HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE

UK, 2001, 152 minutes, Colour.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Fiona Shaw, Richard Griffiths, Ian Hart, Verne Troyer, John Hurt, Alan Rickman, Julie Walters, Tom Felton, Leslie Phillips, David Bradley, Zoe Wanamaker, Warwick Davis, Elizabeth Spriggs.
Directed by Chris Columbus.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor Mc Gonagall, of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with the help of the giant, Hagrid, leave baby Harry Potter with his uncle and aunt. On his eleventh birthday, Hagrid returns with the announcement that he is to be a student at Hogwarts and to take him shopping to obtain everything he needs for his studies. His uncle and aunt, and their selfish son, Dudley, have been cruel to Harry, knowing that he was the son of wizards. They try to prevent him going.

Harry takes the train to Hogwart from platform 9 3/4 befriending Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger on the journey. They are all appointed to the same house, Gryffindore. Hogswart is a magical building with shifting staircases, secret rooms and surrounded by a forbidding dark forest. Harry find his name is well-known. With a scar on his forehead from the villainous Voldemort, he is someone marked to win the struggle between good and evil.

Harry has the confidence of the professors, though he is suspicious of the Professor of potions, Snape, the governor of the rival house of Slytherin. When a troll is let loose in the school, Harry and his friends overcome it. Harry sees suspicious blood on Snape's hand. During the Quidditch match (a sport played flying on broomsticks), Snape appears to be casting a spell on Harry. Hermione lights a fire under him. Harry is freed and wins the game.

The children find a huge three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor. Hagrid unwittingly reveals that the dog is guarding the Philosopher's Stone which has alchemical powers and can renew the strength of those who possess it. They believe that Voldemort is using Snape to get it.

The three find the dog lulled by harp music so they are able to enter the trapdoor. However, they have to pass through a number of obstacles, the main one being a game of chess with giant and deadly pieces. Ron is prepared to lose the game so that Harry can go on to obtain the stone. Instead of Snape, Harry finds the quiet and stammering Professor Quirrell who is working for Voldemort and who is taken over by him. At graduation, it appears that Slytherin House has won the annual competition. Professor Dumbledore gives the three extra points to Harry, Ron and Hermione and Gryffendore wins. The students all go on their annual holiday.

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels have sold over 100,000,000 worldwide. They have encouraged many children to read who would otherwise be reluctant. Miss Rowling retained tight control over the making of the movie and acted as a consultant. She stated that she was very happy with this movie version of the first of the novels.

A movie is an interpretation of the novel, not the novel itself. Worldwide audiences have found this a very enjoyable tale, imaginatively designed, with exciting special effects and fine performances all round.

Both the novels and the movie have been the centre of an enormous amount of hype, most positive, some negative. Some parents and teachers were worried about children reading books which were about magic. What we need to remember is that for the last few centuries, tales for children have taken us, not so much into a literal world of magic, but rather into a world of imagination, 'What if…?'. Since the stories, each in their own way, are about good versus evil, then they are full of all kinds of ogres, giants, goblins and witches which bear very little relationship to the real world. We enjoy fantasy: favourites like the tales of the Frenchman, Perrault, with Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, the Danish Hans Christian Andersen, the German Brothers Grimm. The Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland? And, in the 20th century, audiences enjoyed the witch in Snow White as well as the Wicked Witch of the West and the Wizard of Oz. And Mary Poppins, Cruella de Ville and Shrek…

Right from the start, we are assured that this is a story of a struggle between good and evil. Harry is a gentlemanly hero, a well-spoken and well-mannered 11 year old, excellently acted by Daniel Radcliffe. Rupert Grint as Harry's rather more ordinary and awkward (but also heroic) classmate, Ron Weasley is a great scene-stealer. Emma Watson is a very prim as Hermione, but she learns to take life more lightly. The film is definitely the children’s.

The British cast principally portray, the staff at Hogwarts School (which is very reminiscent of old-style, strict boarding schools). The school has a curriculum for training in magic, from potions (with the sinister-sounding Alan Rickman) to broom-flying (with Zoe Wanamaker). Richard Harris is in charge with Maggie Smith, second in command. Robbie Coltrane is hugely (literally!) entertaining as Hagrid. The adults don't try to take over the film.

The director and writer deserve praise. Both are Americans but have preserved a very English atmosphere that J.K.Rowling wanted. Chris Columbus wrote the screenplays for Gremlins and The Goonies and directed Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire, so he has had experience working with fantasy and with children. Steve Kloves continues to work on further Harry Potter screenplay. Fans of the book think that he has got to the heart of the novel in his adaptation.

1.The popularity of J.K. Rowlings’ writings? The characters? Plots? Imagination? Their being transferred to the screen? The locations, the performances, the visuals, the special effects? Action? Editing and pace? Musical score? The adaptation from the novels?

2.The opening with Privet Drive, Dumbledore and Professor Mc Gonagall, their rescuing the baby Harry? Announcing his future? The prophecy style? Giving him to his uncle?

3.The family, Dudley, his being spoilt, his birthday, going to the zoo? Harry and his place in the family? The looked-down-on orphan? Dudley and his playing tricks? The aunt and uncle and their favouritism? The zoo, the snake, Harry’s magic, Dudley trapped? Harry becoming aware of his powers? The owls, the delivering of the letters, the uncle tearing them up? Swamped with letters?

4.Hagrid, his appearance, voice, arrival, talking with the aunt and uncle, his explanations to Harry, taking him? The magic for the family – and Dudley’s pigtail? Hagrid and the question of Voldemort? Mentioning him? Preparing the audience for the struggle with Voldemort?

5.Going to the city, the street, the shops, meeting Professor Quirrell – and the irony of what was to happen? The purchases, the elf, going to the vault, the stone? Needing the wand? Riding in the underground?

6.The shop with the wands, the attendant, the testing out of the various wands? Harry and the memory of his parents? Everybody speaking well of his parents? His having no memories – but the scar on his forehead? And a reputation?

7.The railway station, platform 9¾, Harry’s puzzle, seeing the Weasley family and their entering? Harry getting into the station, in the train, meeting Ron? Buying everything on the trolley and enjoying it? Hermione, her arrival, superior attitudes, her knowledge of spells? The arrival at Hogswart? Hagrid, the boats to Hogswart?

8.The arrival, Professor Mc Gonagall and her greeting the students, the first years, the rules? The three – and the meeting with Draco Malfoy? The competitive nature of the houses, the points, the penalties? Draco and his arrogance? Harry reading him well, not shaking his hands, into the refectory, the sky ceiling? Dumbledore and the notices – especially the out of bounds? The boarding school atmosphere, the caretaker? The comedy of the Sorting Hat? The various houses? The elaborate feast? Sir Nicholas and his being a ghost, the other ghosts, Hermione challenging him about being headless? The staircases and the changes? The pictures and the characters moving within them?

9.The brief introduction to the professors, to Professor Snape, to Quirrell, to the Professor of Quidditch?

10.The students, the common room, the dormitories, Harry and Ron late for classes, Hermione on time? Professor Mc Gonagall as a cat? Snape, Alan Rickman and his style, the potions? Hermione always having her hand up to answer questions? Harry and his not knowing the answers? The owls and the delivery of the mail, the newspaper and its moving photos? The flying class, saying ‘Up’, Longbottom and the flying accidents? Harry being chosen as a seeker? The competition with Malfoy versus Potter? Harry and his success?

11.The third floor, the steps, the three running, the opening of the door, the caretaker seeming sinister? The three-headed dog on the trapdoor? Their fright?

12.The Quidditch, the chasers, the keepers, the seekers, the beaters? Wood and his explanations of the game? The Snitch? The playing of the game? Harry and his success, acclaim?

13.Swish and Flick with the wands, the feather, the boy with the destructive spells? Quirrell and the news of the troll in the dungeon? Hermione, the attack, the troll taking her, the spell? The troll falling? The points – and Snape being under suspicion?

14.Hagrid, his explanation of the dogs, Ron and the chess game, the Christmas atmosphere, the gift of the invisibility cloak? His father’s? Concealed in the library, the caretaker searching for him, Snape and his meeting with Quirrell, the ambiguities, Harry’s wrong interpretation? Harry and his wandering, the mirror and his seeing his parents? Dumbledore explaining the mirror? Ron and his vision of success as the house captain?

15.The philosopher’s stone, Hermione reading the book, the explanations, going to Hagrid? Hagrid regretting the information that he often gave? The dragon’s egg, Norbert the baby dragon? Sent to Romania? Malfoy reporting them, Professor Mc Gonagall and their all going to detention? Going to the forest, the caretaker talking about the scares in the forest?

16.Harry and Draco together, Draco running from fear, the dead unicorn, Voldemort and his appearance? The centaur saving Harry? The background of Voldemort and Dumbledore? The stranger with the dragon – Voldemort? Dumbledore’s absence? The children going to trapdoor, Hermione and the spell, Neville and his attempts, the dogs, falling into the trap, the snakes, relaxing, the flying creatures and their pursuit, Harry on the broom, getting the key, the huge chessboard, Ron and his playing, the pieces being smashed, Ron willing to sacrifice himself? Hermione’s speech, Ron and the check, Harry and the mate? Harry going on? The revelation of Quirrell as villain, his explanations, seeing himself in the mirror, Quirrell and Voldemort? The explanation, the stone? His attempt to tempt Harry, no good or evil? Trying to strangle Harry, the burning hands, the head? Voldemort leaving?

17.Harry in hospital, Dumbledore’s visit, the destruction of the stone, Dumbledore saying the mark from his mother’s sacrifice was love in Harry?

18.The finale for the year, the house competition, the points, announcing – the extra points for the three? Success? Malfoy’s disgust?

19.At the station, the goodbye to Hagrid, the album of photos, and Hagrid’s humorous threat to Dudley?

20.The end of this film in itself – and the transition to the sequel?