Continuity mistake: Note the chrome centers on the wire wheels of the taxi that Jack commandeers towards the end of the film. Initially the left rear one is missing, but it magically reappears later on.
Continuity mistake: Soon after Kong grabs Ann for the first time and is playing with her the wide shots show him violently shaking her around, enough to snap her neck or at least render her unconscious, but the close-up shots during the shaking show her being much more gently rocked from side to side.
Continuity mistake: As Jack Driscoll flees Kong in a yellow cab through a narrow alley, the view through the (missing) windshield shows a pedestrian in light-color overcoat crossing leisurely at the other end. When the car eventually emerges in the immediate next shot viewed from the sidewalk, that particular pedestrian simply disappears.
Continuity mistake: At the diner, Carl speaks with Ann while she eats, and things on the table change position depending on camera angle.
Continuity mistake: When the crewman receives the message aboard the Venture, he jots it down on a pad of paper. There is nothing under the pad in one shot, but in the previous and following shots there are more papers under the pad.
Continuity mistake: As Ann tries to escape from the T-Rex, at one point her robe acquires a rather large black and muddy stain at her backside on her left, yet in the very next shot that large black stain is gone.
Continuity mistake: When Carl offers the Nestles chocolate to the native girl, the wrapping differs between shots as he holds it out to her.
Continuity mistake: When the Skull Island natives kidnap Ann and are holding her body for the old native to begin her chanting, the way they hold Ann changes between shots; such as their grip on Ann's arms and sleeves differs between front and back shots.
Continuity mistake: On the cliff where Ann is entertaining King Kong by dancing, juggling, doing flips, etc. her face goes from dirty, to clean, to dirty, and back to clean between shots.
Factual error: In at least one shot as Kong is on top of the Empire State building, the sunrise over Long Island is wrong. Three planes attack from the southwest and we see the sun rise in the east as Newtown Creek (Nassau River) glistens across the East River. The mouth of this river opens southward but in this shot everything is inverted with the mouth of the river pointing northward. Also, looking eastward, Roosevelt Island should be on the left of Newtown Creek, not on the right.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the chase through the streets of NYC, Kong stops the yellow cab with a "karate chop" to the front-end, which sends the car tumbling high into the air through a complete somersault before it lands back down. Actually, Kong's hand is still half way down and nowhere near touching any portion of the vehicle when its rear-end gets lifted.
Continuity mistake: When Carl speaks with Hayes and Lumpy about their destination, while aboard the Venture, the towel rags hanging on a line behind Carl change between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Jack is rescuing Ann she has two cuts above her right eyebrow, the smaller cut changes positions and disappears/reappears in different shots.
Continuity mistake: Shortly after Kong realizes he's been shot and gets blood on his fingers by touching the bloody hole in his chest, in subsequent scenes his chest has no puckered indentation and is unblemished but for minimal straight-line scars.
Factual error: The drop fare on the taxi is shown as 25 cents. However, this fare was not charged until 1952, when the former taxi fare of 20c 1st 1/4 of a mile and 5c each additional 1/4 of a mile (which went into effect in 1934) was increased to 25c the 1st 1/5 of a mile and 5c each additional 1/5.
Continuity mistake: After Ann and Carl arrive at the docks, as she stands beside the Venture her coat collar is flipped up, then turned down and back up between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Kong falls through a portion of the circular observation deck at the top of the skyscraper, he crushes the metal siding as well as one of the metal girders, making a large hole. When he puts Ann inside through the hole, the metal girders are now all undamaged. You can tell that this is the same hole because the camera moves around the entire building in the next shot and there are no other large holes.
Audio problem: After the scene where the men had to fight off the giant bugs, there is a wide shot where the men can be seen being helped out of the pit by the captain and a few extra crewmembers. The captain is shouting something, however, if you look closely, his mouth is not in sync with what he is saying.
Factual error: In the scene where Kong is running around the streets of New York City and being chased by two military vehicles, the lead open-topped sedan has an air-cooled 30 caliber machine gun mounted on a bar behind the driver, with the gunner in the back seat. The time setting of the movie is 1933-1934. Air-cooled ground mounted machine guns were not in general use until 1942, and were not available for aircraft until 1936. The Army used water-cooled machine guns until the start of World War II.
Continuity mistake: When Carl and his assistant are driving in the cab discussing who to fill in on the female role, you can see that they pass a tram on their left side. When it cuts the cab is right in front of the tram rather than to its right.
Chosen answer: The original creator of King Kong, Merin C. Cooper, wrote a novel adaption of the movie in which it was explained that the gates were built by a earlier culture of islanders that were friends with the "Kong" race. The "Kongs" helped the original islanders to build their village and the wall (thus meaning the gate had to be big enough for the giant gorillas to walk through). By the time of the events of the movie, the original islanders have "died out" and their old village had been taken over by a race of more primitive natives who became enemies with the Kongs, and were trying to use the gates for safety.