Howards End (1992)

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

E.M. Forster (novel)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 March 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A businessman thwarts his wife's bequest of an estate to another woman.

Plot Keywords:

Wealthy Family | Will | Aristocrat | Prejudice | England

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 22 wins & 27 nominations

Cast

Vanessa Redgrave	...	Ruth Wilcox
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Helen Schlegel
Joseph Bennett	...	Paul Wilcox
Emma Thompson	...	Margaret J. 'Meg' Schlegel
Prunella Scales	...	Aunt Juley
Adrian Ross Magenty	...	Tibby Schlegel
Jo Kendall	...	Annie
Anthony Hopkins	...	Henry J. Wilcox
James Wilby	...	Charles Wilcox
Jemma Redgrave	...	Evie Wilcox
Ian Latimer	...	Stationmaster
Samuel West	...	Leonard Bast
Mary Nash	...	Pianist
Siegbert Prawer	...	Man Asking a Question
Susie Lindeman	...	Dolly Wilcox

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language, violence and sensuality.

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

UK | Japan

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Germany:6 | Norway:11 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Ireland:PG

Filming Locations:

Admiralty Arch, The Mall, St. James's, London, England, UK

Company:

Merchant Ivory Productions

Trivia:

After playing Emma Thompson sister in this film, Helena Bonham Carter went on to play the love interest of Thompson's husband, Kenneth Branagh, in Frankenstein. It is rumored that Carter was one of the main reasons for the subsequent Branagh/Thompson divorce. The next woman to play Thompson's sister on film (Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility) also followed that role by playing Branagh's love interest (in Hamlet).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Charlie and Dolly Wilcox are hiding from Margaret Schlegel in the castle, the scene closes with low angle wide shot of the castle with a view of the sky behind it, revealing several aircraft contrails. There were no aircraft capable of leaving high-altitude contrails in the time period this movie is set in.

Quotes:

Margaret Schlegel: [speaking of Helen] She's got some sort of madness... as if she's mad!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "British Film Forever: Corsets, Cleavage and Country Houses: The Story of British Costume Drama (#1.4)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Bridal Lullaby

Delicious adaptation from a superb novel

Here is another example of what the British are best at in film-making. Based on E.M. Forster's novel `Return to Howards End' this film is more or less a set piece in the strictest period-piece tradition, and thus in style is somewhat akin to that great TV series `Return to Brideshead' and even Robert Altman came up trumps with his splendid `Gosford Park' which most definitely takes its well-earned place alongside such classical pieces of this genre.

Likewise, `Howards End' relies heavily on British actors who have worked their way up through live theatre: it is here that you get the best interpretations, the best performances, admirably shown in so many films made on both sides of the Atlantic. If Vanessa Redgrave has long since been a legend among British actresses, Emma Thompson is no lesser performer, and as to the pedigree of Helena Bonham-Carter there can be no arguing. Anthony Hopkins is at least up to the mark in his always sober readings in these kinds of films.

The Bonham-Carter family were well known in the fashionable circles of 1930's London high-society life, for their extravagant soirées and philanthropic sponsoring of young artists, especially musicians, similarly to the Sitwell family from their Chelsea home. Thus it is hardly surprising that Helena Bonham-Carter finds these kinds of rôles admirably suited to her - A Room with a View, anything Shakespearean, among other select `comedies'. Prunella Scales is a grand old lady of theatre, cinema and television, and I can remember her offerings back in the late fifties-early sixties especially on radio programmes.

Beautifully filmed in mostly Oxfordshire and in several places in London, the film also has a few scenes on the coast, possibly Dorsetshire or more probably the south coast of Devon, surprisingly not included in IMDb's very detailed listing of locations. Richard Robbins' music seemed to be heavily influenced by Philip Glass at times, which seemed a misfit, though it was nice to hear a few snatches by Percy Grainger, as well as a version for four hands on the piano of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, possibly one of those tremendous transcriptions which Franz Liszt carried out.

The dialogues are mostly exquisitely delivered, with that peculiarly British panache and timing, though slightly spoiled in this recent re-viewing as there were some untimely cuts on the copy in question. However, the story holds its line and is faithful to E.M. Forster's original concept. He has long been one of the greatest of British novelists, with such works as `A Passage to India', `Where Angels Fear to Tread' and `A Room with a View' to his credit, for serious readers of real literature.

This film version maintains that seriousness for people interested in real play-acting.