Revisiting Movies

Revisiting: “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002)…

What major and minor subplots didn’t make it into the movie?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), an adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s 1998 novel of the same title, is one of the best instalments in the Wizarding World franchise.

While Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is considered a faithful book-to-movie adaptation, noting significant differences between the movie and Rowling’s novel, there are hopes that the HBO series will be more accurate. It can’t be any less accurate.

With his second and final Wizarding World franchise instalment, possibly because of timing, Chris Columbus left several major subplots out. Many fans wanted to see a more faithful adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets hit the big screen.

The Weasley residence is a fan favorite. In Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second novel in the literary series, there are references “de-gnoming” the garden. You must admit “de-gnoming” the garden sounds like a lot of fun.

The Weasley siblings spin the annoying garden gnomes around. This action makes the garden gnomes dizzy. Before they know it, possibly enjoying it greatly, the siblings toss the garden gnomes over the hedge. There is no reference to “de-gnoming” the garden in the movie. It is skipped entirely.

Knockturn Alley, introduced to us in the second novel, isn’t exactly a friendly place. It is where you’ll find Borgin and Burkes. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), accidentally placing himself in danger, arrives in Borgin and Burkes via the use of Floo Powder shortly before Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) and Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) make their presence felt.

Harry, needing somewhere to hide, makes use of a vanishing cabinet. This is where Harry overhears Mr. Malfoy selling illegal dark artifacts to the shopkeeper. While the existence of vanishing cabinets isn’t significant to what unfolds in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, a few years later, the cabinet makes a reappearance.

The movie version of the same scene differs greatly from what we read in the novel. Harry, close to being caught, hides inside a large skeletal box rather than a vanishing cabinet. The use of a vanishing cabinet would have given moviegoers a link between the second movie and future instalments. Streamlining the narrative might have been the goal.

In the movie, tense being an understatement, there is a verbal confrontation between Mr. Malfoy and Arthur Weasley (Mark Williams). The confrontation wasn’t anything like what unfolded in the novel.

While the confrontation is tense, on screen, it remains verbal. The confrontation in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, far more physical, sees Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley engage in a somewhat chaotic fistfight. I think the fistfight might have been more entertaining.

While it is Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) who repairs Harry’s glasses in the movie adaptation, in a slight minor difference, readers will recall Mr. Weasley mending said glasses. In the first two movies, as I recall, Hermione uses the same spell to accomplish the task.

There is no reference in the movie to Argus Filch (David Bradley) being a Squib. The subplot is completely cut from the adaptation.

In Rowling’s novel, omitted from the movie adaptation, Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday Party is the lead-up to Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) encountering the petrified Mrs. Norris.

Harry, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) skip the Halloween feast and attend Nearly Headless Nick’s party. They celebrate the 500th anniversary of Nick’s death.

New dots needed to be connected. Steve Kloves, the writer responsible for adapting Rowling’s novel, gave us a plausible reason for Harry being in the corridor where Mrs. Norris was discovered petrified.

All the professors, except for Professor Binns, referenced in the source material appear in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. You will likely know, if you’ve read Rowling’s novels, that Professor Binns is the ghost who teaches History of Magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

From a historical perspective, since he knows more about the History of Magic than his colleagues, Professor Binns tells pupils about the Chamber of Secrets. In the adaptation, rather than Professor Binns, Professor Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) explains the legend.

Details, as the story unfolds, matter. This rule even applies to the smallest of details. Hermione, in Rowling’s novel, breaks into Professor Severus Snape’s (Alan Rickman) office. This is how she obtains the Polyjuice Potion ingredients. The movie narrative skips this particular detail with a metaphorical wave of the hand.

Another party that didn’t make it to the big screen, possibly one of the most comedic elements of Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is the Valentine’s Day Party hosted by the incompetently self-obsessed Professor Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh).

It would have been fun to see costumed grumpy dwarves deliver singing Valentines to Howart’s pupils. One of the pupils to receive a singing Valentine is Harry. In front of everyone, not that it could be any more embarrassing, Harry receives a musical message from Ginny.

We all remember how, in the movie, Hermione explodes a rogue bludger with her wand. This is a fairly exciting scene. It is far more exciting than what unfolds in the novel. Fred Weasley (James Phelps) and George Weasley (Oliver Phelps) trap the rogue bludger in a box.

Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), in Rowling’s novel, comes very close to confessing everything. Ginny, frantic being the understatement of the year, tries to tell Harry and Ron about Tom Riddle’s diary at breakfast. Percy Weasley (Chris Rankin), his usual self-important self, interrupts the conversation. Ginny’s anxiety over the diary is completely omitted from the adaptation.

The novel reveals that Percy has a secret girlfriend named Penelope Clearwater. Hermione and Penelope are discovered petrified. Penelope, in the movie, isn’t in the scene. Hermione is alone.

Referencing her secret relationship with Percy, further, there is no mention of this romantic entanglement in the movie. It is completely removed from the screenplay.

The basilisk, rather than reflecting what is mentioned in the novel, is scaled up in size for the adaptation. The visual is impressive. Massive is an understatement.

The final battle finds Harry, on top of the statue, standing his ground for a brief fight. That is how it plays out in the novel. The movie version, slightly different, features a significantly longer sequence that incorporates a chase through the plumbing pipes.

There is a fairly fun scene towards the end of the movie where Harry helps Dobby become free. Dobby had been serving the Malfoy family. Harry, in the movie adaptation, stuffs a clean sock into Tom Riddle’s diary before giving it to Mr. Malfoy.

Mr. Malfoy, not interested in carrying the diary himself, passes the book to Dobby. Dobby discovers the sock. This doesn’t please Mr. Malfoy. Because of the sock, seeing how a gift of clothing frees a house elf, Dobby is no longer beholden to the Malfoy family. It’s a bloodstained sock in the novel.

The movie, directed by Columbus, was highly successful. Massively successful is really a more accurate fit. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, making $878 million worldwide, was the second-highest-grossing film of 2002.