Audio problem: When Tom Riddle confronts young Hagrid, the first time Riddle says, "Now, stand aside," Hagrid yells, "No!" but Hagrid's lips don't move. (01:32:25)
Continuity mistake: Hermione brews the Polyjuice potion, while she sits on the floor with her back to the sinks. When Ron says, "Lucius Malfoy must have opened it when he was at school here," Hermione sits close to the stone's edge on her right which is much closer to the pillar. As well as when Ron asks, "Why are we brewing this potion in broad daylight, in the middle of the girls' lavatory?" she sits closer to the pillar, at an angle. These differ from the other shots. (01:03:10)
Continuity mistake: When we see Harry writing in Tom Riddle's diary, as he writes, the feather end of his quill is pointing to the right. But when we see the three close ups of Harry's hand writing the words, "Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets? Can you tell me?" in the diary, the feather end of the quill is pointing towards Harry. (01:28:25)
Continuity mistake: When Errol is lying flat on his back on the table, in the close-up of Errol, Ron takes the Howler out of Errol's beak and the ribbon and seal on the Howler face away from Ron. In the next shot though, still in Ron's left hand as he lifts it, the ribbon and seal on the Howler now face Ron. (00:34:00)
Continuity mistake: When Lucius Malfoy charges into Dumbledore's study, in the overhead shot as he says, "So it's true. You have returned," the diary is visible and it barely has a shadow on the desk, yet in the next shot, a close-up of Dumbledore, the diary casts a long shadow. When Lucius leaves, Harry begins to ask, "Sir...," in the overhead shot, the diary sits at the top of Dumbledore's desk, yet in the next shot, a close-up of the diary, it sits close to the bottom. (02:21:35 - 02:24:00)
Continuity mistake: When the Cornish pixies are released, in the close-up, Harry knocks his books onto the floor, Hermione knocks down her quill together with the books, then stands and grips the top of her desk, etc. However in the next wide shot, Harry does NOT knock his books to the floor, Hermione's quill remains on the desk though her books are down on the ground already, she grips the side, not the top, of her desk, etc. (00:36:35)
Audio problem: When the boys sneak into the Weasley house, while Harry walks over to the clock, one of the other boys whispers, "Do you think it'd be alright if we had some of these?" meaning the biscuits on the table, to which another replies, "Yeah. Mum will never know." The problem is, none of the boys are mouthing any of these words. (00:11:05)
Continuity mistake: When Harry, Ron, Fred and George arrive at the Weasley house, first in the wide shot as one twin enters the doorway, then in the next close-up as the rest enter and third, just before Ron takes a biscuit, the amount and arrangement of the biscuits differs in each shot. (00:10:45)
Other mistake: From the direction the light comes from the Chamber, Harry would not have been able to see the shadow of Fawkes blinding the basilisk. (02:10:20)
Continuity mistake: In the Quidditch match that involves the tampered Bludger, just before he grabs the Snitch the Bludger hits his arm shattering the bone and making the arm guard fly off. For some reason the arm guard flew in the opposite direction from which the Bludger flew, which should be impossible. The Bludger came toward the screen, but the guard knocked away from the screen. (00:57:15)
Continuity mistake: Throughout the film, one of the young actors may have one or more pimples on their face, yet in the following shots which may take place only moments later, the pimples are gone, or visa versa. For example, when Hagrid joins Harry, Hermione and Ron outside when he overhears, "Mad and hairy...," Harry has one on his cheek. Neville tells them to rush to Harry's room. While Harry, whose own pimple has disappeared, searches the mess, the one on Ron's chin is visible, though it wasn't in the shot outside. Scenes are shot out of sequence, hence the erratic complexion continuity problem. (01:33:50 - 01:35:00)
Continuity mistake: When Harry says, "Tom. Tom Riddle," the shot faces Harry and Ginny, and Ginny's foot is parallel to the ground. In the next shot facing Riddle, Ginny's foot is perpendicular to the ground. When Harry asks, "Are you a ghost?" Ginny's foot is parallel. When Riddle says, "As poor Ginny grows weaker...," her foot is perpendicular to the ground once more and so forth. (02:04:50)
Continuity mistake: In Dumbledore's study, when Harry is handed Godric Gryffindor's sword, in the close-up the name written down the length of the sword is clean, with blood stains only below the name. Yet in the previous and following shots, the blood stains are much closer to the hilt of the sword where the name is. (02:20:50)
Continuity mistake: When Uncle Vernon pulls on Harry's ankle to stop him from escaping, Vernon's sleeve changes from being ridden up, to at his wrist and then back again in consecutive shots. The amount of pajama sleeve showing under his plaid robe sleeve changes too. (00:09:45)
Continuity mistake: When Lucius Malfoy tries to curse Harry, Dobby stands directly in front of Harry and says, "You shall not harm Harry Potter!" In the side shot of Lucius Malfoy being thrown, Harry is behind Dobby to his right and the grass with its shadow is visible. Though, in the next back shot Harry stands behind Dobby to his left and the grass is again visible, but with no shadow. (02:25:30)
Continuity mistake: When Ron is in the Weasley fireplace, in the first wide shot he starts to take floo powder pinched between the tips of his fingers, yet, in the next close-up he takes a huge palmful of floo powder in his fist. Then in the next wide shot, he has it pinched at the tips of his fingers, however, in the next close-up as he says, "Diagon Alley!" he has a fistful of floo powder yet again. (00:14:20)
Continuity mistake: When the car arrives at the Weasley's house, two white ducks are at a small pond, one in the water and one on the bank. From the overhead shot as the car lands, the grass directly around the pond is dry grass and the duck on the grass faces the house. In the next shot from the ground, the grass is very green and that duck faces the other way. (00:10:40)
Continuity mistake: At Harry's bedroom window, the curved dirt line on the windshield is visible when Ron says, "Let's go," in the close-up, as the Ford Anglia begins to turn. In the next two shots as they pull away, the dirt line is different. When Ron yells, "Come on Harry, hurry up," and Harry passes Hedwig to Ron the dirt line is the same as the first shot. This goes back and forth in the remaining shots at the Dursleys. (00:09:15)
Continuity mistake: While flying over the train, when Harry is climbing back into the flying car, he puts one leg inside. The shot changes and both legs are in the car and he's sitting down. (00:25:35)
Continuity mistake: After throwing Harry, Ron and everything else out of the car, Ron's door slams shut. In this close-up the gashes caused by the Whomping Willow are visible along the outside of the door. After the next overhead shot is another close-up of that door as the car speeds away. The gashes seen in this shot are completely different. (00:28:20)
Chosen answer: After Harry hands it to Lucius, Lucius hands it to Dobby to carry. After Dobby is freed by the hidden sock and protects Harry from Lucius, Lucius leaves it behind.
Greg Dwyer