December 24, 2012

Attention to Detail

This evening my husband and I watched a Richard Gere movie from earlier this year, Arbitrage (apparently some kind of financial term) newly released on DVD. There was a scene when an angry Gere confronts one of his partners, and he is clearly shown locking the door behind him after he enters the office.  After he says what he has to say, he leaves in a huff...and the door opens without him first pausing to unlock it.

Now my hubby is sleeping, and I'm watching Christmas in Connecticut (1945) on DVD, a movie I've seen many times. This was the first time, however, that I noticed something. Magazine publisher Sydney Greenstreet tells Barbara Stanwyck's make-believe husband, Reginald Gardiner, that the columnist for his rival magazine just announced she is pregnant, which he fears will result in the competition getting a boost in circulation and valuable baby product advertising. He states that the rival columnist's baby is due in September. For the first time that statement made a bell go off in my head, for this conversation was held on Christmas Eve, and September seemed like an impossibly long gestation.

Sure enough, I did the math on my fingers. Even if women in 1945 went public with their pregnancies the moment the rabbit died (I couldn't say, not being around then), if it was announced in December, that baby would be due no later than August.

I like it when I notice these things, and I hope I can apply that same attention to detail when writing my own books.

Merry Christmas, all!  I'm getting sleepy, but the movie is almost over, and then I'll get some shut-eye.  Tomorrow afternoon I have a date with my husband to see Django Unchained.  Wonder if I'll spot any errors in it?

Do you ever notice errors in movies?