Howards End Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Howards End Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 2, 2009

Winner of three Oscar awards, James Ivory's "Howards End" (1992) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. Amongst the supplemental features on the disc are the documentaries "Building "Howards End" and "The Wandering Company", a short behind the scenes featurette, interview with director James Ivory, theatrical trailer and more. Also included is a 16-page illustrated booklet containing an essay by Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan. Region-A "locked".

On their way to Howards End

Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave, Blow-Up) realizes that she is seriously ill. She befriends the opinionated but still lighthearted Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson, In The Name of The Father), who often manages to cheer her up, and invites her to accompany her to Howards End, her adored country home. At first, Margaret kindly declines the invitation, but then changes her mind. Before the two friends board their train, however, Ruth’s husband, Henry (Anthony Hopkins, Silence of the Lambs), appears and urges them to reconsider their plans.

Henry is a businessman. His mind is always preoccupied with the market and those who control it. He loves Ruth dearly, but has little time to spend with her. Though Henry never makes it obvious, he finds his wife’s social friends rather obnoxious. Henry and Ruth have a daughter, Evie (Jemma Redgrave, Moonlight), and son, Paul (Joseph Bennett), who is about to marry Margaret‘s sister, Helen (Helena Bonham Carter, Fight Club).

Before Ruth dies, she writes down on a piece of paper that she leaves Howards End to Margaret. After his wife’s death, Henry shows her note to the family -- and then ignores it. Soon after, he asks Margaret if she would be willing to become his wife.

In the meantime, the Schlegels accidentally befriend the young Leonard Bast (Sam West, Carrington), a man who isn’t as financially secure as the Schlegels are, but is willing to work hard so that one day he could be as fortunate as they are. Helen likes Leonard a lot -- perhaps more than a decent lady should. She asks a lot of questions about his profession and family background.

During a casual meeting, Helen mentions Leonard to Henry and asks if he might have a good advise that would further her new friend’s career. Henry suggests that Leonard is told to look for a different position because his company is in a serious financial crisis -- not a publicized one, but known to people like him. Shortly after, Leonard visits the Schlegels again, and Helen relates Henry’s message to him. Trusting her advice, he quits his job to pursue a career elsewhere.

Margaret and Henry marry. During a massive restructuring, Leonard is sacked from his new job. As a result, Helen openly confronts Henry about his advice, which leads to a serious confrontation between him and Margaret. Seriously disturbed, Helen goes to Germany refusing to see her sister again. When she finally comes back home, Leonard appears asking to see her. Paul, who has grown incredibly frustrated with Leonard’s interference in his family’s affairs, confronts him.

Based on E.M. Forster’s novel and a script by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Howards End is arguably the best film to be produced by the Merchant Ivory team. It is beautifully lensed, incredibly well directed and terrifically acted.

Like most every other film director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant shot, Howards End tells a terrific period story about values and morals. At first, its characters seem indestructible, at times even arrogant; few could understand their world. But then, as they begin to ache and suffer, one begins to realize how incredibly weak and vulnerable they actually are.

What makes Howards End a truly fascinating experience -- aside from the intoxicatingly beautiful visuals from the British countryside as well as Richard Robbins’ sublime music score – is the continuous displacement of right and wrong. What seems justified in one scene is completely unreasonable in another. Perceptions about love and honesty as well as social justice and civic responsibility are questioned in a terrific fashion.

In 1993, Howards End won three Oscar awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Emma Thompson), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Luciana Arrighi and Ian Whittaker).

Howards End Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, James Ivory's Howards End arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

Supervised by cinematographer Tony Pierre-Roberts and approved by director James Ivory, the high-definition transfer for Howards End has been created on a C-Reality Datacine with Oliver Wetgate processing from the original 35mm interpositive. The result is a vibrant, terrific looking transfer that will surely impress fans of this beautiful film. Detail is excellent, clarity outstanding, and contrast very convincing. The large panoramic shots from the British countryside, in particular, are terrific. Edge-enhancement and macroblocking are not an issue of concern. Neither is digital noise, though I spotted a bit in the very beginning of the film. There are no traces of heavy filtering - film grain is very much intact. The overall condition of the transfer is also excellent. I did not detect any disturbing debris, scratches, blemishes, or dirt. Finally, when blown through a digital projector, Howards End remains pleasingly stable. All in all, this is yet another fantastic looking release by the competent folks at Criterion. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" disc. Therefore, unless you have a native Region-A or Region-Free player, you won't be able to access its content).

Howards End Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it (two-line texts appear inside the image frame; three-line texts have the bottom line outside of the image frame).

The soundtrack has been remastered at 24-bit from the 6-track magnetic soundtrack. Crackle has been attenuated using AudioCube's integrated audio workstation. Additionally, numerous pops, clicks, hiss and hum have been manually removed.

I have absolutely no reservations with the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track whatsoever. Richard Robbins' lovely score sounds beautiful; it is lush and very dynamic. The dialog is crisp, clear and very easy to follow. There are absolutely no balance issues to report either. All in all, I believe that a lot of people would be pleasantly surprised by the enormous depth of the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, particularly those who have previously seen Howards End on SDVD.

Howards End Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Building "Howards End" - a very informative documentary on the production history of the film featuring clips from archival interviews with director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, actress Helena Bonham Carter, costume designer Jenny Beavan, and production designer Luciana Arrighi. This is also an incredibly hilarious documentary (pay close attention to Merchant's comments about American financiers, Sony Pictures Classics, etc). Not subtitled. (43 min, 1080i/60).

The Design of "Howards End" - production designer Luciana Arrighi and costume designer Jenny Beaven talk about the elaborate period costumes, fantastic locations from the film, etc. Not subtitled, (9 min, 1080/60i).

The Wandering Company - a documentary, produced in 1984 as Merchant Ivory was preparing A Room with a View, which takes a look back at the history of the company and its first twenty years of films. Not subtitled. (50 min, 1080/60i).

James Ivory on Ismail Merchant, 2009 - director James Ivory recalls how he first met Ismail Merchant and their creative partnership began. Not subtitled. (13 min, 1080p).

Behind the Scenes - a very short featurette highlighting some of the key themes from the film. Director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins quickly comment on the film as well. Not subtitled. (5 min, 1080/60i).

Theatrical trailer - Not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

Booklet - a 16-page booklet containing Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan's essay "All Is Grace".

Howards End Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Criterion's treatment of this most beautiful film is exceptionally strong. I wish they would also find the time and resources to release Quartet, my favorite film from the Merchant Ivory Collection. Of course, Howards End comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.