Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Continuity mistake: During the first potion class scene during the movie, Hermione and Lavender are seen standing next to each other while being taught potions by Professor Slughorn. However, within the first minute or so of the lesson, Hermione and Lavender are standing far apart, then in the next shot, they are standing close together, with what looks like barely any space to move. They remain like this for the rest of the scene, but you can see the gap between the two within the first few minutes of the class.

JonTheRandom

Continuity mistake: In the Great Hall, from the time Hermione hits Ron with the book to when Harry (with bloody nose) joins them, the spoon in Hermione's bowl repeatedly faces the opposite way depending on the angle of the shot. (00:29:35)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: The very first shot of Malfoy pulling the tapestry off the Vanishing Cabinet (after tossing a green apple in his hand) is used once again later (after Harry and Luna head off to Slughorn's party), when he is pulling the tapestry off again before placing a green apple in the Vanishing Cabinet. Note the same poof of dust, angle in which tapestry falls, and Draco's body position.

Laestig

Continuity mistake: When Dumbledore and Harry enter the muggle house to find Slughorn the lights are all out; the only illumination comes from their wands. They enter the hallway, then both turn towards the living room with their wands in front of them. Despite this, the wall behind them is illuminated without either of them casting a shadow. The lighting in the hallway is obviously coming from a different source, not the wands. Can't be moonlight - it is a bright white light shining directly on the wall that was not visible when Harry and Dumbledore first entered the flat.

BocaDavie

Continuity mistake: At the Three Broomsticks, when they notice Dean and Ginny snogging, Hermione's left arm is leaning across the table in front of her, then both her arms are down at her sides in the shot facing her, but next shot, her arm is on the table once again. (00:50:25)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Dumbledore and Harry approach the Slughorn armchair, on the left there is a white lampshade lying on the shelf hanging over the edge. When Slughorn stands up and walks to the door to lock it, the lampshade is farther back on the shelf.

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Ginny snatches 'Advanced Potion Making' from Harry in the common room, and says "Who's the Half-Blood Prince? . That's what it says right here: 'This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince'", she opens it at a random page in the middle of the book. When Harry sees the words 'This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince', they are written on the first page. Also, the continuity is wrong as she is shown to switch pages between very quick shots.

JBrock

Continuity mistake: At the end when Harry moves the hair from Dumbledore's face in the closeup, several strands of hair are left. When they pan back to Dumbledore, different strands of hair are across his face.

cdb

Continuity mistake: When Ginny rips the Half-Blood Prince's potion book out of Harry's hand, before Harry gets up from leaning against the couch on the floor, Ginny is nowhere to be found in the chair on the very far left of the screen. As Harry walks around the couch while talking to Hermione, she is suddenly sitting in the same chair.

Norman Bradford

Continuity mistake: At the Weasley's house when Hermione, Ron and Harry are talking about Dumbledore, Hermione's legs and the little table change position between shots. (00:14:30)

Lukas S

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Dumbledore and Harry meet Slughorn in the desolated house, some piano hammers lie on the ground. These hammers are from an upright piano but the "restored" instrument later in the scene is a grand piano. (00:06:25)

Audio problem: When the trio are on the Hogwarts Express, we hear Harry say "What was Draco doing with that weird looking cabinet and who were all those people" but the subtitles say it was Ron who said that.

TheMrSnape

Continuity mistake: Tied round Dumbledore's beard is a thin silver strand, with dangling silver balls, that changes position and the height of the silver balls differ in consecutive shots, depending on the camera angle throughout the film. For example, when Dumbledore and Harry first pay a visit to Slughorn.

Super Grover

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Dumbledore brings Harry to meet Slughorn, the Daily Prophet is lying on the floor amongst debris, including the piano's hammer, which differs between shots. (00:06:50)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: In Potions class, when the students prepare the Draught of Living Death, as Harry tells Hermione, "Crush it, don't cut it," the way he holds/squeezes the Sopophorous Bean has instantly changed from the previous shot.

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At the Burrow, when Tonks and Lupin are at the front door with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, it cuts to an exterior shot of Harry looking out the window with his arm leaning across his knee in front of him, but in the next interior shot his arm is down at his side.

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At Slughorn's party, Harry and Slughorn have their picture taken. Before and after the flash the background changes completely without enough time to change.

Laestig

Continuity mistake: When Dumbledore is talking to Harry about Horcruxes, Dumbledore's hair is blowing and messy in one shot, but fine in the next shot.

Ssiscool

Continuity mistake: At the diner when Harry walks toward the windows, in the close-up of a window through which we see the distant platform (before Dumbledore appears), the style of the window's muntins (sash) around the glass panels is quite different in this close-up, than in the previous shots of the windows. (00:04:00)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: On top of the Astronomy Tower, before Dumbledore and Harry leave to retrieve the locket, Dumbledore hair moves in front of his left shoulder in shots behind him. (01:57:35)

ployp

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Trivia: Christian Coulson, who played Tom Riddle in the second film, expressed interest in returning for this film, but David Yates felt Coulson was too old to convincingly play the role again. Ironically, Coulson was "too old" to begin with, being almost ten years older than the age group Chris Columbus had set for auditions.

Cubs Fan

More trivia for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Question: Instead of using the Pensieve to view Voldemort's and Slughorn's memories, wouldn't it have been much easier for Dumbledore to simply tell Harry of his first meeting with Tom and Harry simply asking Slughorn what he knew?

Answer: The purpose of the Pensieve is to preserve the memory exactly as it was recorded. Telling Harry something years after an event occurred is not as effective or as accurate as seeing. It is more impactful if Harry can watch events exactly as they unfolded. Regarding Slughorn, he had refused to give his complete memory because he was ashamed of the unintentional part he played in Voldemort's plan to create the Horcruxes. He was duped by Riddle, but he still did not want anyone to know how foolish he was.

raywest

Answer: Dumbledore went to great lengths to recover the modified memory from Slughorn and convince him to return to Hogwarts as a teacher. Asking Slughorn about the memory upfront would greatly reduce their chances of getting the rest of the memory. It was important for Harry to charm Slughorn because that was one of his weaknesses. He held Harry's mother in high regards, so Harry really was the only key to getting the memory.

Answer: It would have been pointless for Harry to simply ask Slughorn about Riddle because, as Slughorn previously did, he would react angrily, simply refuse, lie, or alter or delete facts as it was too painful and he was too ashamed to admit what he'd done. Even if Slughorn did tell him, memories are tricky, and, over time, people recall facts differently than what actually happened. Dumbledore needed the pensieve for both his and Slughorn's memories so Harry would have an accurate as possible picture of what happened. This is also J.K. Rowling's magical world. It would be pretty dull, literary-wise, to simply have Dumbledore or Slughorn tell Harry what happened.

raywest

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