Product Details

• Actors: Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Samuel West
• Directors: James Ivory
• Writers: E.M. Forster, Ruth Prawer Jhavbala
• Producers: Ismail Merchant
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Surround)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: The Criterion Collection
• DVD Release Date: November 3, 2009
• Run Time: 140 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001P829O6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,584 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Howards End (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Howards End is E.M. Forster's beautifully subtle story of the crisscrossing paths of the privileged and those they disdain--and of a remarkable pair of women who can see beyond class distinctions. Dramatic and tragic, but also surprisingly funny, this James Ivory film focuses on a pair of unmarried sisters (Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar, and Helena Bonham Carter) who befriend a poor young clerk (Sam West) and, without meaning to, ruin his life. Meanwhile, Thompson also makes the acquaintance of a dying neighbor (Vanessa Redgrave), who leaves her a family home in her will--which her husband (Anthony Hopkins) destroys. But, ironically, he meets and falls in love with Thompson, even as their paths once more intersect with the increasingly miserable young clerk. Nuanced acting, gorgeous but muted cinematography, and a beautifully economical script by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, which also won an Oscar. --Marshall Fine

Product Description

The pinnacle of the decades-long collaboration between director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, Howards End is a thought-provoking, 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 greatest literary adaptations.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• High-definition digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts, with uncompressed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack

• New appreciation of the late Ismail Merchant by director James 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 (1984), a 50-minute documentary about the history of Merchant Ivory Productions

• Original 1992 behind-the-scenes featurette

• Original theatrical trailer

• PLUS: An essay by critic Kenneth Turan"

Stills from Howards End (Click for larger image)

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, poignant, and visually stunning, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Howard's End (DVD)

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.

50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Poignant & Brilliant!, November 19, 1999

By 

anna-joelle (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Howard's End [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie is a must-watch for everyone who loves meaningful dramas. The cast is first-rate, the acting brilliant all round. Emma Thompson gave a definitely Oscar-worthy portrayal of a gentlewoman, Margaret Schlegel who is generous, honest, kind but torn between love for her sister, Helen (played by Helena Bonham Carter) and her pompous-and-brute-of-a-husband, Henry Wilcox (played by Anthony Hopkins). At the centre of the story is Howard's End, the beautiful country house/cottage which is a Wilcox's family jewel.

The story reminds me of an Asian belief that if something is meant to be yours (eg. Howard's End rightfully belongs to Margaret as it was actually "willed" to her by the first Mrs Wilcox before she died), then you will get it in the end, no matter what. Everything comes a full circle in the end, that's what it means.

This is one of the best period dramas I've ever watched - it's definitely worth your 2-1/2 hours.

BRILLIANT!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Redemption, February 24, 2010

By 

Sean William Menzies - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Howards End (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

For those of us out there who know the difference between digital noise and actual film grain, this standard def version of the recent blu ray disaster is as good as it's ever going to get. It is the very same high def master used for the 2005 Criterion dvd release (whatever Criterion may be claiming) as well as the 2009 blu ray, only cleaned up and sharper.

The blu ray of this title has been a serious disappointment to fans of the film. Tony Pierce-Roberts' handsomely muted, smoky cinematography was transformed by edge sharpening and god knows what else into a chalky, brittle xerox copy that looked like it was going to crumble at any moment. Digital noise marched throughout the image like a game of Tetris and a strange screen door-like grid could be seen in the darker shadows, which were washed out beyond acceptability.

But here we have the same master in standard def release which renders those flaws invisible. The blu ray's one advantage, the extraordinary surround dts-hd sound, is here on this dvd merely very good dolby digital. But, at least, the image is watchable.

So there we have it: this release is a happy medium between the very good dvd release of 2005 and the appalling blu ray of 2009. The image is sharper and cleaner than 2005, but holds together warmly and solidly far better than the 2009 blu ray. Yes, I've ended up buying yet another manifestation of Howards End on home video, but this time it seems to have worked, at least for now. I consider my spent money a donation to the spotty blu ray department of Criterion. Too harsh a judgement, perhaps, but then I know exactly what this movie looks like projected on film in a theatre, and the blu ray wasn't even close.