To Kill a Mockingbird

During the courtroom scene, there is a closeup of Atticus seated at his table during the prosecuting attorney's questioning of Mr.

Ewell.

In this shot, the film image is reversed (Atticus' hair and the position of the spectators behind him reveal this).

In this same shot, the light at the back of the courtroom is turned on; both before and after this shot, it is off.

The law books disappear from the mantelpiece when Scout returns from walking Boo Radley home.

After Atticus shoots the dog and rides away in Hec's car, the children watch him go.

Scout's hair has a side part, but in the next shot she has her usual full bangs.

When Bob Ewell is on the witness stand and Atticus asks him if he ran for a doctor, Atticus is hovering over Ewell and his visible shadow behind Ewell reflects this.

When the camera shifts to Atticus, he is a good 10-15 feet away.

When the camera returns to Ewell, Atticus' shadow is still there.

While Atticus gets his papers together in the courtroom after the verdict you see a water glass next to the pitcher on the judge's desk.

In the next shot, as he walks out, there is no glass, just the pitcher.

Mayella Ewell's hair alternates between neatly brushed and messy and back again between shots when she gets up to go to the stand in the courtroom.

Scout steps up with both feet to stand on the tire swing to look up into the tree.

The next shot shows Scout standing on the ground and stepping up into the tire swing again.

When Atticus shoots the mad dog, it is obvious its hind legs are jerked from under it to make it fall.

When Scout and Jem are debating Jem going back to retrieve his trousers from Boo Radley's, Scout can be seen mouthing Jem's lines.

While lying unconscious in his bed after Boo Radley carries him back home, Jem's head is seen in several different positions.

While Atticus is questioning Mr.

Ewell in the courtroom, Mr.

Ewell has his left arm draped over the back of the witness chair in some shots and by his side in others.

During the opening credits, when the marbles are rolling, several members of the camera crew are reflected in the marble.

There isn't a mountain within 200 miles of South Alabama where the film takes place.

However, mountains are clearly visible as part of the landscape in several shots throughout the movie.

When Mr.

Gilmer calls his next witness, he calls the wrong one (Mayella) to come first, which would have made the entire case scene non-crucial as it was in the book.

Gregory Peck picks up on this superbly and improves the line which makes Mr.

Gilmer re-think and correct his actions.

This was all a mistake by Mr.

Gilmer in the movie.

When Scout asks to see Atticus' watch she stretches her right arm up while she yawns.

In the next shot it's down in her lap.

At the trial, the defense table is set nearest to the jury box.

In all US criminal courts, the jury sits on the Prosecution's side of the court room.

Similar to her "close up" conversation with Jem about retrieving his breeches, Scout mouths Atticus' next lines when begging to be allowed a ride to visit Tom Robinson's family before the court case.

At the beginning of the film, the pennies in the cigar box are dated circa 1962, while the story is set in the year 1932.

After speaking with Mrs.

Dubose, Scout, Jem and Dill walk with Atticus towards the Finch home.

When the camera angle shifts, Dill is no longer walking with them, but is all the way on the other side of the house walking towards them.

When Atticus is sitting in front of the courthouse door to protect Tom Robinson, the bottles in the top crate in the corner change from fewer bottles before the mob arrives, to more when the mob has left.

When sitting on the porch with the Judge, Gregory Peck is shown sitting on the porch swing with his left arm on the arm-rest.

However, during the solo shots of the judge it is obvious that no-one is sitting on the swing - no arm on the arm-rest and the swing's chains are loose.

Directly after the scene where Jem and Scout are attacked while walking home through the woods, as Scout runs after the figure carrying Jem home, the trees and scenery can be seen through Scout in a ghostly fashion as if they were not originally part of the scene and were added afterward.

When Jem and Scout leave the tree with the knothole in it when Mr.

Radley is filling in the knothole, he leaves his school books at the foot of the tree.

After the attack on Jem and Scout, Boo carries him towards the house and eventually is discovered standing behind the door in Jem's room.

However, in the scene before he is discovered the door to the room is almost closed completely and then opened by Calpurnia from inside the room.

Boo would have to have been visible to all in the room at that time.

When Scout and her brother are going to the pageant, she's dressed as a ham.

In the closeups you can see that the "ham" is actually made of fiberglass.

Fiberglass was invented in 1938 while the film takes place in 1932.

When Mr.

Gilmer gets up to cross examine Tom Robinson, he walks past the seated Atticus at the defense table.

You can only see the arm of the person as he walks by the table.

The person who walks by is wearing a short-sleeved black t-shirt (he is probably a production stand in).

When Mr.

Gilmer reaches the witness, he is wearing the same light colored suit he has worn throughout the entire trial, which covers his entire arm.

While Atticus is giving his closing arguments standing before the jury, the camera briefly switches to Scout sitting in the balcony and then quickly back to Atticus who is now leaning on rail in front of jury instead of standing stock straight.

The license plate on Atticus Finch's car changes during the movie.

At first it has 709 as the first 3 numbers.

Later in the movie, the first 3 numbers are 358.

When the jury comes back into the courtroom with their decision (immediately after Jem's comment that it was a good sign that it had taken the jury two hours to reach a decision) and we see the procession of jurors walk into the courtroom (from Jem's point of view), no one is sitting at the defense table, nor is Atticus seen anywhere to be seen in the courtroom.

However, in the next scene, Atticus is sitting at the defense table with onlookers in the background.

In the very beginning of the film, the adult Scout's narrates, "Maycomb was a tired, old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it.

" Moments later, she goes on to say that "Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself" in clear reference to FDR's first inaugural address.

Roosevelt, however, did not deliver this speech until March 4, 1933.

I saw this movie when i was a kid. Then again during high school days, then again with my kids.

I haven't read the book, which I suspect portrays the characters and justifies their actions a bit better but watching the movie in 2020, I found that most of the "big ideas" presented in the film go without saying. Putting that aside, and trying to watch it from the scope of the timeframe it was filmed, I also thought it lacked flow and a peak.

I can't help but wonder what Atticus Finch would be like in today's world and what sort of thing he would stand up against. He might be impressed with how far racism has come since the '30's, but I'm sure there is some other injustice that would similarly upset him.

Widely considered by many to be one of the finest films ever made, this so-called "Greatest courtroom drama of all time" has only one segment set in the courthouse while the rest of it concerns a couple of annoying kids & their everyday life, which doesn't even have anything to do with the case. In addition to that, it's an insufferably boring film to sit through!

"To Kill a Mockingbird", like the source novel of the same name, is considered to be a timeless classic. Set in the southern U.

A classic book about a noble theme doesn't guarantee a classic film. I started the DVD with high hopes but found the barely intelligible infantile antics of the first hour almost unwatchable.

The film starts with the same essence as the book, but through experience I've learned not to compare much - they are two very different mediums.The problem begins with the film pacing up and skipping important events that build up motives of the characters and causes shift in their intent.

Awesome. Great film.