Continuity mistake: When the brakes of Guido's and Ferrucio's car fail while going downhill and they take a direct route through the thicket the windshield gets covered with branches and twigs. When they arrive at the town and Guido is standing up looking over the blocked windshield the camera cuts to a close-up where suddenly one branch stands high up right in front of Guido. (00:01:30)
NancyFelix
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Audio problem: When Guido knocks the flower pot from the window sill and it breaks on Rodolfo's head it looks and disintegrates like wood but sounds like terracotta. (00:09:30)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: When Guido is trained as a waiter by his uncle the champagne bottle in the cooler not only stands upright for one shot but also its foil cap appears and disappears a number of times. (00:12:05)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Revealing mistake: When Guido and Ferrucio spot the publisher sitting in a café she is studying a manuscript while holding it sideways. (00:15:40)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Guido has his sudden entrance from behind Ferrucio to surprise Dora and her colleague watch the café in the background: two girls disappear from the table on the right between shots. (00:17:40)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Revealing mistake: When Guido acts as the school inspector he is wearing jacket and trousers and a sash rather tightly through his crotch. After the camera cuts to the approaching real school inspector for a few seconds Guido has gotten rid of trousers and jacket, but the sash is still in place, a feat worthy of the great Houdini. (00:27:40)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Other mistake: When Guido drops Dora at home after he had "kidnapped" her from the opera the rain has stopped. She mentions his wet hat, he takes it off and puts it back on, and when he bends forward a substantial trickle comes running off the brim. There should be no water left (if any) after he had taken the hat off. (00:38:45)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: At Dora's engagement party the dancers get showered with large confetti. When Guido drops the candy tray the first time the pattern of confetti on Dora's head changes completely. (00:49:55)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: When Dora kisses Guido under the table the way she tilts her head changes from right to left between shots. (00:52:15)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: When the two plain-clothes policemen take Guido from the bookstore Giosuè is sitting at the table with both arms on top. When the camera angle changes his left arm is under the table, but in the next shot both arms are on the table again. (00:58:55)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: After Guido has been escorted from the bookstore by the police his mother-in-law comes to the store. Giosuè picks up a pile of books from the floor with a red book on top, but when the camera angle changes there's a white book on top of the pile. (00:59:25)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: When Giosuè is hiding in the small cupboard Guido puts some flowers on top and some of the blossoms hang over the edge. In the next shot they are all lying on the cupboard, but when the camera angle changes they are hanging over again. (01:01:45)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: Dora enters the train a few minutes later than Guido and Giosuè, but their shadows point in totally different directions. (01:05:00 - 01:07:20)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: The train enters the concentration camp at night, but the prisoners get off in the middle of the day. However, the engine is still puffing steam as if the train had just arrived. (01:08:40)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: When Guido and Giosuè enter the barrack a lot of newcomers have already gone in before them. But when the camera cuts to the old inmates staring at them you see no new prisoners inside the barrack. (01:11:35)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: When Guido and Giosuè enter the barrack there are symmetrical rows of bunk beds on both sides. When Guido returns after his first day of labor there's a shot of the door where the end of the left row of bunk beds isn't visible even though the perspective should include it. (01:11:35 - 01:17:10)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: When Guido and Giosuè speak over the camp's public address system the sun is shining from a cloudless sky. Also when Dora hears them, stops working and walks to the door the sun is in her face. However, when she stands in the door the sunlight is gone, to be back in her face in the following close-up. (01:25:30)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: When Guido pretends to quit the 'game' and walks out of the barrack Giosuè first follows him slowly, then stops. Seen from the back he is standing further back than from the front. (01:31:55)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Continuity mistake: When Guido stands in the rain outside the barracks, calling Giosuè, the way the blanket is hanging over his left arm changes from smooth to crumpled between shots. (01:32:00)
21st Dec 2003
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Other mistake: When Giosuè discovers the German boy in the metal box Guido says that his name is Schwarz (Black). The German subtitles translate the name as Schwanz (Tail or - rather - Dick), and that's how both Guido and Giosuè refer to the boy later. Even if the different naming later was intended the first subtitling was too anticipatory. (01:33:50 - 01:45:50)
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