Goofs for
Changeling (2008) More at IMDbPro »

• Anachronisms: Christine Collins' house, and the house next door, have modern composition-style shingles and roof vents. In 1928, they would have flat shingle or shake roofs.
  
  
• Continuity: When Sanford Clark is first looking at the photographs of the missing boys, the picture on the bottom of the stack is of a 9-year-old boy. When he eventually gets to the final picture, the age written on the photo is 10.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When Rev. Gustav is speaking from the pulpit of his church, the design of the pipe organ is from at least 1950. In the 1920's, the pipes were hidden behind a facade.
  
  

• Anachronisms: Detective Ybarra uses the term "serial killer." The phrase was coined by FBI Special Agent Robert Ressler in the 1970s, and entered popular use a few years later.
  
  
• Anachronisms: A scene set in 1928 features electro-convulsive therapy (also known as electroshock therapy). Electro-convulsive therapy was first used on humans in 1937, by Italian doctor Ugo Cerletti.
  
  
• Continuity: When Northcutt visits his sister, her hair is very stringy, and some hangs in her face. In the next scene, her hair is neatly combed.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The night before he disappears, Walter expresses his disappointment about missing a broadcast of "Amos 'n' Andy." The first "Amos 'n' Andy" broadcast was on March 19, 1928, ten days after Walter disappeared.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Jeffrey Donovan's left ear is pierced, which was not acceptable for a police officer anywhere in 1928.
  
  
• Continuity: When the 15-year-old accomplice stops digging and rolls on the floor, his overalls are hanging. When the officer tries to pull him up, his overalls are normal.
  
  
• Continuity: When Collins and the Doctor first meet at the asylum, he reads from two folders. One contains a paper; the other contains a newspaper. When he shows the newspaper of Collins with "Walter", the shot changes from over shoulder to the front a number of times. With each shot, the folder changes hands, opens, or closes.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When Capt. Jones tells Christine Collins that her son is safe, and that he was seen with a drifter, Jones says that he has put out an "APB" on the drifter. He means "all points bulletin," but the earliest recorded use of the abbreviation was in the 1960s.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): John Malkovich's character pronounces "Los Angeles" with a soft "g". In the 1920s, native Californians used a hard "g" (like in the word "angle"). It can be heard in movies as late as the 1950s. Non-natives often said "anjeleez." When Easterners started pouring into the city later, the compromise "anjeliss" came into being.
  
  
• Anachronisms: On March 9, 1928, Christine says they might see "The Mysterious Airman" the next day. The movie was released June 1, 1928.
  
  
• Factual errors: Electroshock therapy is a strong jolt of electricity (up to 10,000 Volts) sent through brain. There are no dials to turn, and it doesn't hurt. A patient undergoing such treatment becomes unconscious immediately.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The last scene shows an L.A. street. An old-style traffic post with a GO signal is on the right. Cars come and go as the credits roll, but the signal never changes to STOP.
  
  
• Factual errors: Rev. Gustav and Mrs. Collins meet at his home. The walls in the background are full of religious images, including St. Anthony of Padua holding the child Jesus. No Protestant minister, especially in the 1930s, would have an image of a Catholic saint in their home; it would be considered 'Popish idolatry'.
  
  
• Anachronisms: A telephone operator uses the phrase "don't go there" to indicate a subject she doesn't want to talk about. That slang didn't enter common usage until the late 1980s.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Christine gets out of bed in the morning, the light hits her left arm, and tattoos can be seen beneath makeup on her arm.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Twice during the movie, Christine mentions that the boy pretending to be Walter is three inches shorter than her real son: while comparing his height to Walter's height drawn on the door frame, and when the doctor explains that the spine may shrink during times of extreme stress. When Christine testifies at the hearing, she says the boy pretending to be Walter was four inches shorter.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Rev. Gustav is a Presbyterian minister, but the arrangement of the deep chancel area in his church is not a Presbyterian layout. It was likely filmed at an Episcopal church.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In a scene set in 1935, Christine and her friends talk about listening to the Academy Awards on the radio and make a bet on the Best Picture winner. In 1935 the Academy Awards were not broadcast live and were not the broad-based cultural phenomenon they became later.
  
  
• Anachronisms: As Christine steps on the train to go see Gordon Northcott in prison, two blasts from a diesel locomotive "horn" can be heard. Trains at the time were equipped with steam locomotives which have a very distinctly different "whistle" sound from that of a diesel locomotive "horn".
  
  
• Anachronisms: This movie set in 1928, the phrase "Excuse my French" as used by Carol Dexter wasn't in common use until 10 years later as explained here.
  
  
• Factual errors: The film shows Christine Collins returning from work to find Walter missing. In reality Christine had given Walter a dime to go to a movie, and he never came home.
  
  
• Continuity: When "Walter" and his mother pose for the news picture outside the train, the policewoman who escorted "Walter" is standing directly behind them and would have appeared in the background of the picture. At the trial, the picture shows mother and "son" but the policewoman is nowhere in the shot.
  
  
• Continuity: Christine Collins gets a phone call in the evening to urge her to the police precinct where she can see the missing kid that suddenly reappeared. After that she goes outside the precinct, and suddenly it is daylight. That visit in the precinct could not have lasted all night.
  
  
• Factual errors: Christine mentions her husband ran away because he couldn't handle the responsibilities of being a father. In real life, he was serving a sentence for armed robbery.
  
  
• Continuity: First when Christine is thrown in her cell, the hatch behind the barred window is shut with force. Later, when we see Christine watching Carol being brought back to her cell, we can see that the cell doors don't have hatches at all.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene where Christine Collins drops her son off at school, she re-boards the trolley and clearly sits on the curb side. In the next scene she is seated on the street side as the trolleys pass each other.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Christine is committed and hosed down, you can see the tattoo on Angelina Jolie's back.
  
  

• Continuity: SPOILER: Before Walter goes missing, there is a scene in the home where Christine is putting on her coat. At one point, part of the tattoo on Angelina Jolie's left wrist is visible at the the end of her coat sleeve. Later on, in the shower scene, the tattoo on her left shoulder blade is visible.
  
  
• Anachronisms: SPOILER: At the end of the hanging scene, you can see a distinct pattern on the bottom of Northcott's shoes. At the time, the soles of men's shoes were made of solid, flat leather.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: SPOILER: After being brought back home initially and stumbling in the bathtub, Christine's son utters a line and the English subtitle on the DVD indicates the speaker is Arthur, already identifying that he is not Christine's son Walter.
  
  

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