Corrected entry: Even before the Sorting, Harry has a Gryffindor tie on with his robes.
Corrected entry: When Harry is searching the restricted section, he puts the lamp down first and then the cloak. So the cloak would be on top of the lamp, but when he pulls on the cloak so he can put it on, the cloak is under the lamp.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Ron is under the sorting hat, he is sorted into Gryffindor, but instead of heading off to the left, to the Gryffindor table, he heads off right which would send him out of his way to the correct table. (00:44:40)
Correction: True but there is a large group of first years between him and the Gryffindor table which he has to walk round. It's not at all clear if going left or right is shorter and in any case, taking the long way round isn't a movie mistake.
Corrected entry: When Harry, Ron, and Hermoine get off the stairs (which have just moved) onto the third floor, the stairs bounce, clearly illustrating that they are not made of the hard stone they appear to be. (01:01:10)
Correction: The bounce is related to the fact that the staircase is only attached at the bottom otherwise it would be unable to turn. The flex comes from where the stairs are connected to the lower landing, not from the material itself.
Corrected entry: Last shot of the Hogwarts Express as it pulls away: the trees to the left of the screen are blowing madly in the wind, while the trees to the right aren't moving at all. (02:23:40)
Correction: The trees on the right are further away and more difficult to see but it's clear that they are blowing just as madly as the trees on the left side.
Corrected entry: When Harry is in the hospital wing, and he's been sleeping there for a while (time not known) as soon as he wakes up, before even lifting his head, he reaches over to the right side of his bed, picks up his glasses, and puts them on. But earlier in the movie his nightstand was on the left side of his bed, when he slept in the dormitory. It's odd how automatic Harry knew where his glasses were, even when they changed sides - he was presumably unconscious when they put him in bed, so he can't have noticed then. (01:26:45 - 02:14:05)
Correction: He wakes up, opens his eyes and looks to his left. Since he doesn't see his glasses there, the next logical choice would be to look right which is exactly what he does, nothing odd, no mistake.
Corrected entry: After Hermione says, "It's the 3rd floor, it's forbidden." you can see all 3 actors look up at the column before the flame even erupts. (01:01:35)
Correction: The three of them are reacting to the noise made as the flames start, not to the appearance of the flames. The noise preceeds the appearance.
Corrected entry: When HRH go to McGonogall to tell her about the Philosopher's Stone, after she says, "Now go back to your dormitories, quietly", Harry turns around and it's pretty obvious that he lets out a big smile there as turning.
Correction: Speculation, it certainly isn't obvious to me.
Corrected entry: In the scene with the flying letters, the way they enter both the living room and the corridor is simply screwed up. They start off shooting horizontally, going slightly up, but a few seconds later, they are obviously just being dropped from the ceiling. This is even more obvious in the shot of Mr Dursley trying to get the letter off Harry, where it shows the letters coming out the door at a very fast speed, then floating down about a metre away. (00:11:20)
Correction: Not correct, many of the letters shoot up quite sharply after exiting the fireplace and, in accordance with the law of gravity, they float back down soon after.
Corrected entry: Hedwig is supposed to be a female snowy owl, but only male snowy owls are completely white. The female has brown and/or black spots on her in order to blend in with the nest and trees; the males are white so they blend in with the snow as they hunt animals.
Correction: As mentioned in another correction, a completely white female owl is not that unlikely in a world of magic with dragons and whatnot.
Corrected entry: During the entire movie, you notice Hedwig is a snowy owl that does not really have a lot of black on her. While that tends to make 'her' more appealing, it means that Hedwig is actually a male, even though it is stated numerous times in the film that she is, in fact, a girl. The same goes for the second movie, and I suppose for the rest of the series.
Correction: In a world where magic can do just about anything, I'm sure there can be a white female owl.
Corrected entry: The name for Diagon Alley is a play on words. To get to Diagon Alley, you tap three bricks up and two over. The starting and ending bricks are diagonal from each other. Therefore the word diagonally = Diagon Alley.
Correction: This isn't really trivia. JK Rowling is the person who originally thought up the name, not the film makers, and in the book you have to tap one brick to get into the alley. Therefore, although 'Diagon Alley' sounding like 'diagonally' is sort of a play on words, it isn't for that particular reason.
Corrected entry: When Ron begins the chess game, white moves a pawn two spaces. Someone says, "Do you suppose this is like regular wizard's chess?" then Ron moves his pawn forward two spaces to see if the pawn will be destroyed. White's pawn takes Ron's pawn in the next move. This is impossible in two moves - there should still be a horizontal row of squares in between the two pawns.
Correction: The move is not only possible, it is a standard opening known as the Queen's Gambit. There are 8 rows in chess, pawns start on rows 2 and 7. If they each move two they are on 4 and 5. If they are in adjacent columns one may take the other on its second move.
Corrected entry: In the scene of their first flying lesson, the teacher tells them to kick off from the ground after she blows her whistle. The next shot is of everyone's feet and she blows her whistle, but nobody's feet kick or leave the ground, except Neville, who simply lifts off. (00:56:15)
Correction: This is just character stupidity - they're all a bit nervous and are distracted by Neville, who as we know isn't very bright and couldn't get himself down.
Corrected entry: In Greek Mythology Minerva is the Goddess of Wisdom, which is why Minerva McGonagall is so wise.
Correction: This would actually be Roman mythology. Minerva is the Roman name of Athena, who is the Greek Goddess of Wisdom.
Corrected entry: When the Dursleys and Harry get back from the zoo, Uncle Vernon pushes Harry into the cupboard under the stairs. Vernon talks to Harry through the air vent and there is no cover on the front of the cupboard door to close over the air vent. Yet when Vernon says, "There's no such thing as magic" he closes a cover over the air vent. Where did it come from?
Correction: There is a knob at the center of the exterior vented brass plate, that is attached to an interior plate; the interior piece slides to cover the slats of the exterior vented plate. In the close-up of Harry, when Vernon closes the vent, if you look at the interior of the brass plate and its oval openings, the separate pieces are noticeable.
Corrected entry: The letter adressed to new Hogwarts students reads they may bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad. How come Ron can bring a rat? (00:18:35 - 00:36:15)
Correction: They actually only showed the letter to Harry. The others may have been different. Or, since Ron was a legacy and Scabbers was a hand-me-down pet, they made an exception to the rule (as they did many times in the film) And, according to the book, there were other pets at the school besides owls, toads, and cats. At least one other student had a spider.
Corrected entry: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione are in the forest with Hagrid, Harry looks to the right, and a cloaked figure moves from left to right across the screen. This means that the figure, Quirrel, was heading back to the castle rather than toward the unicorn.
Correction: Professor Quirrel could have been circling the group to see who was there before he attacked the unicorn, plus the Forbidden Forrest has many twist and turns and Quirrel could have just been trying to move around them.
Corrected entry: When Harry discovers the magic mirror, he looks to his left and says "Dad?" when his father is on his right.
Correction: No, he looks to the proper side in this scene.
Corrected entry: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione are going through the chess game in the dungeon, Ron's final move with the knight goes off the board; if you watch carefully, you'll notice that he is on the farthest row of squares to the left as he possibly can be, and then he moves his player one space to the left. He technically should have gone off the board, but when the Queen kills him, he's back on the board. (02:04:35)
Correction: He fell down backwards not to the side and it is more logical for him to fall backwards than to the side.
Correction: Harry has a Hogwarts tie on like everyone else before the sorting. The Gryffindor tie has more color to it than the ones that all first year students are wearing.