Howards End (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

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)