Viewing the evidence

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, silmariel <silmariel at t...> wrote:
> 
> At the risk of making a mess - if I may borrow your expression my mind is in 
> lead butterfly mode, so I'll left mental exercises aside-, I want to add 
> something that puzzles me and I haven't seen in the list. It regards to the 
> only supossedly canonical scene in the movies, in PS (it's in Diagon Alley, 
> after Ollivander). I had the feeling that something didn't match and I've 
> been watching it shot by shot.
> 
> 1. (supossedly) Voldemort walks to the house.
> 2. he opens the garden door
> 3. a wand points to the main door keyhole
> 4. from the inside, we see a ray of light though the keyhole
> 5. the door opens smoothly
> <out of camera action - up to the baby room>
> 6. Lily has Harry in her arms, appears to say or shout something while she 
> closes the door. The figure at the other side of the door turns his back to 
> the door.
> 7. Lily is at the side of the cradle, still Harry in hands, and the door 
> bursts.
> 8. Voldemort killing lily (clearly she doesn't drop dead, she screams).
> 9. House exterior, green lights.
> 10. Harry looking at the end of a wand.
> 
> Well, point 8 isn't strictly as desired since the AK is peculiar, but it is 
> also a 'natural' way to shot the scene, and we have clear that she was AKd.
> 
> Point 6 just doesn't make sense. Why would Voldemort turn his back to the door 
> Lily is closing?
> 

It doesn't, I agree.
But I seem to recall that long, long ago when all the world was young, it was
reported that Jo had been very specific about what they should *not* show
when shooting that scene - particularly the number of people present, it
would give too much away. 

How much of a clue that is depends on which people you're thinking about;
James? Peter? Snape? Crouch Jnr?

She didn't seem particularly fussed about its presentation otherwise, just
left the script writers to their own devices with no further info offered. The 
sequence does differ markedly from Harry's visions as described in text.

I'd prefer to think of it as directorial licence, or ignorance, or even idleness -
the standard moody exterior, the unsuspecting victim, a darkly swathed
figure sneaking up to the house, back to sweetness and light, the shock
entrance, screams over an exterior shot illuminated by gun-flashes - 
er, sorry - spell flashes, the cut away as the hero's life hangs by a thread...
a pretty clicheed scene from 50s thrillers when they tended not to be so 
graphic as they are today. 

OK, I'm somewhat dismissive about the HP films. I may be wrong, they may
be better films (as films) than I give them credit for, but accurate canon?
Hardly.

Kneasy