curls differ in consecutive shots early in the film. They vary from looser, tighter, shorter and longer, as well as the hair that is pulled up. When adult Elizabeth's hair is done up in curls, they change significantly in consecutive shots as well. For instance at the fort, in the front close-up, the shorter curl behind her right ear is actually GONE, yet it's back in all the other shots. (00:01:15 - 00:10:50)
Continuity mistake: At the very beginning of the film where we see Norrington walk up to the young Elizabeth at the front of the ship, the bow on his black hat is blowing in the sea wind, yet when he stops to talk to Elizabeth it is no longer blowing, then when he finishes talking to her, it is back blowing in the wind. (00:01:25)
Continuity mistake: While rescuing young Will, as Norrington shouts, "Man overboard! Man the ropes. Fetch a hook," Governor Swann is leaning over the starboard rail near the rigging throughout these shots. However, as Norrington says, "Haul him aboard," in this one shot Governor Swann's body is then seen on deck rushing to the rail with other sailors, where he already was in the previous shots. Also, a moment later the ribbon on the sailor hat lying on the tarp changes position in a following shot. (00:02:25)
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film when the young Elizabeth wakes up Will, then he faints, his head changes position between shots from being pointed slightly up, to resting on his shoulder. Also before he wakes up, his hand's distance from his head changes between shots. (00:03:35)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning, after the young Will is pulled on board, when Will says his name, the medallion is protruding out of his shirt. After young Elizabeth tells him, "I'm watching over you Will," in the next shot of Will, the medallion is completely hidden in his shirt, and his position differs between shots. (00:03:50)
Continuity mistake: After Norrington orders his men to take young Will below, in the next shot young Elizabeth stands at Dauntless' stern, in front of the mizzen mast and rigging, with the yard arms behind the mast way above her and its full sails. However, in the next close-ups the yard arm and sail are directly behind her, and the sails differ. (00:04:20)
Continuity mistake: At the beginning, when young Elizabeth is holding the medallion and spots the Black Pearl, we can see part of the medallion's back. It's an Aztec design, not a skull. At Elizabeth's blood ritual, when the medallion is dropped into the chest and spins over itself, both sides of the medallion are the same Aztec skull. (00:04:40 - 01:12:20)
Continuity mistake: When young Elizabeth holds up the medallion, and she sees the Black Pearl, her fingers are positioned differently in the wide shot and in the close-up shot of the medallion. (00:04:40)
Visible crew/equipment: In the extreme close up of young Elizabeth's face, when she first sees the Black Pearl, the only things in front of her are 1) sky; 2) sea; 3) Black Pearl. Yet, in her eyes are reflected two big, round objects - filming spots or reflectors. (00:04:45)
Continuity mistake: Elizabeth takes the medallion out of the drawer, and in the first wide shot as she looks at it (*before* she wipes away the dust with her thumb), seen to her left in the corner, are a tapestry chair and small table with a candelabra, between the the french door draperies and the louver trim door. The table and candelabra are partially in front of the door's louver trim. However after Elizabeth takes the dress out of the box, behind Governor Swann (who stands in front of the french door draperies now), to his right we see the same tapestry chair, table and candelabra, but the table and candelabra are further away from the door's louver trim and much closer to the corner now. (00:05:15)
Continuity mistake: Elizabeth, alone in her room, puts on her robe while standing near her bed, when her father knocks. He walks in with one maid who goes to open the curtains and doors and a second who's carrying the dress box. Yet, as her father inquires, "Still abed at this hour?" a third maid steps out from behind Elizabeth and goes to open the curtains and disappears again. This maid didn't come in with Governor Swann, nor any other doorway including the one behind Elizabeth. Obviously this was part of a longer shot, but she still appears out of nowhere. (00:05:45)
Continuity mistake: Will's facial hair darkens quite a bit in the time it takes him to walk from Elizabeth's house to his blacksmith shop. (The sword scene in the Governor's mansion was the first scene that was filmed with Orlando. His facial hair was not fully grown in because he had just arrived on set. On commentary.) (00:07:05 - 00:22:05)
Continuity mistake: In the foyer of the Swann home, there is a large floral arrangement on the table. In various shots, the flowers are shown either from the front, left or right side. Regardless of the angle it's seen in, the height and position of some flowers and greenery, more so at the top, differ between these shots. (00:07:05)
Continuity mistake: When Will delivers the sword to Governor Swann, watch the clock on the wall. While Will is waiting, the time is 09:45am. When Gov. Swann enters the room, the time is 09:40am. (00:07:10)
Factual error: When Will delivers the new sword to Governor Swann, look behind Governor Swann. There is an oval painting hanging on the wall. It is a Thomas Kinkade portrait, which would never grace the walls of the mansion. Thomas Kinkade is a modern artist. (00:07:20)
Continuity mistake: The very first shot you see of Jack is a view from behind, when he is up in the crow's nest. He has two red pieces of cloth that are fluttering crazily in the wind out to the sides of his head. In the very next shot the pieces of cloth are blowing upwards, not in the same direction as the previous shot. (00:08:40)
Revealing mistake: Will walks down the stairs, after the coach leaves and the cottage to the left of the Governor's mansion isn't seen at all. In this close-up, the Governor's mansion behind Will is only a facade built at Marineland. They only built the facade for the main house, not the two servants' cottages on both sides of the mansion. In the next wide shot, both cottages and the mansion seen, are miniatures used in a CG composite on the hill. Given the proximity of the (miniature) cottages at both sides of the house in the wide shot, the left cottage should've been seen in the close-up, but obviously couldn't because the cottages weren't built. Fuller view of the wide shot in deleted scenes. (00:08:45)
Continuity mistake: When the coach leaves, Will walks down the steps. Both side gardens are edged with stones outside the front door. The driveway is also lined with the stones. When the pirates invade their home, Ragetti yells, "Up there." The front door's open and the stones are now lined up parallel to the front of the doorway, just past where the steps should be. Even if it's meant to be the stones lining the opposite end of the driveway, the distance of the far side and proportional size of the rocks are wrong. (00:08:45 - 00:32:15)
Chosen answer: Because they'd have to find it. The gold may "call to them", but it obviously doesn't function as a millimetre perfect homing beacon or they'd never have missed the medallion years earlier when they attacked the ship carrying the young Will. Elizabeth drops it into the sea and they're going to have to spend what could be months trying to locate it - currents could take it well away from the dropping point. They've found the final missing piece; they're potentially just hours away from finally being cured. The last thing they want is to see it thrown into the sea.
Tailkinker ★
Well, if the crew was anxious to get the medallion then why did they act like they weren't interested in it before Elizabeth pretended to drop it?
Reverse psychology.
Ssiscool ★
What do you mean by reverse psychology?
By showing they are not interested in the medallion they are hoping Elizabeth will just drop it on the floor or chuck it to them as it's of no real value. However when she releases a bit of chain and the medallion drops, and the pirates lurch forward revealing that they really want the medallion and as such Elizabeth now has the upper hand in negotiations.
Ssiscool ★
I'm guessing Elizabeth wasn't fooled when the pirates showed disinterest in the medallion.
That's not called reverse psychology, which is used to encourage someone to change his or her mind. Doesn't work with a threat. They are feigning indifference to hide the importance of the object.
lionhead
They didn't want to give her an advantage over them. Pretending to not care about the coin would make Elizabeth think that the coin is worthless and cannot use it to barter a deal.