Goofs

Joan decides to hack off Christina's hair with a handy pair of scissors, but the length of the hair then starts varying quite wildly between shots, growing longer then shorter then longer again.

Joan's assistant is lacing up the left ice skate when the production assistant knocks to say they're ready for her. You can clearly see Joan's right foot is bare. She says, "Let's go," and gets out of her chair with only one skate on.

When Joan is spanking Christina with the wire hanger next to Christopher's bed, a blanket covering Christina appears and disappears between each blow.

At the beginning of the birthday party scene, Joan can obviously be seen riding the Carousel behind Christina. However, in a subsequent shot, she is no longer on the Carousel. In another shot soon thereafter, she suddenly appears on the Carousel behind Christina again.

During the bedroom scene when Joan is fighting with Greg and he shakes her, she loses a clip-on earring. The ear ring appears and disappears on Joan between shots.

During opening sequence set in late Thirties, a sightseeing tour bus drives past with an illustration of the famous Hollywood sign on its side. In reality, at that time the sign would have read "HOLLYWOODLAND" - the "LAND" portion of sign (which originally promoted a housing development called HOLLYWOODLAND) was not removed until the late 1940s.

When Joan meets with Mayer in his office, she is standing in front of a large portrait featuring a group of MGM stars. This scene is supposed to be taking place circa 1943. The portrait clearly features Esther Williams standing at the end of the front row in her Roman costume for JUPITER'S DARLING, which was filmed in 1955, 12 years after Joan left Metro.

When the nominees for best actress are heard over the radio, they are not named in alphabetical order, contrary to tradition.

Joan Crawford was not "fired" by MGM. She paid the company to be released from her contract, and two days later signed with Warner Bros.

Although the film time compresses many elements of Crawford's life, one of the most glaring is the age of Christina and Christopher at the time of her parting with M.G.M. Crawford left M.G.M in 1943. Thus Christina would of been at most four years old and Christopher would of been only a year old. However, it is clear in the film that Christina is roughly to be around age seven or eight while Christopher is shown to be around two or three years old during this time period.

When Joan Crawford substitutes for her daughter on a soap opera, producer of show gives her a pep talk during a commercial, indicating it was a live broadcast. In reality 'The Secret Storm' was taped and director later said Crawford's performance was so poor he had to patch it together in editing room. Although it was recorded, The Secret Storm was "live tape", meaning that it was treated as if it were a live broadcast. At the end of each act, the actors stopped for the exact length of the commercials and then resumed taping.

When Joan lunges at Christina and tries to strangle her, the pre-shattered lamp comes apart before it hits the floor.

When Christina makes her final speech at Joan's coffin, Joan breathes after the third time Christina says, "Mommie."

Diana Scarwid's stunt double's face briefly visible in a long shot during the choking scene.

Obvious dummy when Joan beats Christina during the wire hangers tantrum.

Very faint breathing in the coffin, though Joan is dead.

In a scene set in the late Sixties, Joan Crawford signs a stack of publicity photos that date back to her appearance twenty years earlier; in reality, Crawford always sent out current fan photos.

When Joan is choking Christina, noticeable gap between front edge of the wig Christina is wearing and her scalp.

During an exterior scene set in the 1940's, a red stop sign is seen on a street in Crawford's neighborhood. (Pre-1955 they were yellow w/ black lettering.)

A plastic bottle of "409" spray cleaner is on the bar when Christina prepares one of her "Uncles" a drink; this brand did not exist at the time.

The men on the board of directors of Pepsi Cola are dressed in current (1981) suits, ties, and hairstyles in the showdown between them and Crawford. This scene would have taken place in 1959, so only Crawford is dressed correctly for the period.

The large picture in Louis B. Mayer's office of MGM contract players and stars was taken on stage 47, the set of "Brigadoon," for a story in the July 13, 1954 issue of Look Magazine, although the scene is set in 1943 when Crawford left MGM, a full ten years before that picture was taken. According to the story in Look the picture cost MGM $42,058.29 in lost production time.

During the commercial break for Christina's appearance in The Secret Storm, we catch a short glimpse of the Mercedes 450SL. This model was launched in 1971, the scene is taking place in 1968.

When Joan cuts down her prize rose garden, she is photographed mostly in shadow. Although we hear her muttering to herself about being "box office poison," her mouth isn't really moving.

After young Christina is defeated by Joan in the pool race scene, Christina's line "it's not fair to win twice" can be heard a second time underneath Joan's line "Ah, but nobody ever said..."

After Joan beats Christina with the wire hanger, you can still hear the girl sniffle and whine, but her mouth is closed, and she hasn't shed a single tear.

At the pool when Joan says "Who do you think you're talking to, Missy?" her mouth does not match "Missy".

Throughout the entire film, there are sequences (especially yelling and screaming sequences) where there are obvious echoes of what they are saying.

When Christina arrives home from Convent school, the driver of the car opens his door and the camera crew is reflected in the door.

At Christina's birthday party, a camera shadow is seen against the backs of those watching the horse rides.

A camera shadow is visible against the blue curtains (left side of the screen) when Joan Crawford rides the merry go round.

After Joan says to tear down the wall and put up a window in the apartment condo, she turns around and a camera shadow is cast across her back.

The "wire hanger" scene has become the pivotal, and almost iconic, symbol of the movie, yet one must wonder where little Christina would have gotten the hanger to begin with. She was obviously too young to be picking up cleaning, so the hanger must have been brought into the house by a servant- so Joan's anger at finding the dress on the hanger was completely misdirected. One would think that Crawford would have issued a directive to her house staff to immediately remove any clothing from such hangers and to dispose of them.

When Joan brings Christina home from Chadwick school, she is wearing a hat, gloves and skirt all in the 50s style, which is correct. Her coat is an a-line design, boxy and shapeless, with a huge 70s pointed collar. This coat would not have been worn by Joan in the 50s as she was always wearing the very latest styles.