Continuity mistake: While Achilles stands on Apollo's temple stairs and then when Hector climbs them, the position of the bodies lying on the stairs differs between shots. (This does NOT refer to when Achilles walks out the back of the temple, where there are no bodies. Note that the temple's front and back have different types of statues, stairs...) (00:44:00)
Continuity mistake: When Hector walks outside and speaks with Achilles at Apollo's temple, the large seated statue is behind them and its shoulders are a particular height and distance from the roof behind it. Later, when Achilles walks past that statue to raise his sword in victory to the Greeks on the beach below, the proximity and height between Achilles (who walks along the roof) and the statue, plus some of its characteristics differ greatly, e.g., there are two top stones behind the shoulder in the close-up, yet three in the wideshot. The differences are more apparent on VHS or fullscreen DVD. (00:48:20)
Continuity mistake: When Priam sits on the throne, with Hector and Paris beside him, as Glaucus says, "If they want a war, we will give them a war..." the flames burn brightly in the two torches standing within the doorway behind the throne. However, when Priam asks, "Glaucus, you have fought with me for forty years, can we win this war?" there is NO flame in the torch on the right side of the doorway - visible behind Hector ONLY on widescreen DVD. Yet when Glaucus says, "...and we have Hector," the flame burns brightly once again. (This is not due to the flame flickering.) (00:56:50)
Continuity mistake: After Paris is given the sword of Troy, it cuts to Hector speaking to Andromache. In this wide shot the cloth draped small bed between the two large columns is turned at a slant. Yet when Hector leaves their room (before encountering Helen), the bed is now parallel to the short wall (which faces the sea). (01:00:20 - 01:01:30)
Continuity mistake: When Hector stops Helen from leaving during the night, her cheeks and the area around her eyes are both very red, and her eyes are tearful with tears down her cheeks. In the shot from behind her, when she briefly turns round her cheeks are not red or wet and though her eyes are teary, they are not as teary and red as the shots facing her. (01:01:45)
Continuity mistake: Achilles stabs Hector in the chest in their climactic battle. Hector, dying, falls to his knees and falls onto his right side with his arm underneath him. Achilles goes to his chariot and returns with a rope. Hector now has his right arm stretched out with his head lying on it. (01:01:45)
Continuity mistake: When Hector tries to stop Helen from running away at night, her hair keeps changing; one can see in her "back" shots, sometimes her hair is completely down, and other times her hair has two twists in it. It keeps changing throughout the scene. Also, in the same scene, the front of her hair is sometimes a little frizzy and curly, and sometimes it is smooth and straight. (01:01:45)
Continuity mistake: When Paris and Menelaus face each other and then begin to fight, the shadows keep changing, and when the camera angles show each man's perspective, each man has his shadow to his own right hand side, even though they are opposite each other. (01:14:00)
Continuity mistake: When Menelaus and Paris duel, in some shots there is a thick black chinstrap attached to Menelaus' helmet, which is perfectly visible at his ears, cheeks and under his chin, as the flaps of his helmet move about, yet in the rest of the shots the chinstrap is gone. (It is not a shadow.) (01:14:10)
Continuity mistake: In the middle of the film just after Hector has killed Menelaus, they run away, and on the far away shot, you can see they are some distance from Menelaus body, yet when it cuts to a close-up shot of them running they have barely passed the body. (01:14:25)
Continuity mistake: While Menelaus and Paris duel, Menelaus punches Paris in the face (the first time) and as he spins around spitting blood, the red bruise on Paris' right cheek is perfectly visible, yet in the very next close-up his face is quite pristine - the bruise and blood are actually gone. But of course in the next close-up Paris' cheek bruise is back with blood on his chin as well, and in the following shots the amount of blood goes back and forth. (01:14:35)
Continuity mistake: When Paris and Menelaus duel, the distance between them and each of the two armies changes drastically in different consecutive shots, even when there is minimal movement by the two men. For example, when Menelaus takes Paris' shield away and Paris trips forward in two consecutive shots. (01:14:45)
Continuity mistake: During the duel between Menelaus and Paris, the blade tip on Menelaus' sword actually breaks. It is perfectly visible when he and Paris slam their two swords together, at the start of the same shot just before Menelaus grabs hold of Paris' shield and pushes him away. Of course it's nice and pointy in the following shots. (01:14:50)
Continuity mistake: When Hector stabs Menelaus, in the close-up the tip of the blade protrudes at his back a few inches to the right of the second circular design, under the shoulder flap. However, when Hector pulls the blade out, the tip of the blade is directly in the center of the circular decorative design. (01:16:50)
Continuity mistake: Paris drops his sword, and it falls flat on the ground. Then after Menelaus dies, the position of Paris' sword on the ground changes from when he's running to get it, where the blade points more towards the Trojan army (ie. roughly horizontally in his path), to when he finally grabs hold of it, where the sword leans up a bit on its side and the blade points distinctly towards the Greeks (ie. directly away from him). (01:17:35)
Continuity mistake: After Menelaus is killed, when Ajax kills some Trojans and Hector notices him, the pattern of the blood on the front and back of Ajax's shield changes in consecutive shots, such as being clean in an area where it was bloody in a previous shot. (01:19:10)
Continuity mistake: When Ajax fights the Trojans and then Hector, after the death of Menelaus, their positions and the positions of people standing and lying around them, change back and forth in many consecutive shots. During the Hector and Patroclus duel, the Hector and Achilles duel, and the other battles, the positions of duelers, soldiers - as onlookers, fighting or lying on the ground, change drastically between shots throughout the film. (01:19:10)
Continuity mistake: After Menelaus dies, during the Greek charge Hector spots Ajax doing his thing and the rolled white tourniquet around Ajax's leg wounds is clearly visible. When Hector rides toward Ajax, he promptly knocks Hector off his horse and the tourniquet is once again visible, only now it's wider and tied differently, and changes again within the following shots. (01:19:25)
Continuity mistake: While Ajax and Hector fight, Hector head butts Ajax, and three shots later in a wide shot, half of the hammer end of his unusual spear actually breaks and falls to the ground behind him to his left. But lo and behold, in the next close-up the bloody hammer end (bloodier than the previous shot) of his spear is whole and intact. (01:20:00)
Continuity mistake: When Hector grabs the sword from the ground, prior to stabbing Ajax, the blade is covered in blood. But when the blade tip touches Ajax's armor, before it pierces him, the amount of blood on the blade is significantly decreased. (01:20:25)
Answer: They didn't know the Greeks weren't bringing cavalry. The Greeks did use them and sometimes brought them by sea. It was there to stop a cavalry charge and to break up fighting formations.
LorgSkyegon