Howards End

Theatrical Release Date: 1992 03 13 (USA)

UPC: 715515055314

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Adult Situations, Adult Language]

Summary: One of the best Ismail Merchant/James Ivory films, this adaptation of E. M. Forster's classic 1910 novel shows in careful detail the injuriously rigid British class consciousness of the early 20th century. The film's catalyst is "poor relation" Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson), who inherits part of the estate of Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave), an upper-class woman whom she had befriended. The film's principal characters are divided by caste: aristocratic industrial Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins); middle-echelon Margaret and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter); and working-class clerk Leonard Bast (Sam West) and his wife (Nicola Duffett). The personal and social conflicts among these characters ultimately result in tragedy for Bast and disgrace for Wilcox, but the film's wider theme remains the need, in the words of the novel's famous epigram, to "only connect" with other people, despite boundaries of gender, class, or petty grievance. Filmed on a proudly modest budget, Howards End offers sets, spectacles, and costumes as lavish as in any historical epic. Nominated for 9 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, the film took home awards for Thompson as Best Actress, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's adapted screenplay, and Luciana Arrighi's art direction. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: David Lean Award – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Cinematography – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Production Design – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Editing Award – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Costume Design – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Picture - Drama – null Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Director – null Best Screenplay – null Best Actress – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Special 45th Anniversary Prize – Cannes Film Festival Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Actress – National Board of Review Best Director – National Board of Review Best Foreign Film – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actress – National Society of Film Critics Best Cinematography – American Society of Cinematographers Best Actress – New York Film Critics Circle Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Actress – National Society of Film Critics

Features: Disc One

Original Theatrical Trailer

Disc 2

Appreciation of the late Ismail Merchant by Ivory

Building "Howards End," a Documentary Featuring Interviews with Ivory Merchant, Actress Helena Bonham Carter, Costume Designer Jenny Beavan, and Academy Award-Winning Production Designer Luciana Arrighi

The Design of "Howards End," a Detailed Look at the Costume and Production Designs for the Film, including Original Sketches

The Wandering Company, a Documentary about the History of Merchant Ivory Production

Original 1992 Behind the Scenes Featurette

Plus: A Booklet Featuring an Essay by Critic Kenneth Turan

Howards End

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 02/23/2010

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 142 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Howards End (The Film)
1. Opening Credits/"Dearest Meg" [5:52]
2. "Tell No One" [6:09]
3. Sublime Noise [6:00]
4. The Flat Opposite [8:09]
5. "Not In This World" [4:29]
6. Too Apt To Brood [7:36]
7. Not Cancelled, But Postponed [4:33]
8. Burned Wishes And Honey Air [6:07]
9. A Born Explorer [5:59]
10. Overexpressive [4:36]
11. A Pleasure And A Privilege [5:41]
12. "Do You Ever Get Lonely?" [2:39]
13. "The Poor Are Poor" [3:01]
14. Her Way Of Walking [5:05]
15. A Perverted Sense Of Philanthropy [5:18]
16. No Time Like The Present [6:20]
17. Far From A Saint [6:23]
18. When People Fail You [6:19]
19. "Who Is Who and What Is What" [6:18]
20. A Question Of Madness [5:42]
21. Forgiveness [6:20]
22. An Untimely Death [8:05]
23. The Following Summer [5:32]
24. "I Didn't Do Wrong, Did I?"/End Credits [5:45]
25. Color Bars [4:16]

Rebecca Flint Marx

Praised almost as often as its source, Ismail Merchant and James Ivory's version of E.M. Forster's best novel is also widely recognized as the most accomplished filmization of Forster's work. Like Merchant/Ivory's other Forster adaptations, Howards End is saturated with petticoats, stiff upper lips, suffocating class consciousness, and enough repressed longing to blow a hole through Buckingham Palace. But strip away the tasteful facade, and what remains is a bracing critique of the English class system. The film's Oscar-winning script, by frequent Merchant/Ivory collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, is largely faithful to Forster's original work, capturing the spirit of his prose without making it seem outdated. The lead performances are instrumental in the film's timely feel; Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins earned well-deserved praise for their roles, and Thompson won an Oscar and numerous other awards. Equally remarkable but not as lavishly recognized were Helena Bonham Carter, all righteous fire and headstrong will as Helen Schlegel, and Samuel West, touchingly awkward as Leonard Bast, the cause around whom the war between the Schlegels and Mr. Wilcox revolves, and also its ultimate casualty. Thanks to the work of the entire cast, the film manages to be consistently engaging; thanks to the efforts of its production team as a whole, it is one of the rarest of paradoxes, a topical period piece. It was nominated for 9 Oscars overall, including Best Picture and Best Director, and it also won for Luciana Arrighi's art direction. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Cast and Crew: David Delaney  Actor 
Gerald Paris  Actor 
Terence Sach  Actor 
Jim Bowden  Actor 
Bridget Duvall  Actor 
Ian Latimer  Actor 
Andrew St. Clair  Actor 
Susie Lindeman  Actor 
Crispin Bonham Carter  Actor 
Sally Geoghegan  Actor 
Tina Leslie  Actor 
Mark Tandy  Actor 
Jocelyn Cobb  Actor 
Barr Heckstall-Smith  Actor 
Margery Mason  Actor 
Adrian Ross-Magenty  Actor 
Atlanta White  Actor 
Alan James  Actor 
Peter Cellier  Actor 
Antony Gilding  Actor 
Brian Lipson  Actor 
Allie Byrne  Actor 
Lucy Freeman  Actor 
Patricia Lawrence  Actor 
Siegbert Prawer  Actor 
Harriet Stewart  Actor 
Celestia Fox  Actor 
Peter Darling  Actor 
Mary McWilliams  Actor 
Rodney Rymell  Actor 
Mary Nash  Actor 
Anne Lambton  Actor 
Luke Parry  Actor 
Paul Bradley  Executive Producer 
James Ivory  Director 
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala  Screenwriter 
Ismail Merchant  Producer 
Richard Robbins  Composer (Music Score) 
Anthony Hopkins  Actor 
Emma Thompson  Actor 
Vanessa Redgrave  Actor 
Helena Bonham Carter  Actor 
James Wilby  Actor 
Samuel West  Actor 
Jemma Redgrave  Actor 
Nicola Duffett  Actor 
Prunella Scales  Actor 
Barbara Hicks  Actor 
Joseph Bennett  Actor 
Jo Kendall  Actor 
Mark Payton  Actor 
Simon Callow  Actor 

Country: UK,USA