At the beginning of the film, there is a massive oak tree outside Tara's front door. After the rampaging yankees have devastated the plantation and burned everything in their path, the tree is gone. At the conclusion of the war, the tree has miraculously returned to its former splendor.
When Rhett kisses Scarlett goodbye right before he enlists, he drops his hat on the ground. He kisses her and picks it up from atop a fence post.
As Rhett and Scarlett flee Atlanta, he stops their wagon to comment on the fall of the old South. Interspersed with his comments are scenes of wounded soldiers walking on the road. A bearded man smoking a pipe is shown carrying a fallen comrade. Several scenes later, the same man is shown carrying a rifle. He gives his rifle to another soldier and picks up the soldier he was seen carrying in the previous scene.
Scarlett's coral necklace appears at the barbecue but she isn't wearing it when she hurriedly leaves her bedroom. Also, she never finishes tying the cord on her hoop when Mammy puts her dress on.
When Scarlett returns to Tara, her mother's body is laid out in the parlor. Ellen O'Hara died of typhoid and would have had to be buried immediately because the disease is still contagious after a patient dies.
The credits read "Brent Tarleton.....George Reeves, Stuart Tarleton.....Fred Crane," but that's backwards. David O. Selznick was informed of the error but decided it would be too costly to correct it, as prints had already been struck. It's easy to remember which is which. George Reeves tells Scarlett that she'll dance with both of them: "First Brent, then me, then Brent, then me." So that means Crane played Brent and Reeves played Stuart.
Near the beginning of the movie, the field hands were tending mature cotton plants in full bloom. As the movie opened in April 1861, the cotton fields would have just been planted with the cotton plants only beginning to emerge from the soil, with no blooms at all.
News is brought to Tara that the war is over because Lee surrendered. Lee's surrender of the Army of Northern Virgina on 9 April 1865 had no effect on Georgia. That state's troops were in the army of General Joseph Johnston which continued battling Sherman in the Carolinas for a few weeks after Lee. The surrender of General Kirby Smith at Galveston, Texas, on May 26 is considered the true end of the Civil War.
While Melanie is talking to a soldier in the hospital he tells her that he hasn't heard from his brother Jeff since the Battle of Bull Run. That battle was called Bull Run by soldiers of the North. It was called The Battle of Manassas by soldiers of the South.
The beautiful shot pulling back to show the hundreds of Confederate dead with the torn and burnt Confederate flag is incorrect. The flag shown - red background with a blue "X" with stars inside, known as the Dixie Flag - was never officially the Flag of the Confederate States of America. The flag at this time resembled the "Stars and Stripes" with (top to bottom) red, white, red bars and a blue square in the upper left with a circle of thirteen stars - giving it the name "Stars and Bars". While the flag shown in the movie was used as the Naval Jack (on ships) it would never have been flown in the location it was and should have been the "Stars and Bars".
During the barbecue at the Wilkes' where she wears a green dress we have not previously seen, Scarlett says to the Tarleton twins, "but I wore this old thing because I thought you liked it." While this could be taken as a reference to an earlier scene (which it was in the novel), she could just as well be referring to a time before the movie started. (In the original script she was seen earlier in the green dress, but the dress was changed to white without changing the line in this scene).
When the horses and wagons are going up the drive at Twelve Oaks, they dissolve into the matte shot.
When Scarlett and Melanie are nursing the wounded soldier, their shadows don't fit their movements.
In the bazaar scene where Dr. Meade auctions dances with women, it's obvious by his shadow that he's standing in front of a screen.
When Big Sam is supposed to be driving Scarlett away from her attackers at Shantytown, the aerial shot shows he is not in the cart.
While Scarlett and Cathleen Calvert are ascending the stairs at Twelve Oaks, they discuss Rhett Butler. Right after Cathleen states that Butler is not "received," we catch a brief glimpse of Rhett in the background of the long shot. It is obvious that Clark Gable is not in this long shot. The impostor has a thick mustache, thick hair and is much paler than Gable.
Although the credits refer to George Reeves as Brent Tarleton, Reeves inexplicably refers to his twin brother, played by Fred Crane, as Brent.
After Ashley Wilkes is carried into his room from a night at Belle's place, Melanie picks up a lamp with an electric cord attached.
(at around 1:05:00) When Scarlett leaves the military hospital in Atlanta, repulsed at the impending leg amputation, she runs out into the street where panic has ensued. The scene goes to a wide shot of the square. A radio tower is visible in the distance, painted the standard alternating red and white scheme.
When trying to get Doc Meade, Scarlett runs past several lamp posts containing electric bulbs.
When Scarlett visits the Lumber mill we see a saw cutting lumber, the "whirr" of an electric motor can be heard quite clearly.
While Mammy and Scarlett are arguing about turning the fancy drapes into the green dress, Mammy says "Who's that, a Yankee?" Her face is visible in the mirror, but her mouth never moves.
When Scarlett's sisters are picking cotton at Tara and complaining, Scarlett walks into the picture. You hear her voice say, "Too bad about that!", but her lips do not move.
When Uncle Peter is chasing the cockerel at Aunt Pitty's, his mouth is not moving although he is heard talking.
After Scarlett returns to Tara, Mammy's line, "There's nothing but radishes in the garden," does not match her mouth movement.
At 01:07:01 Scarlett climbs into the buggy and says "[Rhett] Drive me to Aunt Pitty's, please" but her mouth is obviously not moving.
When Scarlett and Rhett meet for the first time in the library, there is a globe (or some type of round object) between them. Camera lights are visible in there.
When Rhett takes Bonnie Blue out of her crib right after she is born, we can briefly see "Bonnie's" forehead and eyes which are clearly that of a doll.
As Uncle Peter pursues the chicken in the rain, you can see a stream of falling water that is obviously flowing off an umbrella or a canopy over the camera.
In the wide shot showing hundreds of soldiers lying on the ground and waiting for a medic near the hospital, only half of them were actual extras, the other half were just dummies. Many of them can be clearly seen even pretty close to the camera.
As Scarlett exits the makeshift hospital in the church, the shadow of the camera can be seen on the door to the left as the view pulls back.
When Scarlett and Rhett escape from Atlanta, they go in the mountains.
This is not possible since Atlanta and its suburbs are almost flat or only a bit hilly and no high mountains around.
In the opening shot of Scarlett and the Tarleton Twins on Tara's front porch, the shadow of the boom mike is clearly visible on the pillow of the porch swing behind Scarlett. Watch it rise as the trio stands up.
When Scarlett is singing after her night with Rhett, a boom mic shadow is visible on the right top corner of her pillow.
Shadow on the right hand white door when Scarlett leaves the makeshift hospital.
Rhett tells Scarlett that the war might be settled soon in a little town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg.
Gettysburg was an accidental engagement that let to a much bigger battle, but neither army was aiming for an engagement there.
The battle did last three days, but given the South's lack of communication with Lee's Army, there is little chance anyone in Georgia, much less a civilian, would know what happened until well after.
Gettysburg was an accidental engagement that let to a much bigger battle, but neither army was aiming for an engagement there.
The battle did last three days, but given the South's lack of communication with Lee's Army, there is little chance anyone in Georgia, much less a civilian, would know what happened until well after.
Mammy mistakenly says "John Wilkenson's" instead of "John Wilkes" in her famous line, "I ain't aimin' for you to go to Mr. John Wilkenson's and eat like a field hand and gobble like a hog!" The barbecue was held at the home of John Wilkes, not Jonas Wilkerson, the overseer.
Leslie Howard's British accent can often be heard in Ashley Wilkes' dialogue. In fact, none of the primary cast members whose characters are native Southerners speak their lines with a Southern accent.
As Scarlett and Rhett are fleeing Sherman's troops, their horse becomes frightened and refuses to move amidst the flaming wreckage. Rhett ties a cloth around the horse's face so it can't see the flames. As soon as he starts leading the horse through the debris, the cloth falls away from the horse, which seems to be no longer afraid of the flames.
Just after the famous Atlanta fire scene, Scarlett and Rhett pause to observe the soldiers fleeing Atlanta. An extra playing a soldier (in a hat) looks right into the camera.