Updated: August 25, 2024

Creature from the Black Lagoon ( 1954 ) - "Bloopers"

Early in the film when the Doctor was photographing the claw fossil, he pulls the slide on the film carrier, he reinserts it the same as he pulled it out. With that type of film carrier, the slide has black on one side and silver on the other. When the film is loaded, the slide is put in with the silver side out. After exposure, the slide is reversed with black side out. This lets him know what side is exposed and which is unexposed.

The Gill Man destroys the Rita's boats to prevent any escape. Yet, when he kidnaps Kay, David tells Lucas and Prof. Maia to get to the beach entrance of the cave. There are no boats available to go ashore, yet both men arrive to save David and Kay in dry clothes. Indeed, when the Gill Man staggers out of the beach entrance to the water, there is no boat in sight.

When Kay is shown swimming in the river from above, the water has only about 12" of visibility. When the camera films her swimming from underwater, the water is crystal clear with unlimited visibility.

When they follow the Gill Man into the water and then find his tracks in the sand, the tracks are webbed feet, but when we see him, he has long fins on his feet like divers use.

The wet footprints left on the deck of the Rita don't match the way the Creature walked. He dragged his feet on the ground, but the prints are from something that picked up its feet after each step.

When Mark Williams shoots the Gill-Man in the water with the harpoon, the creature is clearly facing Mark when shot, and the spear is lodged between the creature's ribcage and the abdomen. The Gill Man is holding the spear in place in the establishing shot. In the next shot, as the Gill Man swims away, the spear and the wound have moved to the creature's back, as if Mark had shot him from behind. From that angle, the Gill-Man can't hold the spear in the same manner.

When David and Mark leave the ship for the first time in a little boat to disperse rotenona in the lagoon, Kay stays on the ship desk smoking, with her right elbow leaning on her left folded arm. Between shots, from the boat point of view, she appears with both hands on the lateral rope.

After Gill Man pulls down Chico into the lagoon, when David orders Lucas to tie the bomb, Mark is holding the cigarette high, near his chest. In the next shot, he is holding the cigarette in his left hand which is resting on his leg.

When David is revealing the Gill-Man photo, Dr. Thompson holds the pipe near his waist. The next shot shows him closer, holding the pipe near his mouth.

When the expedition team members are trying to pull in Rita's fishing net, the scene cuts between showing those at the midship and those at the forward ship. Rita is rocking more violently when those in the midship are shown as opposed to when those in the forward ship are shown.

Lead actress Julia Adams in the first scene in her provocative swimsuit is noticeably heavier than in other scenes, particularly in the upper legs and thighs.

When the Creature is deep at the bottom of the lagoon looking up at Kay as she swims, the dark silhouette of a very long and large cable suspended above the water can be seen above her.

Although the whole story is set in Brazil, in one of the first scenes we see a large sign in the coast reading in Spanish "Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas", while in Brazil the official language is Portuguese.

Among the many jungle birdcalls heard in the Amazon is the cry of the kookaburra, an Australian species.

The tributary is said to "end" in a closed off lagoon due to a geological event. All tributaries by definition end by emptying into another river.

Doctor Reed describes the lagoon as appearing just as it was "150 million years ago, during the Devonian Age." The doctor's geologic timescale is in error by at least 200 million years. The Devonian period began 417-416 million years ago and ran to 360-354 million years ago.

The scientists in this movie, presumably geologists and palaeontologists, constantly misuse terms for the geologic time scale. They refer to the Devonian as an "age" and as an "era"; both terms are wrong. The Devonian is a period, which is longer than an age and shorter than an era.

The film is set in Brazil, yet the native captain and guides speak with Spanish accents and use "sí" for yes instead of Portuguese "sim."

While the film is set in the Amazon, calls from Indonesian Siamangs and Ring Tail Lemurs from Madagascar can be heard.

Every time the Creature climbs on the boat there is no disturbance or rocking of the boat and no one notices. This would not be possible on a boat that size in the water with a creature that size. The Creature is never noticed as it "sneaks" up on people which, again, would not be possible for a creature that size on land or coming out of the water.

The Gill Man, being a clawed, super strong, bipedal amphibious creature, doesn't resemble any kind of Devonian life form whatsoever. A line suggesting that there were giant rats in the Devonian period - two hundred million years before the first mammals. Is this interesting? When the trees barricading the exit of the lagoon are removed with a lever, the bottom end of the tree trunks clearly show that the logs were cut down by a saw. Just after the divers enter the creature's grotto, there appear to be two pillars and perhaps part of a structure in the background that are not noticed by the characters. This anomaly may be due to reuse of a backdrop painting but I am surprised that I can't find any suggestion that other viewers have noticed it ( and that there's no mention in Bill Warrens "bible" of 1950's Sci-fi films ). If some knows the answer, perhaps it could be added to the film's "trivia" section?

In one shot where the "Rita" is sailing up-river and into the lagoon, a telephone pole can be seen in the background, just above the treetops.

When the Gill Man has the lantern smashed over his head and is set on fire, the fire can be seen stretching out sideways, away from his head on a level plane. A moment later when he dives into the water, the fire is completely away from his head.

In the cave, when the Gill Man lifts David over his head, the wires lifting David into the air are faintly visible, then can be seen snapping loose as the Gill Man lowers him back to the ground.

When Dr. Thompson is guarding the creature, the lever on his lever action rifle is missing.

When the Gill Man tries to climb aboard the Rita after being drugged and is discovered by Kay, he is clearly standing on a platform before diving back into the water.

When David is pursuing the creature through the grotto, a bat swoops down on him, and the wires used to support the bat can be clearly seen.

In the cave, during one of the final scenes, a bat can be seen flying inside; the black wires holding it are visible.

When Rita is sailing up the Amazon River ( as opposed to on the lagoon ), the water is generally still, river water which should be moving more than is shown.

When a lit lantern is thrown at the creature's face, his face and neck are on fire, in the close-up. In the subsequent long shot, right before he plunges into the water, his upper body is all on fire, his face and neck, not so much.