20 «Titanic» Mistakes Filmmakers Missed but Are Obvious to Viewers

Titanic is a cult film that each of us has seen at least once. But, like any movie, it has its mistakes and flaws. They don’t diminish the brilliance of this masterpiece, but we are curious to uncover the imperfections that escaped the professional eye of filmmakers.

Disappearing necklaces

Once again, we can perceive a small error, which was possibly made due to a distraction. First, Rose can be seen attending a very elegant dinner with her mother. But suddenly, our protagonist, who gets really annoyed by the comments of the attendees, decides to leave the gala. On her way out of the ballroom, you can clearly see that she no longer has the necklace around her neck and that she untied her hair in a matter of seconds.

Recycling blankets

There is one particular item that often goes unnoticed — let’s see if you actually caught it. There’s this plaid blanket, which, if you remember, appears in several key scenes throughout the movie. First, it’s used by Rose after she is rescued by Jack. Then, near the end of the film, the exact same blanket appears covering Rose after she is rescued from the sinking ship. Of course, in this second scene, the blanket is dry.

Later, she uses it again to cover herself so that Cal Hockley cannot see her. However, this time, the design and colors of the blanket have changed.

Objects appearing

The ship’s officers wrongfully arrest Jack, and Rose rushes to his aid. But producers didn’t notice that a pillow appeared out of nowhere between scenes in the room. Did someone decide to take a quick nap?

Moving guardrails

Check out this props oversight. In the first image, Jack Dawson (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) was standing next to his friend on the ship’s bow, and the guardrails on the sides were separated.

Later in the film, both protagonists find themselves in the same place to act out one of the most iconic scenes: Jack embraces Rose with the wind blowing on them. But the railings were now attached. Is it possible that the bars were carried away by the love inspired by this shot and decided to embrace each other too?

Wrong time of the year

Another wardrobe oversight is Cal Hockley (played by Billy Zane). This character, due to his jealousy, ruffles Jack’s feathers, referring to his poverty and emphasizing his ordinary manner of dress. But something that causes doubts in this scene is to see him with a dress suit and shoes, but without socks. This is a must-have accessory in formal attire, and even more so for the era on which the film was based.

The lake Jack mentions

When Jack tries to dissuade Rose from jumping into the icy waters of the Atlantic, he mentions ice fishing on Lake Wissota. The small detail is that the lake in question is artificial and was not created until 1917, while the Titanic sank in 1912. Something similar is true of the Santa Monica roller coaster that Jack promises to take Rose on. In reality, it was not built until 1916.

Jack’s hair

Another curious continuity error is Jack’s hairstyle in one of the scenes in third class. After his charming dance with little Cora, Jack returns to the table, where Rose is waiting for him with his hair disheveled. However, we can see how in the next instant his hair is perfect and even has several layers of styling gel. Many of us would like his power to style our hair in seconds.

The disappearing file

The famous discord drawing had another major continuity error. Cal, Rose’s fiancé, discovers the picture in a brown folder. When he picks it up, he is enraged and wants to tear it up right then and there. The funny thing is that in the next shot, the folder is gone, and we see the crumpled sheet of paper in Cal’s hand.

Gravity-defying ropes

Something really interesting about this film is that, after the ship suddenly hit the iceberg, it began to sink from the bow; consequently, the stern of the ship was gradually raised, that is, a strong inclination was created from the front that originated the rise of the rear.

According to the law of gravity, every object should always fall in the direction of the body with the strongest attraction, in this case, the Earth. But in the first image, the ship’s ropes seem to tilt parallel to the Earth. Although later on, we suppose that the producers were more attentive and corrected this mistake.

The drawing line

The scene where Jack draws Rose melted the hearts of thousands of viewers. With emotions running high, it was probably difficult to notice the error in the drawing.

The first line that Jack draws is quite thick. However, when we see the canvas again, there is no trace of it. The lines are much finer, and the technique is quite polished.

Etiquette mistakes

Titanic’s plot revolves around members of different social classes falling for each other. Rose and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater (played by actress Frances Fisher), belong to a privileged stratum, so they are supposed to know the etiquette protocols very well. In fact, on several occasions, Mrs. Ruth reminds others to comply with them. That’s why it seems contradictory that in several parts of the film, she wears gloves to snack when the rules of etiquette forbid this: she should take them off when entering any room where food is offered.

The cameraman’s reflection

In 1997, when the film was shot, technology was not as advanced as today, and filming a scene required several cameramen following the actors from different angles. One of them can be seen in the reflection of the glass of one of the doors of Titanic. Undoubtedly, this error is hard to spot and edit without today’s apps.

Rose’s nail length

We know that the movie’s filming lasted several months, so Kate Winslet’s nails obviously grew several times. However, for her character Rose, it was barely a couple of days. In some scenes, we can see that her nails look short, and the length changes drastically from one scene to the next.

The snotsicle

Jack and Rose are stranded in the middle of the freezing Atlantic Ocean, where they both struggle to survive while waiting to be rescued. At the beginning of these scenes, both support each other, and because of the cold temperature, Jack gets what’s come to be known as a snotsicle. But a while later, the ice has melted when Rose tries to wake him up because help has arrived.

DiCaprio couldn’t play dead

In the continuation of this scene, when Jack had already ceased to show signs of life, and Rose let him go into the ocean, you can notice the pupils of DiCaprio’s eyes twitching beneath closed eyelids.

The ship’s bow

As we will find out later, the film set had quite a few logistical and design oversights. An example of that is how the bow changes. It definitely doesn’t look quite the same when Leonardo DiCaprio’s character is excitedly watching the dolphins jump, as it does in Jack and Rose’s iconic romantic moment.

The sky

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson commented on several errors in the film. For example, they did not consider the date, the course of the trip, and the position of the stars as they were seen in the sky that night. The film shows Rose and Jack on a clear, moonless night; according to the expert, this is incorrect.

The moving mole

One mistake that no one noticed was Rose DeWitt Bukater’s (played by actress Kate Winslet) mole. When the young woman was about to board the boat, her mole was on the left side of her face; however, several shots later, it was on the opposite side.

Reconstructed glass

In her attempt to free Jack, Rose runs in search of an object that could be useful to save him. She manages to see an axe inside an emergency glass on the wall of one of the corridors. An interesting fact is that the glass is magically reconstructed after it’s broken to reach the axe.

Uneven angles

Scenes later, Rose is driven by impulse and is about to make a difficult decision. Luckily, Jack appears to make her reconsider. Now, there is an important detail in this scene: depending on the camera angle, Rose’s hand is either holding the train of her dress or not.

Inappropriate makeup

Although Rose looked enchanting and the makeup artists skillfully emphasized Kate Winslet’s already striking features, representatives of the class to which the character belonged did not typically wear such bold makeup at that time. In high society, such makeup was considered indicative of an indecent woman. Suffragette red lipstick, in particular, was used as a symbol of protest.

The film captivates the gaze of movie enthusiasts for almost 30 years now. Meanwhile, the tragedy itself has stirred the minds of people for over a century. Here’s how the real people aboard the Titanic, who became prototypes for film characters, looked.