The Wicker Man goofs

During the scene where the boys dance and sing round the Maypole, none of the children's lips move, despite their voices being audible on the soundtrack.

When Sgt Neil Howie is captured, Lord Summerisle begins to utter the line 'There will be no traces. Bring him up, Oak' while he is almost hidden on the left among the cult villagers surrounding Howie, yet his lips do not move. The following cut, however, shows him deliver the remainder of the line.

While Sgt Howie is in the chemist's, he shows Lennox—who is grinding something with a mortar and pestle—a photograph of the missing girl. Between cuts, the photograph is seen in Howie's hand and then in Lennox's, despite there being no visible handover.

A cut occurs during the exhumation of Rowan Morrison's coffin, in which Sgt Howie is clearly closer to the gravedigger and the ropes around the coffin have vanished.

When Sgt Howie checks the school register, he pauses at "Belthane Term", where Rowan Morrison's address is listed as "The Tuck Shop". The camera cuts to a close-up, and his finger traces the same page to reveal that she is now recorded as living at "The Post Office". His hand is also out of position in the subsequent cut.

During the bedroom seduction, Woodward's character is shown in a close-up pressing himself against the wall. A ring is visible on the ring finger of his left hand. At all other times the ring is on the ring finger of his right hand, and there is no ring on his left hand.

When Sergeant Howie first sees the wicker man, a smeared stain over the chest/heart area materialises on the sacrificial robe he is wearing — a mark that is not present either before or afterwards.

When the 1972 Harvest Festival photograph was processed at the chemist's, it revealed Rowan Morrison standing beside the previously seen ruined church altar. Earlier, a headstone had stood immediately to the right of the altar and the altar's left side had been smashed. In the Harvest Festival image the headstone is missing and the altar appears intact.

In long shots of Sgt Howie in The Wicker Man, his arms are tucked inside the effigy, but in close-ups they're visible outside, gesturing.

When Lord Summerisle shows Howie the photographs, a close-up shows him beginning to pick one up. It then cuts to a longer shot, and Summerisle's hands are on his hips.

On May Day, as Sgt Howie attempts to leave the island, the establishing shot of the harbour initially shows an aircraft moving across the water with its propeller turning. It first appears that Sgt Howie is departing, or that someone in another plane is coming in to land. However, it is later revealed that Sgt Howie's aircraft is disabled and will not start, leaving him stranded on the island.

While Sgt Howie is in the classroom, he places the blackboard duster at an angle on the lid of the desk where Miss Rose is seated. Later, when he opens the desk lid, the duster is now lying level across the top of the desk.

Whilst Howie questions the Doctor about Rowan Morrison's death certificate, the Doctor is seen opening his front door and stepping partway into the house. The shot cuts away, and when it returns the front door is closed. He opens it again and goes inside.

Although set in the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides, many of the customs hinted at are English rather than Scottish.

The calendar on display in the Photographer's shop indicates that May Day fell on a Tuesday; consequently Sergeant Howie must have departed on the preceding Sunday. That choice is particularly unlikely for an ordinary police enquiry in the largely religious Scottish Highlands, and The Director's Cut also shows Howie receiving the letter that very same day. At the time, there were no postal deliveries on Sundays.

When Sergeant Howie first goes into the pub, there's a close-up of the till showing "3d" in the window. The film is set in 1973, and decimalisation took place two years earlier in 1971.

It's quite probable that a small, isolated pub wouldn't bother replacing a perfectly serviceable till solely because of a change in currency, at least not for a few years.

The majority of the "naked" girls who dance within the stone circle and leap over the fire are in fact wearing flesh-coloured body stockings. (The picture was filmed in autumn rather than the spring in which it is set, so the conditions were rather cold.)

During Willow's nude dance, there is a moment when she throws her head back and her face is momentarily visible, just enough to make out that it is Britt Ekland's double.

When Sgt Howie strikes McGregor (who is wearing the Punch costume) with a candlestick, the blow is aimed at the padded area on the back of the costume rather than at the back of McGregor's head.

As Sgt Howie (wearing a Punch costume) is pursued by the women, fallen autumn leaves litter the grass, despite the story taking place on 1 May.