Factual error: Right after the movie shows us a sign telling us that we are in NJ in 1937, here you have Ginevra Boynton reading the March 1938 issue of Daring Detective, which even plays a larger role in the story later. (00:00:35)
Other mistake: At the beginning of the movie, Ginevra is reading the magazine but is interrupted by the outbreak of a thunderstorm. There is no rain at all, though, just the sound effect of thunder, with the car already wet at the beginning of the take to try to establish the illusion. (00:00:40)
Continuity mistake: After the will was read, Mrs. Boynton tells the 'children' that she has a lovely surprise. Carrie Fisher in the wide angle changes position leaning her chin against the back of her hand, and repeats the gesture in a subsequent shot. (00:04:15)
Continuity mistake: The family is sightseeing London, and the eponymous Tower. A yeomen warder points up; Nadine is looking where he's pointing assuming a different position in the two shots, with the sunlight being as well different. (00:05:45)
Continuity mistake: The Boyntons are in Venice and looking at the Rialto bridge. Ginevra in the wider view of the staircase puts her hand down from the railing, and the hand is back up on it in the next. (00:07:50)
Factual error: The Italian flags used in the city that stands in as Trieste are all modern flags of the Italian republic, with just the tricolour. In 1936 the flag would also have the coat of arms from Savoy, being still a kingdom. (00:08:30)
Factual error: Poirot meets the rest of the cast at the port of Trieste before they sail off for Jaffa. In actuality though, they already were in Jaffa, which served double duty acting as a very poor stand-in for Trieste; the architecture of the port and promenade is nothing like Trieste's, and you can see in the establishing shot Jaffa's St. Peter's church. (00:08:30)
Other mistake: In Trieste, Carol comments that someone should be with their mother; it seems to be a comment to the fact that she just tripped as it is shown in a wide angle. However, a conversation ensues and Ginevra at the end of it sees through the telescope...her mother trip, again. To make the event even more baffling, Ginny couldn't have witnessed the event from the promenade viewer, the angle is completely wrong. (00:08:45 - 00:09:10)
Continuity mistake: When Ginny tells the others that Cope is in Trieste, the couple in the background changes position and the woman and the man switch places. (00:09:25)
Continuity mistake: Hearing that Cope is around, Nadine asks "He's not here, is he?" as she stands up from the bench. Without her handbag, that is suddenly there at the cut. (00:09:50)
Continuity mistake: Lady Westholme asks her travel partner Miss Quinton "What's the matter" since she keeps rummagining inside the bag. It's an instantaneous exchange, but between shots the couple of passersby (man with a suit and red flower, woman with an azure dress) have advanced through the street by a great deal. (00:10:45)
Factual error: Carrie Fisher and David Soul kiss in 1936 Trieste in front of a poster for the stock cube "Arrigo" from local food company Arrigoni. Sounds fine, but the ad used was launched in 1939. (00:11:30)
Audio problem: When Carrie Fisher and David Soul make out in Trieste, a performer at the local restaurant is supposed to be singing the popular Italian song "Torna a Surriento", but his lips barely even move and it's self-evident that he's not the one singing. (00:11:30)
Continuity mistake: Nadine reads Cope's inscription on the cigarette case in close-up. One of his fingers is on the right side of the box, and it's absent in the next angle. And when he closes it, Carrie Fisher's right hand which was lowered, is at bosom level. (00:12:00)
Continuity mistake: When Miss Quinton finds her lost cigarette case, Dr. King in the background is laughing. She changes position, but in Poirot's reaction, which should be in perfect continuity since the quarrel does not pause, she is sitting with her arms perfectly still. (00:14:00)
Continuity mistake: Poirot's stomach is upset by the effluvia of the 'dead duck' that some random prankster exposes in front of him. Visible fumes are in front of Peter Ustinov, immediately gone in the wider angle. (00:14:25)
Continuity mistake: Dinner on the ship; Miss Quinton takes her nameplate just as a waiter is serving the woman next to Lady Westholme. The man between them is looking in opposite directions in the two shots. (00:14:30)
Factual error: After Lady Westholme commented on Poirot's absence, and we saw him seasick in his cabin, the focus is again on the Boyntons. In the background you can see the ship's other guests entertaining themselves with a dance. They are dancing to the tunes of a rearranged version of "Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay", which is perfect for the time period, but their dance is a version of the "Lambeth Walk." The movie takes place in May 1937, and the musical "Me and my girl" that invented and popularized this dance would debut in December of the same year. (00:15:10)
Continuity mistake: Ginevra just left because her mother sent her to bed. Jefferson Cope approaches Nadine. Look at the lady sitting at right of the table behind the Boyntons. Right arm on the table, left arm on the chair. Cope brazenly asks Nadine's husband if he doesn't mind, and both her hands are on the table. (00:15:45)
Continuity mistake: When Poirot moves across the beach volley (ship volley?) court, a girl in an ample blue skirt is moving left to right towards him, and is completely gone at the cut. (00:16:45)
