Howards End

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Picture and Sound Quality on 2005 Release
Review: I've been waiting for some time for this film to be back in print (I was almost at the point of buying a used copy of the Columbia/Tristar release when I saw it was about to be released by Home Vision Entertainment). The writing, acting, and production of the film are all amazing, have been thoroughly covered by other reviewers, so I'll keep my comments on the picture and audio quality of this DVD set. I've only watched the feature film (and not the second DVD filled with extras), and I'm impressed with the quality of the video and sound transfers on the disc. I can't compare the video transfer of this release directly to the previous release of "Howards End," but I can say that this release looks much better (contrast seems better balanced and the picture seems sharper) than another Merchant/Ivory production released by Columbia/Tristar ("Remains of the Day"). The sound transfer is also very good, although I only listened to the stereo mix.

Rating:
Summary: Pathetic!
Review: If you like watching a continuous downhill slide, this is the movie for you. The central characters are a bunch of pathetic, utterly passive and helpless victims who you know from the first moment are going to get screwed, and that is what you end up watching for the next 2 hours. Sure there's wonderful cinematography and acting, but the story and characters themselves are simply nauseating!

Rating:
Summary: Superb adaptation of Forster's masterpiece.
Review: Most of us connect the notion of "home" or "childhood home" with one particular place, that innocent paradise we have since had to give up and keep searching for forever after. In Ruth Wilcox's world, Howards End is that place; the countryside house where she was born, where her family often returns to spend their vacations, and which, everyone assumes, will pass on to her children when she is dead.

And it is through Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave)'s eyes that we first see Howards End; approaching the house after an evening walk through her beloved meadow, her long dress trailing in the grass, as she goes nearer, we see the open windows letting out warm light from inside, and hear the voices and laughter from the family's dinner table. And while Mrs. Wilcox returns to join her family's company, two others are leaving the house and its serene world: Helen Schlegel (Helena Bonham Carter) and Paul Wilcox, embarking on a passionate romance which is not even to survive the next morning - not before, however, Helen has informed her sister Margaret (Emma Thompson) that she and Paul are "in love," and thus set in motion the first of a series of confusing and controversial meetings between their families.

While both families belong to the middle class, they are nevertheless separated by several layers of society and politics - the Wilcox, led by pater familias/businessman Henry (Anthony Hopkins), rich, conservative and without any sympathy whatsoever for those less fortunate than themselves ("It's all part of the battle of life ... The poor are poor; one is sorry for them, but there it is," Henry Wilcox once comments); the Schlegels, on the other hand, with just enough income to lead a comfortable life, brought up by their Aunt Juley (Prunella Scales), supporting suffrage (women's right to vote) and surrounding themselves with actors, "blue-stockings" (feminists), intellectuals and other members of the avantgarde. Further complexity is added when Helen brings to the Schlegel home Leonard Bast (Samuel West), a poor but idealistic young clerk who loves music, literature and astronomy - and with him, his working class wife Jacky (Nicola Duffett), the embarrassment of having to interact with her, and the even more embarrassing revelation she has in store for Henry Wilcox; eventually leaving her disillusioned husband to comment that "books aren't real," and that in fact they and music "are for the rich so they don't feel bad after dinner."

E.M. Forster's novel on which this movie is based is a masterpiece of social study and character study alike; with empathy and a fine eye for detail, Forster brings his protagonists and their environment to life, and James Ivory matches his accomplishment in this screen realization, finding the perfect cast and production design (Luciana Arrighi) to reproduce the novel's Edwardian society; although he superstitiously declined the offer to film at Forster's boyhood home Rooks Nest, the model for the fictional Howards End. The movie brings together many of Britain's best-known actors, all trained in the English school which, as Anthony Hopkins once explained, unlike Lee Strasberg's Method Acting, is primarily based on restraint: there are no outbursts of emotion, self-control reigns supreme, and even a simple word like "yes" is reduced even further to "hmm," leaving it to the actor's intonation alone to convey the word's (or sound's) deeper meaning in a given context. And yet, vocal intonation, looks and little gestures often speak louder than dramatic actions ever could, and they are as essential to the movie's sense of authenticity as are production design, cinematography (Tony Pierce-Roberts), soundtrack (Richard Robbins) and the selection of the movie's non-scored music: excerpts from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, a favorite with the "educated" Edwardian middle class, and pieces by period composers Andre Derain and Percy Grainger.

The story centers around Margaret (Meg) Schlegel, who is "filled with ... a profound vivacity, a continual and sincere response to all that she encounter[s] in her path through life," as Forster described her, and portrayed to perfection by Emma Thompson. Meg's friendship with Ruth Wilcox brings the families back together after Helen's near-scandalous episode with Paul; and the two women become so close that Ruth eventually decides to give Meg "something worth [her] friendship" - none other than Howards End, a wish that has her panicking family scramble ungentlemanly for every reason in the book to invalidate the codicil setting forth that bestowal, from its lacking date and signature to the testatrix's state of mind, the ambiguity of the writing's content, the question why Meg should want the house in the first place since she already has one, and the fact that the writing is only in pencil, which "never counts," as Dolly, wife of the Wilcox' elder son Charles is quick to point out, only to be reprimanded by her father in law "from out of his fortress" (Forster) not to "interfere with what you do not understand." And so it is that Meg will only see the house (and be instantly mistaken for Ruth because she has "her way of walking around the house," as the housekeeper explains) when she and her siblings have to look for a new home and Henry Wilcox, who has started to court her after Ruth's death, suggests that the Schlegel's furniture be temporarily stored there - a fateful decision. And while Meg and Henry slowly and painfully learn to adjust to each other, the complexity of their families' relations, and their interactions with the Basts, finally come crashing down on them in a dramatic conclusion.

Howards End deservedly won 1992's Academy Awards for Best Actress (Thompson), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction; and it was also nominated in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Redgrave), Best Original Score, Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design categories. Unfortunately, its subtle tones have recently been muted somewhat by the louder sounds now filling movie theaters. I for one, however, will take this sublime movie over any summer action flick anytime.

Rating:
Summary: Superb adaptation of Forster's masterpiece.
Review: Most of us connect the notion of "home" or "childhood home" with one particular place, that innocent paradise we have since had to give up and keep searching for forever after. In Ruth Wilcox's world, Howards End is that place; the countryside house where she was born, where her family often returns to spend their vacations, and which, everyone assumes, will pass on to her children when she is dead.

And it is through Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave)'s eyes that we first see Howards End; approaching the house after an evening walk through her beloved meadow, her long dress trailing in the grass, as she goes nearer, we see the open windows letting out warm light from inside, and hear the voices and laughter from the family's dinner table. And while Mrs. Wilcox returns to join her family's company, two others are leaving the house and its serene world: Helen Schlegel (Helena Bonham Carter) and Paul Wilcox, embarking on a passionate romance which is not even to survive the next morning - not before, however, Helen has informed her sister Margaret (Emma Thompson) that she and Paul are "in love," and thus set in motion the first of a series of confusing and controversial meetings between their families.

While both families belong to the middle class, they are nevertheless separated by several layers of society and politics - the Wilcox, led by pater familias/businessman Henry (Anthony Hopkins), rich, conservative and without any sympathy whatsoever for those less fortunate than themselves ("It's all part of the battle of life ... The poor are poor; one is sorry for them, but there it is," Henry Wilcox once comments); the Schlegels, on the other hand, with just enough income to lead a comfortable life, brought up by their Aunt Juley (Prunella Scales), supporting suffrage (women's right to vote) and surrounding themselves with actors, "blue-stockings" (feminists), intellectuals and other members of the avantgarde. Further complexity is added when Helen brings to the Schlegel home Leonard Bast (Samuel West), a poor but idealistic young clerk who loves music, literature and astronomy - and with him, his working class wife Jacky (Nicola Duffett), the embarrassment of having to interact with her, and the even more embarrassing revelation she has in store for Henry Wilcox; eventually leaving her disillusioned husband to comment that "books aren't real," and that in fact they and music "are for the rich so they don't feel bad after dinner."

E.M. Forster's novel on which this movie is based is a masterpiece of social study and character study alike; with empathy and a fine eye for detail, Forster brings his protagonists and their environment to life, and James Ivory matches his accomplishment in this screen realization, finding the perfect cast and production design (Luciana Arrighi) to reproduce the novel's Edwardian society; although he superstitiously declined the offer to film at Forster's boyhood home Rooks Nest, the model for the fictional Howards End. The movie brings together many of Britain's best-known actors, all trained in the English school which, as Anthony Hopkins once explained, unlike Lee Strasberg's Method Acting, is primarily based on restraint: there are no outbursts of emotion, self-control reigns supreme, and even a simple word like "yes" is reduced even further to "hmm," leaving it to the actor's intonation alone to convey the word's (or sound's) deeper meaning in a given context. And yet, vocal intonation, looks and little gestures often speak louder than dramatic actions ever could, and they are as essential to the movie's sense of authenticity as are production design, cinematography (Tony Pierce-Roberts), soundtrack (Richard Robbins) and the selection of the movie's non-scored music: excerpts from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, a favorite with the "educated" Edwardian middle class, and pieces by period composers Andre Derain and Percy Grainger.

The story centers around Margaret (Meg) Schlegel, who is "filled with ... a profound vivacity, a continual and sincere response to all that she encounter[s] in her path through life," as Forster described her, and portrayed to perfection by Emma Thompson. Meg's friendship with Ruth Wilcox brings the families back together after Helen's near-scandalous episode with Paul; and the two women become so close that Ruth eventually decides to give Meg "something worth [her] friendship" - none other than Howards End, a wish that has her panicking family scramble ungentlemanly for every reason in the book to invalidate the codicil setting forth that bestowal, from its lacking date and signature to the testatrix's state of mind, the ambiguity of the writing's content, the question why Meg should want the house in the first place since she already has one, and the fact that the writing is only in pencil, which "never counts," as Dolly, wife of the Wilcox' elder son Charles is quick to point out, only to be reprimanded by her father in law "from out of his fortress" (Forster) not to "interfere with what you do not understand." And so it is that Meg will only see the house (and be instantly mistaken for Ruth because she has "her way of walking around the house," as the housekeeper explains) when she and her siblings have to look for a new home and Henry Wilcox, who has started to court her after Ruth's death, suggests that the Schlegel's furniture be temporarily stored there - a fateful decision. And while Meg and Henry slowly and painfully learn to adjust to each other, the complexity of their families' relations, and their interactions with the Basts, finally come crashing down on them in a dramatic conclusion.

Howards End deservedly won 1992's Academy Awards for Best Actress (Thompson), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction; and it was also nominated in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Redgrave), Best Original Score, Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design categories. Unfortunately, its subtle tones have recently been muted somewhat by the louder sounds now filling movie theaters. I for one, however, will take this sublime movie over any summer action flick anytime.

Rating:
Summary: Problems
Review: Send a DVD that is not viewable in Canada despite shipping the product to Canada. Has not provided a refund since the DVD was returned over a month ago. Overall very unsatisfactory and unreliable.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, poignant, and visually stunning
Review: The DVD edition at last does visual justice to this film, one of the great films in English of the last twenty years. James Ivory's painterly eye can be appreciated only in the widescreen format: one can see details here (and hear the rich layers of the soundtrack) that have been absent for years in the VHS version. This film will remind you why you invested in a DVD player and why Merchant-Ivory has become synonymous with the period film. Subtle, inspired, and moving.

Rating:
Summary: END OF ROMANTICISM
Review: The feeling that has overwhelmed me at the end of HOWARDS END is disillusion. This movie convinces you that dreams never come true and that humans are incredibly gifted to destroy the little parcels of happiness that life can provide to some of them. James Ivory's treatment of the novel of Forster is a model of the genre, the psychology of the characters is so well depicted that you are able to guess what thoughts cross their minds when they don't talk.

HOWARDS END is the picture of a world that collapses, the world of the european XIXth century, a period during which the intellectuals have for a moment believed that their ideals would change the future of this continent. But industrial progress and colonialism have killed their hope and as says Anthony Hopkins in this movie : " Poor will stay poor. It's sad but it's like that ".

So HOWARDS END analyzes the reactions of a small group of people facing this situation ; some of them won't care, the others will be intimately marked for the rest of their lives. Only Howards End, the house where all the dramas begin and end , will stay untouched. For how long ?

Performances to be remembered from the entire cast. Three trailers (Howards End, Sense and Sensibility and another James Ivory's classic, the remains of the day). Some problems with video and audio now and then.

A DVD for your library.

Rating:
Summary: Lush, Romantic Merchant-Ivory Period Film Making
Review: The filmmaking duo of Merchant-Ivory score yet again with this wonderful rendition of the E. M. Forster novel. There are many ideas that flow smoothly throughout the film: how fate has a way of catching up; how what is meant to be will be; how one can pay for the consequences of one's acts in totally unimagined ways. But beyond being a thought provoking film, this film also succeeds at every level as just a film. The absolute top acting talent is used for every role, with Emma Thompson deservedly winning the Oscar for hers. Anthony Hopkins renders the British capitalist of this time period flawlessly. His best line is, "The poor are poor because they are and there you have it." This is said in dismissing the plight of a young man to whom he gave the wrong advice. The opening scenes with Vanessa Redgrave and Emma Thompson showcase two different generations of English acting powerhouses on stage and screen. They are a delight to watch together. The costumes are out of this world and were obviously well researched and made to conform to every detail of the period. The same is done with the settings both in London and the country so that you feel as if you are back in that era yourself.

Rating:
Summary: MERCHANT-IVORY TREAT
Review: This exquisitely crafted movie boasts wonderful performances, a rich, compelling story, and subtle humor throughout. Based on E.M Forster's story of fate, it follows two upper-middle-class British sisters and their wealthier neightbors -- the Wilcox family, headed by Anthony Hopkins, as they all move closer to an impossibly gorgeous country home called Howard's End. Vanessa Redgrave, as Hopkins' first wife, is, via her magnetic performance, the centrifugal force of the movie, though her character only appears in the first third. Emma Thompson exudes a warm empathy; her scenes with Hopkins ring of truth, and are layered with delicate humor and the social style of the day. Many scenes are truly fragrant with the bloom of a million British flowers, and Howard's End itself emerges as a character in and of itself, as you watch, with increasing interest, the flawed, loving people who inhabit this story discover that home is where the heart is.

Rating:
Summary: One will lament the end of Howards End
Review: This film is remarkable on so many planes, that I find it an imposing task to outline this film and my regard for it - for it is one of the most memorable and achingly gorgeous films that I have ever had the pleasure of viewing.

Every character is sophisticated in the sense that the depth of their portrayal (from upper crust to crumb!) is so believable and absorbing that you feel as if you are not simply viewing, but participating in many of the sequences.

I loved this movie from the first moment I saw it, and each repeated viewing solidifies my fondness for it.

Emma Thompson shines - she brings a vibrance and humor to a character that could have fallen by the way-side if played by a less adept artist - to laud her would be redundant, but I do it all the same... wonderful!

The opulence of the era is vivdly, yet quietly captured, and the scenes of poverty are not simply glossed over as in other films of this genre - the disparity between the two worlds is balanced and projected very well, I think.

Jemma Redgrave gives a great performance - the brittle and disdainful character she plays is not simply a joke thrown into scenes to give them impact, but is an essential and insightful medium into the social/class distinctions of the time period - I enjoyed her very much.

Remarkable in so many ways, and equally difficult to articulate or classify (a comedy, drama, romance - ?)I recommend this film to everyone - you will truly lament the end of "Howards End".