Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Continuity mistake: When Harry is in the Chamber of Secrets and has just killed the basilisk, you can see in three or four shots that Harry is still on top of Salazar Slytherin's head. Now when the basilisk falls down dead, Riddle looks upward in anger at Harry who should still be up there. However, in the shot immediately following, it shows Harry walking right next to the dead basilisk.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Harry is in Borgin & Burkes in Knockturn Alley, he approaches the glass dome with skulls sitting on the shelf and to the right is a large round mirror sitting atop a cabinet. When he walks away after freeing his hand from The Hand of Glory, in this wide shot there is now a very tall, ornate, wrought iron fixture behind him that stands beside the shelf, in front of the round mirror and cabinet, that was not in that previous shot. (00:15:45)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Tom Riddle says, "She won't wake" and walks toward Harry. When Harry says "Tom. Tom Riddle," the shot faces Harry and Ginny, and Harry's wand is lying on the open ground below the sole of Ginny's shoe. When Harry asks "Are you a ghost?" as the camera pans closer to Harry, his wand is conspicuously in a different place now, it is lying partially hidden under Ginny's robe above her right foot, right next to Harry. In the next shot after Riddle says, "A memory. Preserved...," the wand is gone from the previous shot's position. (Visible on DVD fullscreen.) (02:04:50)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Harry is cornered by the Basilisk the Basilisk is a foot away from his face, but when he reaches to his side to pick up the rock, the Basilisk is a metre (about a yard) away. (02:19:10)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Harry escapes into the Ford Anglia, in the interior shot Ron grabs firm hold of Harry under his left arm, while Vernon pulls on Harry's foot. In the overhead exterior shot Ron's arm holds Harry above his arm, yet in the next close-up of Harry, Ron's arm is under Harry's. Then just after Ron yells, "Drive!" Ron's arm is over Harry's arm once again. (00:09:45)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Harry arrives at the Weasley's house, we see a shot of the chimney that he is going to travel up. There is no pot of floo powder nor is there a bracket to hold it. When they go to travel to Diagon Alley, the bracket is on the right of the fireplace attached to the bricks, with the pot of floo powder in it. (00:10:55)

steve

Continuity mistake: The pillow and blankets on Harry's bed not only change position in consecutive shots, the actual pillow changes drastically from the time Dobby jumps up and down on the bed, until Harry confronts him about the letters. (00:03:05 - 00:04:30)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When the flying car throws Harry and Ron out of the car, and Harry is lying on the grass, you see that he starts to get up, but in the next wider shot he is starting to get up again. (00:28:10)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture Video

Continuity mistake: After Harry has caught the Snitch and is sitting up, Hermione runs over to him and kneels in the sand next to him. Her robes are covering her knees in a long shot, but as it cuts to a close up her knees can be seen, and this continues to switch for the next couple of shots. (00:57:55)

Continuity mistake: After Harry packs his trunk, in the wide shot, as Ron starts to lean over to attach the hook to the bars, the excess rope is in the corner of Ron's window, but in the next close-up it's right in the center. (00:09:10)

Super Grover

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As Harry chases the Snitch after his arm is broken, he reaches and catches it in the shot facing him. In the next side shot, as he begins to roll over while still balancing on top his broom, the attached foot rest is visible between his thighs. However, when he rolls under his broom then skids to the ground, it is clear that the foot rest is gone. Whether the foot rest is in the open or closed position, it would still be visible either above or below his leg. (00:57:20)

Super Grover

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The cork board, hanging over Harry's bed in the Dursley house, significantly changes its position on the wall, as seen when Harry sits on his bed to speak with Dobby. The location of the thumbtack pushed into the top point of the Gryffindor pennant, as well as the angle of the other point, also change throughout the scenes in Harry's bedroom. (00:03:10 - 00:04:45)

Super Grover

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the Whomping Willow, the trunk of the car recieves a noticeable gash just above the lock on the trunk as well as a huge dent in the trunk. However just before the trunk pops open to eject Harry and Ron's belongings, it is blatantly apparent that it is not the same car trunk. The gash and dent are both gone, the Ford Anglia nameplate on the right side is gone, the lock is different, the area under the bent fender is different, etc. After the spider escape, though the nameplate is back, the dent and gash are still gone. (00:27:25)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: During the scene when Harry and Ron are talking to Malfoy as Crabbe and Goyle, Draco has his hair slicked straight back. A couple of seconds later, Draco's hair is parted a bit, and messed up at the back. Some more seconds later, his hair is slicked and tidy once more. (01:23:55)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As Harry chases Dobby into the hallway, he lands behind Dobby with knees bent, his left hand and foot in front and his right hand and foot in back. The next shot he has not moved, but his stance is the opposite, left hand and foot in back and his right hand and foot in front. (00:06:55)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The sun as shown in the introduction is visible and rather bright slightly above the horizon. As the shot moves through the clouds (takes only a second or two) and focuses on the houses, the sun is now shielded by clouds and is moved down quite a bit. (00:00:35)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Dumbledore asks, "Why then did the Sorting Hat place you in Gryffindor?" and in this close-up the Sorting Hat sits on two books. In the next shot, as Harry answers, "Because I asked it to." The hat now sits on three books in this close-up. During this entire scene in Dumbledore's study, things including the Sorting Hat and lamp behind Dumbledore to his right, change position depending on camera angle. (02:18:00 - 02:20:20)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: In Knockturn Alley, as Harry rushes to the doorway to step outside the Borgin & Burkes, the advertisements/notices lining the wall across the seedy alley are visible. When Harry turns around after saying, "I'm fine, thank you," the same wall is seen again to his left, but the advertisements all over the wall are completely different now. (00:16:20)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Harry and Hermione run into Flourish and Blotts, Mrs. Weasley fusses and wipes off Harry's cloak. As she says, "Thank goodness. We'd hoped you'd only gone one grate..," she holds her purse a particular way and Ginny faces Harry, yet, in the next shot as she continues to say, "..too far," she holds her purse differently and Ginny now faces the other way. (00:18:05)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Harry holds the page about the Basilisk that Hermione tore out of a book, in the two close-ups of that page the bottom left side is crookedly ripped into the words. However, in the wide shots as Harry holds it that side of the page is ripped straight down. (01:52:35)

Super Grover

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mistake picture

Revealing mistake: At the beginning of the scene near the end of the movie with Lucius Malfoy fuming at Dumbledore in his office, Malfoy's hair is fanned back behind his shoulders. The lighting in the room illuminates the back of his neck, where you can see his real, short brown hair. (02:22:05)

More mistakes in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
More quotes from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Trivia: When Harry, Ron and Fang begin to walk through the Dark Forest there is a close-up of Fang walking towards the camera. At the start of the next shot, at the bottom right of the screen the Ford Anglia is visible. Although the scene of them seeing the car before it rescues them is deleted, this one shot remains of the car 'watching' them. (01:43:40)

Super Grover

More trivia for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Question: Does any one know the Japanese golfer joke Uncle Vernon was telling at the beginning of the movie?

Answer: The joke goes like this, "A California business man, while in Japan for some business meetings and a few rounds of golf, arrived in Tokyo a day earlier than expected. Feeling lonely that evening, he employed the services of a beautiful young Japanese girl to be his companion for the evening. Although the Japanese girl spoke very little English and the businessman spoke no Japanese, their passion roared and in the heat of the moment she began yelling "Machigatta ana. Machigatta ana" Hearing this, the Californian believed he had pleased his female Japanese friend and soon afterwards went to sleep. The next day while playing golf with his Japanese business colleague, his Japanese partner holed his shot from 170 yards away. Wanting to impress his friend, the Californian began yelling, "Machigatta ana!" The Japanese business man turned to the Californian and with a confused look on his face asked, "What do you mean wrong hole?"

Answer: The punchline is actually quite vulgar, but you can read a copy of the joke at http://www.sugarquill.net/forum/index.php?s=1a43217a81cc245555ad6ac82d3bcc5b&showtopic=6214&view=findpost&p=225388.

Cubs Fan

More questions & answers from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.