They Made Me a Criminal (1939)
Goofs
Continuity
At 38minutes into the film Gloria Dickson's "Peggy" calls John Garfield's character "Johnnie" when he in fact is still under the guise & alias persona of "Jack Dorney"! She could not know that since he has not told anyone at that point of the film.
When Johnny tells his manager to "Give me another drink", the manager is on Johnny's left (screen right). The next shot shows Johnny pouring the drink with his manager now on his right (screen left).
The newspaper reporter is killed in the boxer's room, and the boxer is passed out in the same room, but the next day the reporter is reported as being dead, so someone must have found the body - so how did they find the dead reporter but not see the sleeping boxer? He woke up the next day when the paper that mentions the dead reporter hits his door.
Factual errors
When "Jack Dorney" and some of the kids were trapped in the water tank, they swam to the bottom of the tank to lift a drain cap to let out the water so they wouldn't drown. Of course, the pressure of 10 feet of water in the tank would have exerted 500-600 pounds per square foot on that drain cap, making it much more difficult if not impossible for them to lift it.
Detective Phalen (Claude Raines) is sent by his Captain halfway across the country to track down boxer jack Dorney, all by himself. Then and now, members of the NYPD were/are NOT permitted to leave the state of New York without being accompanied by at least ONE other officer. This is done for safety reasons.
Revealing mistakes
In the diner scene when Johnny drops the $50 note, one of the other diners (Bill) claims the money saying "... That's not your money - that's my money". An actor in the background can be seen mouthing Bill's lines at the same time as Bill utters them.
At beginning of film, Johnny is fighting in ring in front of a packed house. Upon closer look, in at least three separate scenes, after about twelve rows of legitimate spectators (extras, actually) one can see a fake "painted crowd" to create the appearance of a house filed to capacity. The "crowd" is completely stationary, unlike the "real" crowd who are always moving, twisting, and yelling.
Flames can be seen before the car hits the tree, and a spectacular fireball happens immediately after impact. While fun to watch, fireballs rarely happen quite so quickly on an accident and even more rarely before the accident happens.
