I guess mainly for nostalgic reasons, Chamber of Secrets is probably my favourite film out of the eight. But also this is when things start getting darker. I mean snake talk and a blood on the walls kind of spices things up from wizards in pointy hats and magical creatures. Also we get the first real look into the whole prejudice against Muggle borns which is a huge theme throughout the series.
Like i’ve mentioned, the first two films reflect the novels almost entirely minus the cinematic drama so there isn’t so much to say about its differences. I came to the realisation that in the HBO series, they’ll have to add bits and pieces just in nature of it being on screen as they did with the films but if they could just keep it as true to the original as possible, I think the fans will be most appreciative.
The shrunken heads that appear in the Knight Bus scene in the third film are actually mentioned first in Chamber when Harry ends up in Knockturn Alley. As a kid, the scariest part for me was always the hand grabbing Harry’s in Borgin & Burkes. Gotta love the suspense. There’re a couple deleted scenes/parts from the books with the Malfoy’s in this shop that never make it in the films.
What I think they could have kept from the novel though, was learning that Filch is a Squib. For those who don’t know, a Squib is basically the opposite of a Muggle-born. Someone who grew up in a wizarding family and in the wizarding world but with no magical powers. First of all – brilliant. JK amazes me once again. Second of all, I think that’s some crucial information. Malfoy does call Filch “a filthy Squib” in the 6th film I believe, when he’s caught “crashing Prof. Slughorn’s Slug Club” but because it just sounds like any old insult, it’d just go passed people’s heads. It explains so much why he is always grumpy and hates the students. There was a little scene about this that they cut in Chamber.
WHICH REMINDS ME – I am DYING for a director’s cut. We got it with LOTR. It’s time for a HP one. I’ve seen all the deleted scenes in the special features from my 2-disc DVD case so I know there’s enough for at at least an extra 30 mins, and that probably goes for all the other films too.
Back to the shrunken heads… As much as people don’t like the third film (and for good reason), I do have to admit that the Spanish director they changed to picked up on a lot of creative ideas that I just don’t think any of the ordinary western directors would have but i’ll talk about that more when I debrief after finishing Prisoner again.
There are a lot of characters that are don’t exist in the films until later on that I am interested to see in the series. Like Katie Bell, Lavender Brown, etc. I mean as well as the ones who don’t get put in at all but for those specific characters that come in later because they have no real importance until their little cameo in the later films, there is no reason for them to be casted until that moment. So lucky for whichever actors get to be apart of the blockbuster series, although they may only be in passing, they will be part of the world from the beginning.
Tricky thing, the film and TV industry though. At the end of the day, actors are human beings with real lives and unfortunately you just can’t have the same reliability as a book. Your imagination isn’t going anywhere. But like in the films, your Dumbledore could die and will need to be replaced. So for something with as big of a commitment as a multi-series, I am worried. I do not want another repeat of Fantastic Beasts and all future prospects to just shatter to pieces.
I’ve thought about the replacement for our first Dumbledore (rip) and how I always hated not only how different they were but how much Richard Harris did not exactly match the book description, and I’m over it. Am I not the one who boasts about how the films and novels couldn’t be compared as they are both two seperate works? So you know what, why not have a different interpretation of our beloved character. At least when can reconcile this in the future series… hopefully.
The OG Dumbledore nailed the perception of the character and stayed true to the books and unfortunately the Mr Harris didn’t even bother to read the books (which he mentioned in an interview and this will always stab at my heart) so he couldn’t have possibly got all the little specks of delight from the character that we fell in love with. Like the weight of the world resting so heavily on him, his whimsical persona masks it or being the most knowledgeable wizard alive and yet the most humble. But alas, the films are the films and the books and the books and i’m sure thats what Sir Richard St John Harris thought when he jumped on board. And the films are always going to have to be more dramatic so I guess he nailed that. I am just trusting/hoping that if JK is in charge of most decisions for HBO then we have nothing to be worried about.
There was ONE part in this film that ALWAYS bothered me and its such a minute detail its probably not even worth mentioning but because it is such a minute detail, it also would have taken less than 20 seconds difference, so it could have been done. After Hermione is petrified and Quiddich is cancelled, professor McGonagall takes out a rolled up parchment up at the Gryffindor common room and reads out the new rules. In the book, she reads out a number of different things that have changed like students needing to be escorted to bathrooms and classes, curfew, no Quiddich training or games, etc; creating a really dramatic effect on the scene. A serious thing has just happened and the length in which the school has gone to, making sure no other students get hurt is paramount. Then in the film, she reads out two rules and “no exceptions”. I just ask for a little more weight to the scene. She didn’t exactly need a roll of parchment to read that out, I’m sure she would’ve remembered a curfew and chaperone. Anyway… not that big of a deal but my mind can sit as ease after the series makes it right hah.
I think one of the best parts of Chamber would have to be our introduction Gilderoy Lockhart. Gosh she knows how to make a character interesting. I don’t know if it’s because of Kenneth Branagh’s interpretation of the actor which has influenced my reading of him but I am always giggling in the scenes he’s in. This dramatic, flamboyant, compulsive liar that everyone rolls their eye’s at. Just brilliant. She has such a great sense of humour.
Now another thing that the movies nailed over the books was last scene with Tom Riddle in the Chamber. They did tweak what the statues along the tunnel look like but I think they did a better job than what was described or at least what I had interpreted. I’d be curious to see the HBO version. Which I keep mentioning only because I am under the impression that JK is calling the shots so if thats the case, then we can see what the true product of the original idea is from her mind to our screens. But as this is the final scene in the movie, you just can’t get the scorching sound of the basilisk or Fawkes’ cries from reading lines and Harry running from the blinded serpent through the wet and dirty tunnels. Gotta love a director’s vision…
Disc 2
So I chucked in the second disc of the two-disc feature for a trip down memory lane and I forgot how much I loved this part. There are a bunch of activities that my sister and I would play on the T.V. Theres the deleted scenes and interviews behind the scenes. In one of them, Jo and Steve talk about how Steve wants to write or take out certain parts and Jo goes “no because that will be relevant in book 6”, mind you only the first 4 had come out at this point. She is just amazing. I froth over her creativity and imagination. I hope one day I can write something with an eighth of talent and skill as she. The depth they speak of behind the characters is just phenomenal. There’s so much to it and there’s a reason why its such an attractive story. There are so many layers to it, we don’t realise.
Things I’d love to ask JKR
- Is the movie’s Moaning Myrtle how you imagined the original character’s?
- Did you like the final scene in the chamber and how they made the statue a face instead of a full body?
- Are there other wizards in history between Slytherin and Voldemort that csn speak Parseltongue/are there any other bloodlines that have that gift?
A quote from Prof. D once again to end this love letter to Chamber of Secrets –
“It is not our abilities that show who we truly are, it is our choices”.
And please someone, make a director’s cut for us to watch!!
