Movies in Bloom
May 05, 2015
Film Info
- United Kingdom
- 1992
- 142 minutes
- Color
- 2.35:1
- English
- Spine #488
The pinnacle of the decades-long collaboration between producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, Howards End is a luminous vision of E. M. Forster’s cutting 1910 novel about class divisions in Edwardian England. Emma Thompson won an Academy Award for her dynamic portrayal of Margaret Schlegel, a flighty yet compassionate middle-class intellectual whose friendship with the dying wife (Vanessa Redgrave) of rich capitalist Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins) commences an intricately woven tale of money, love, and death that encompasses the country’s highest and lowest social echelons. With a brilliant, layered script by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (who also won an Oscar) and a roster of gripping performances, Howards End is a work of both great beauty and vivid darkness, and one of cinema’s best literary adaptations.
Cast
| Margaret Schlegel | Emma Thompson |
| Henry Wilcox | Anthony Hopkins |
| Ruth Wilcox | Vanessa Redgrave |
| Helen Schlegel | Helena Bonham Carter |
| Leonard Bast | Samuel West |
| Charles Wilcox | James Wilby |
| Aunt Juley | Prunella Scales |
| Evie Wilcox | Jemma Redgrave |
| Paul Wilcox | Joseph Bennett |
| Tibby Schlegel | Adrian Ross Magenty |
| Dolly Wilcox | Susie Lindeman |
| Jacky Bast | Nicola Duffett |
| Miss Avery | Barbara Hicks |
Credits
| Director | James Ivory |
| Screenplay | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
| Producer | Ismail Merchant |
| Based on the novel by | E.M. Forster |
| Associate producer | Donald Rosenfeld |
| Music | Richard Robbins |
| Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts |
| Editing | Andrew Marcus |
| Costumes | Jenny Beavan and John Bright |
| Production design | Luciana Arrighi |
| Art Direction | John Ralph |
Disc Features
- New high-definition digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts and approved by director James Ivory, with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- New video appreciation of the late Ismail Merchant by director Ivory
- Building “Howards End,” a documentary featuring interviews with Ivory, Merchant, 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 50-minute documentary about the history of Merchant Ivory Productions
- Original 1992 behind-the-scenes featurette
- Original theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A new essay by critic Kenneth Turan
New cover by Andre Junget
Current Posts
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Film Essays
Howards End: All Is Grace
By October 28, 2009
Who speaks of Howards End these days? Who expounds on the virtues of this magnificent drama, whose traditional style seems almost as distant as its Edwardian setting? Seen today, years past its . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Howards End: All Is Grace
By October 28, 2009
Who speaks of Howards End these days? Who expounds on the virtues of this magnificent drama, whose traditional style seems almost as distant as its Edwardian setting? Seen today, years past its . . . Read more »
Photo Galleries
Photo Galleries
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Clippings
Scott Returns to Howards End
October 05, 2010
For his contribution to the New York Times’s video column “Critics’ Picks” this week, A. O. Scott selects the Merchant Ivory masterworkHowards End. In the not quite four-minute piece, featuring . . . Read more »
News
Hopkins in Color
February 16, 2010
It may be news to many, but in addition to creating such larger-than-life characters as The Silence of the Lambs’ Hannibal Lecter and Howards End’s Henry Wilcox (not to mention, once upon a . . . Read more »
Press Notes
Press Notes: Howards End
November 20, 2009
The Academy Award–winning Howards End, starring Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins, is back in the spotlight, thanks to Criterion’s new Blu-ray disc. “Pure artistry defines this 1992 film from . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Howards End: All Is Grace
By October 28, 2009
Who speaks of Howards End these days? Who expounds on the virtues of this magnificent drama, whose traditional style seems almost as distant as its Edwardian setting? Seen today, years past its . . . Read more »
