Revealing mistake: After Hagrid gives Dudley a tail, watch him in the background while Dudley runs around. It's easy to see it's not Robbie Coltrane but a body double (Martin Bayfield), who is also in a few other shots at the hut. (00:17:45)
Continuity mistake: When Petunia covers Dudley's face, her hands alternate from right over left to left over right. (00:05:30)
Visible crew/equipment: When Malfoy steps onto his broom while holding Neville's Remembrall, the actor's two curved chalk marks can be seen on the ground near Hermione's feet, and just as Harry steps backward we can see the actor's chalk marks on the ground near his feet. (Fullscreen version). (00:57:30)
Other mistake: When Neville flies away but falls off it is obviously animated. When he falls behind the crowd of students they are covering up Matthew Lewis, the actor who plays Neville, but the place where Lewis and the animated Neville fell are different. (00:54:45)
Continuity mistake: When Harry walks into the kitchen, Petunia tells him to take care of the breakfast and two of Dudley's presents, the blue design and the yellow, are visible on the couch. When Petunia asks, "Aren't they wonderful darling?" the camera pans the presents, including the ones from the earlier shot. When Vernon says, "Well some of them are quite a bit bigger than last year's," the two presents are again visible. The position of these gifts differs in all shots. (00:04:50)
Continuity mistake: When Uncle Vernon is nailing a small piece of board to the mail slot, he nails it angled slightly to the right. When Harry's letters start pouring in and the small piece of board is ripped from the door, it is angled slightly to the left. The actual wood boards differ as well. (00:09:55 - 00:12:00)
Continuity mistake: During Neville's ill-fated flying lesson, as he approaches the statue from behind, we see that the statue is placed atop a round turret with alternating levels of bricks around the top of the turret. Neville's robe then snags on the spear of the statue. When we see the front of the statue as Neville falls, the statue is now standing atop a flat, level section of wall. (00:56:55)
Visible crew/equipment: In the very beginning of the movie, Dumbledore is walking along Privet Drive. There is a shot of him walking past some trees. When he does this, you can see his shadow flat across the background. The trees are obviously a painted set prop. (00:00:35)
Continuity mistake: When Harry and Hagrid arrive in London and are speaking about what Harry needs to buy, the shot of them walking towards the camera has a block of three shops on their right. I cannot make out what the first one they pass is. The second is a cafe, and has the street no. 35 above it. The one nearest to the camera is a fruiterer/greengrocer ? numbered 33. Hagrid and Harry pass the first shop, and are outside the café. The shot cuts to Hagrid and he passes buildings with the numbers 45 and 44 on them (strange if the odd numbers are on the other side of the street). His head is just about to pass the no. 44 (maybe two steps more and he would pass it). We then cut back to Harry, who is walking past a wine shop ? not one of the three shops above. When we cut back to the shot of Hagrid, (after he has taken a few steps from the previous shot of him) his head is just about to pass the 44. (00:17:44)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Hermione is coming out of the bathroom stall her head is down and you can see that the part in her hair is crooked, but when she is under the sink you can see that now her part is straight. (01:09:55 - 01:10:50)
Continuity mistake: The first wand Ollivander gives to Harry has a long slim handle with 5 or so grooves carved at the wand end. When Harry puts the wand down, the grooves are even with the binding of the book lying there. When Ollivander hands Harry the second wand, look to the left by the book and you can see that not only has the wand been moved, it is actually a different wand with a shorter, wider handle and only one groove at the wand end. (00:26:10)
Continuity mistake: When Harry and Ron are on the train to Hogwarts, we see a shot of the sweets Harry has bought. Note the position of Harry's sweatshirt and that the collar shows no defects. A couple of shots later, the sweatshirt appears to have moved and more of his left neck is showing. A few shots later, when Hermione arrives, there is another shot of the sweets arranged very differently. When Hermione points her wand at Harry, there is a small tear in his sweatshirt collar. (00:33:53)
Factual error: When Hagrid visits the Dursley family in the hut on the rock, Hagrid grabs and bends the shotgun barrel while it is still being held by Mr. Dursley. This is impossible. The gun is made of strong metal, and when Hagrid grabs it, it starts bending, while still in Dursley's grip. Seeing as how Hagrid (the half Giant) is very strong, he should either knock Dursley to the floor or pull the gun straight out of his hands (and maybe his arms with it), if Dursley were to really keep hold of the gun as it is bending. Mr. Dursley must have one strong grip. (00:13:35)
Continuity mistake: At the beginning, Dumbledore is taking out all of the street lights, from one shot, the street light closest to Dumbledore on HIS right is still lit, but in the next shot, which is a close up of him taking the light, and shots later, the street light is out and he never "took" the light from that one. (00:01:05 - 00:01:55)
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Harry and Ron come running down the hallway and see the troll for the first time, you can see a floodlight at the top of the frame illuminating the area where they stop and hide. (01:09:30)
Continuity mistake: When Harry lands and gets off his broom after catching the Remembrall during the flying lesson, he starts running over a shadow of the castle. But in the next shot, it has either been shot at a different time of day, or he has gone past the shadow and has run further up the path. (00:58:55)
Continuity mistake: When Harry, Ron and Hermione are in the lavatory with the troll, the scattered wood pieces of the damaged cubicles change positions in consecutive shots throughout. For example, just before and after the troll drops Harry, in the close-ups of Harry the wood differs from the consecutive overhead shots. (01:11:35)
Continuity mistake: When Harry is on his way to the restricted section of the library under his Invisibility Cloak, we see a shot of his hand holding the lantern (the first shot in the scene). You can see the end of his jumper. In the next shot, however, the end of his jumper is under the cloak, and it had no time to get there between shots. (01:28:30)
Revealing mistake: The wooden board is already broken before the mail comes flying through the mail slot. (00:12:00)
Revealing mistake: When Uncle Vernon picks up the letters for Harry and tears them up, you can see cuts in the envelopes, in order to make it easier for him to tear all of them at once. (00:09:40)
Chosen answer: Voldemort is not on his head in Diagon Alley as explained in the books. He attaches himself to Quirrell when he learns that Quirrell was unsuccessful in getting the Philosopher's Stone from the vault, in attempt to keep an eye on him.
But in the movie when they met in Diagon Alley, Quirrel refused a handshake because it would kill him.
It's never explained in the movie that that is why he doesn't shake hands. In the books, hagrid says that Quirrel hasn't been right since he met a few vampires in the black forest.
Ssiscool ★