Continuity mistake: When Gatsby, Nick and Daisy have tea together, a shot of all three shows Nick and Daisy to the left of Gatsby. Camera switches angles and Gatsby is now in a different position than the previous shot. (00:56:50)
Continuity mistake: As Nick narrates "The way he spoke" during the driving scene, he is looking forward in one shot, but looking slightly to the right in the next. (00:36:35)
Continuity mistake: When Gatsby says "I was bought up in America" when he is driving with Nick, he is looking straight forward. In an instant close-up of Gatsby, he is suddenly looking at Nick. (00:36:30)
Continuity mistake: When Gatsby and Nick are driving in the car, Gatsby asks Nick "What is your opinion of me anyhow?" After he finishes this line, his mouth is open. But in the next shot, his mouth is suddenly closed with no time to do so. (00:36:05)
Continuity mistake: As Jordan walks to Gatsby's room at his party, she begins to walk and has already walked past a waiter who goes to take a step forward. But in the following wide angle, Jordan is yet to walk past the waiter who is now standing still. (00:31:55)
Continuity mistake: After Nick finishes telling the part of the story in which he saw Gatsby on the dock, he has a finger placed on the glass. In the extreme close-up, the other three fingers to the right of him are raised to the same level of the finger on the glass, just a little bit lower. Yet in the next shot, the other three fingers are suddenly lowered notably. (00:13:30)
Continuity mistake: When Jordan goes to listen on Tom and Daisy's conversation after Tom goes to the phone, Nick asks "Something happening?" This shot shows his head half turned to Jordan. In the next shot, his head is even more turned than before. (00:10:15)
Continuity mistake: When Nick says to Daisy she is missed in Chicago, she says "How gorgeous." The shot cuts back to Nick. In this shot, his tie perfectly straight, camera cuts and his tie is slanted a little. (00:07:35)
Continuity mistake: When Nick is telling the doctor about his new cottage near the start, he goes to his porch with a book and stands next to one of the pillars. In a wide angle, he is standing next to a pillar with leaves around the pillar, but in a sudden close-up the leaves around the pillar have vanished. (00:04:40)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning scene, Nick has a conversation with his doctor in the Perkins Sanitarium. The shot after Nick says "When I came back from New York I was disgusted" shows the doctor open his file. When he opens up the file, Nick's name is placed next to patient name and below it is "Patient Report (by board of examiners)." In this shot the "N" is directly above the "Y" in "by." But in a quick close-up of the file,"N" is now directly above the "O" in "board." (00:02:00)
Continuity mistake: When the doctor says "He was your neighbour", Nick's head looks out the window in a 180 degree direction. In the next shot, his head is suddenly turned 90 degrees to the right. (00:05:20)
Continuity mistake: While driving the yellow car, Gatsby flashes his business card at the cop, whose head swaps between looking sideways or straight ahead depending on the angle, no continuity whatsoever.
Continuity mistake: When Tom stops at George's gas station, he looks at Myrtle from her window. In a shot of Tom, Jordan is seen in the background looking in the same direction as Tom and places her hand on her glasses. In a close-up, she is looking straight forward and her hand is no longer on her glasses. (01:33:05)
Continuity mistake: Just after Nick finishes the first part of his story where he says Gatsby was his neighbour, Nick stands in front of the right hand side window. It then cuts to inside the sanitarium and he is suddenly standing in the middle window. (00:05:20)
Continuity mistake: When Nick meets Jordan, she is sitting on the sofa holding a magazine with both hands, yet less than a second later she manages to be lying horizontally.
Continuity mistake: When Gatsby finishes throwing the shirts at Daisy, the type and amount lying on the floor changes between shots.
Continuity mistake: While Gatsby says the "you can repeat the past" speech, Nick is standing against a column. Then the shot changes to a wide angle where he starts to walk away. Then, suddenly, the previous angle is used and Nick is back next to the column for the rest of the scene.
Continuity mistake: When Tom discovers that he is going to be abandoned by Daisy, he extinguishes his cigar. The grip swaps from holding the tip to being on the middle part of the cigar, between shots.
Continuity mistake: Early in the film Tom brings Nick to meet with his mistress Myrtle - and set Nick up for some drinking and debauchery. While waiting for Tom to come out of the bedroom Nick is sitting in a small parlor with Myrtle's dog. In the first wide shot we see the dog licking an empty plate. Cut to an expression shot of Nick staring awkwardly, then a close-up of the dog - but now a small pile of dog food has appeared on the right side of the plate. Another reaction shot of Nick, then back to the dog - but the food has moved to the left side of his plate.
Chosen answer: This has been answered before. Gatsby grew up in a poor, mid-western family. He is a self-made millionaire (through illegal means) but pretends he comes from wealthy, upper-class society. He has adopted a fake posh accent to help support the illusion of his bogus background. It is how he believes well-bred people speak.
raywest ★