School bags and staircases (and other things)

[Ruth Meyer]

Finally I've seen the movie for the first time 
yesterday and now I feel propelled to sneak out
of lurkdom today :-)

While I have to admit that my immediate feeling
after seeing the film was mainly disappointment
I definitely think that was due to my state of
mind at the beginning of / during the film. I just
wasn't relaxed enough to sit back and watch it
as a film. Instead I was in "nitpicking mode" with
at the same time (paradoxically?) very high raised
expectations. Well, I now just take your word for
it that it will be much better on second viewing.

I'd like to share some of my observations. Though
most of you had a head start, of course, I think I have a
few new points that nobody IIRC so far commented upon.

(1) School bags. I only spotted students carrying bags
in the scene after the final exams when everyone is
walking around the yard. Hermione definitely carries 
a bag with her during her conversation with Ron and Harry.
But what does this bag look like? IMHO it's not just
wrong - because it lacks a shoulder strap - it's plain awful,
looks like a sort of shopping bag with its two short handles,
not like a school bag that you can sling over your
shoulder. 

In this scene Harry realizes that Hagrid might have spilled 
the beans about Fluffy to the guy with the dragon egg, so the
trio runs to Hagrid's hut. During this run Hermione's bag is
not visible. I was just about to congratulate her that she
obviously managed to get rid of her hideous bag :-) when she
had it right back with her when they talked to Hagrid. 

(2) Lee Jordan. While I certainly missed his commentary during
the Quidditch match, too, I also found him much too young 
looking to be in the same year as Fred and George. He looked
more like a first year than a third year to me.

(3) After the first flying lesson when McGonagall brings Harry
to meet with Oliver Wood she actually "borrows Wood" not from
Flitwick as in canon but from Quirell. And we get to see 
Quirell holding what looks like a giant chameleon while 
standing in whirling mist - that's exactly like the picture of 
him I remember from a magazine shot (Vanity Fair?).

(4) Dormitory staircases. When Percy first shows the first years
into the Gryffindor common room I remember him pointing out a
staircase to his left for the boys' dormitories and another one
to his right for the girls' dormitories. But in later scenes
only one staircase seems to exist: the trio descend the same staircase into the common room to meet Trevor and Neville 
before leaving for the final "trial". And Hermione leaves Harry
and Ron to "go to bed before they come up with another idea to
get them killed..." definitely not in the common room but on 
some sort of gallery or landing. At least I imagined the 
(wooden) door Hermione leaves through to be the door to her
dormitory.
So do I recall the scene with Percy correctly or not? 

(5) In the trophy room scene I was already prepared to look
at the other plaques instead of at James' plaque. So while I
now can't tell you anything about James' plaque I spotted
R.J.H. King 1969 and M.G. McGonagal 1970. That seems to go
with the theory of "player of the year" displayed there...


- Ruth,
now looking forward to watch the film a second time

By the way, I was lucky enough to catch the original version of
the movie, not the German dubbed one. And we got to see the
British version with "Philosopher's Stone". I noticed in the
scene at Hagrid's hut that you can't see the trio mouthing "We know about the Sorcerer's /Philosopher's Stone" because Hagrid
conveniently closes the door right in front of them so that they
are shut out of view with the words "We know -". Guess that way
you have to shoot this scene only once and do a voice over for the second version?