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
Nicola Duffett	...	Jacky Bast
Mark Tandy	...	Luncheon Guest
Andrew St. Clair	...	Luncheon Guest
Anne Lambton	...	Luncheon Guest
Emma Godfrey	...	Luncheon Guest
Duncan Brown	...	Luncheon Guest
Iain Kelly	...	Luncheon Guest
Atalanta White	...	Maid at Howards End
Gerald Paris	...	Porphyrion Supervisor
Allie Byrne	...	Blue-Stocking
Sally Geoghegan	...	Blue-Stocking
Paula Stockbridge	...	Blue-Stocking
Bridget Duvall	...	Blue-Stocking
Lucy Freeman	...	Blue-Stocking
Harriet Stewart	...	Blue-Stocking
Tina Leslie	...	Blue-Stocking
Mark Payton	...	Percy Cahill
David Delaney	...	Simpson's Carver
Mary McWilliams	...	Wilcox Baby
Barbara Hicks	...	Miss Avery
Rodney Rymell	...	Chauffeur
Luke Parry	...	Tom, Farmer's Boy
Antony Gilding	...	Bank Supervisor
Peter Cellier	...	Colonel Fussell
Crispin Bonham-Carter	...	Albert Fussell (as Crispin Bonham Carter)
Patricia Lawrence	...	Wedding Guest
Margery Mason	...	Wedding Guest
Jim Bowden	...	Marlett
Alan James	...	Porphyrion Chief Clerk
Jocelyn Cobb	...	Telegraph Operator
Peter Darling	...	Doctor
Terence Sach	...	Deliveryman
Brian Lipson	...	Police Inspector
Barr Heckstall-Smith	...	Helen's Child
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Simon Callow	...	Music and Meaning Lecturer (uncredited)
Claire Driver	...	Soup Seller (uncredited)
Robin Jones	...	Piano Music Lecture Attendee (uncredited)

Directed by
James Ivory

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

Produced by
Paul Bradley	....	executive producer
Ismail Merchant	....	producer
Donald Rosenfeld	....	associate producer
Ann Wingate	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Richard Robbins

Cinematography by
Tony Pierce-Roberts

Film Editing by
Andrew Marcus

Casting by
Celestia Fox

Production Design by
Luciana Arrighi

Art Direction by
John Ralph

Set Decoration by
Ian Whittaker

Costume Design by
Jenny Beavan
John Bright

Makeup Department
Christine Beveridge	....	chief makeup artist
Sian Grigg	....	hair trainee
Sian Grigg	....	makeup trainee
Carol Hemming	....	chief hair stylist
Sallie Jaye	....	assistant makeup artist (as Sally Jaye)
Paolo Mantini	....	assistant hair stylist

Production Management
John Downes	....	production manager
Caroline Hill	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Simon Moseley	....	second assistant director
Christopher Newman	....	assistant director (as Chris Newman)
Carl Oprey	....	third assistant director

Art Department
John Hedges	....	construction manager
Michael Hedges	....	chargehand carpenter
Robin Heinson	....	chargehand painter
Charles Ixer	....	dressing props (as Charlie Ixer)
Gary Ixer	....	stand-by props
Richard Jones	....	art department stand-by
Jill Quertier	....	production buyer
William Richards	....	art department stand-by (as Bill Richards)
Philip Robinson	....	art department assistant
Len Serpant	....	art department stand-by
Jeff Sullivan	....	art department stand-by
Peter Wallis	....	dressing props
Mark White	....	construction
Barry Wilkinson	....	property master
Simon Wilkinson	....	stand-by props

Sound Department
Campbell Askew	....	supervising sound editor
Dominic Lester	....	sound re-recording mixer
Bettina McCall	....	assistant sound editor
Andrew Morris	....	boom operator (as Andy Morris)
Sarah Morton	....	dialogue editor
Robin O'Donoghue	....	sound re-recording mixer
Mike Shoring	....	sound recordist
Lionel Strutt	....	adr mixer (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Martin Body	....	optical cameraman (uncredited)
Kent Houston	....	optical effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Stuart St. Paul	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Peter Batten	....	clapper loader
Tommy Finch	....	gaffer
Rawdon Hayne	....	focus puller
Malcolm Huse	....	grip
Rod Marley	....	camera trainee (as Roderick Marley)
Bill Pochetty	....	best boy (as Billy Pochetty)
Derrick Santini	....	still photographer
Steve Kitchen	....	electrician (uncredited)
John Ward	....	Steadicam operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jill Avery	....	wardrobe assistant
Stephen Cornish	....	wardrobe supervisor
Sue Honeybourne	....	wardrobe supervisor
Adrian Simmons	....	wardrobe assistant (as Adrian Simmonds)

Editorial Department
Paul Dawson	....	second assistant editor
Tom Freeman	....	assistant editor
Michelle Gorchow	....	associate editor
James Marsh	....	associate editor

Music Department
Geoff Alexander	....	music coordinator
English Chamber Orchestra	....	music performed by (as The English Chamber Orchestra)
Keith Grant	....	music recordist
Martin Jones	....	musician: piano solo
Harry Rabinowitz	....	conductor
Robert Stewart	....	music associate

Transportation Department
Michael Lind	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Jean Bourne	....	continuity
James Butler	....	production assistant
Jo Chate	....	production runner
Jeanne Ferber	....	location manager
Joe Friedman	....	location scout
Oliver Harrison	....	title designer
Flora Herbert	....	production assistant
Mike Higgins	....	location manager
Ben Howarth	....	production assistant (as Benjamin Howarth)
Sunil Kirparam	....	production accountant
Fay Efrosini Lellios	....	production assistant
Kathryn Martin	....	assistant to producer
Christian McWilliams	....	location assistant
Nick O'Hagan	....	production coordinator
Frances Richardson	....	assistant accountant
Don Rogers	....	production assistant
Emily Shapland	....	production assistant
Michael Yell	....	production accountant (as Mike Yell)

Thanks
Caroline Shapland	....	thanks
Roger Shapland	....	thanks
Dame Guinevere Tilney	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Merchant Ivory Productions (present)
• Sumitomo Corporation (in association with)
• Imagica (in association with) (as Imagica Corporation)
• Cinema Ten Corporation (in association with)
• Japan Satellite Broadcasting (JBS) (in association with) (as JBS Japan Satellite Broadcasting, Inc)
• Ide Productions (in association with)
• Film Four International (in association with)

Distributors

• Mayfair Entertainment (1992) (UK) (theatrical)
• Herald Ace (1993) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (1992) (USA) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD) (blu-ray)
• Falcon (1993) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Initial Brasil (1992) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Manuel Salvador (1993) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Pyramide Distribution (1992) (France) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (Argentina) (video)
• Asmik Ace Entertainment (2001) (Japan) (DVD)
• Cecchi Gori Home Video (2004) (Italy) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1993) (USA) (laserdisc)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Europa Carat (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Home Video Hellas (HVH) (1992) (Greece) (VHS)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2005) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• Odyssey Video (1999) (UK) (DVD)
• VCL Communications (Germany) (video)
• Warner Bros. (Spain)

Special Effects

• Effects Associates
• Optical Film Effects (optical effects)
• Peerless Camera Company (optical effects)

Other Companies

• Nippon Film Development and Finance  thanks
• Guinness Mahon and Company  thanks
• Arthur Sanderson and Sons  thanks
• Garrard, The Crown Jewellers  thanks
• Magdalen College, Oxford  thanks
• National Railway Museum  thanks
• St. James Court Hotel, London  thanks
• Simpsons-In-The-Strand  thanks (London)
• Cosprop  thanks: costumes (London)
• Twickenham Film Studios  sound re-recorded at
• Nimbus Records  soundtrack
• Mayflower Recording  adr recording
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services

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:

The first film to be released by Sony Pictures Classics.

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: Mr. Wilcox, I am demented!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Critic: I Can't Believe It's a Clip Show (#2.10)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Mock Morris

A superb adaptation

It is virtually impossible to imagine a finer film adaptation of a literary classic than the Merchant-Ivory production of E. M. Forster's "Howards End". A darker and more substantial novel than Forster's "A Room With a View" (charmingly filmed by the same team in 1985), "Howards End" depicts the cultural collision of two very different middle class families in Edwardian England: the idealistic, bookish Schlegels and the stolid, conservative Wilcoxes. At the heart of the unlikely relationship between these two families is the friendship of the elder Schlegel sister Margaret (Emma Thompson) and the matriarchal Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave). They find in each other a kinship that runs far deeper than society and culture. Indeed for Mrs. Wilcox, Margaret comes to represent her true spiritual heir, one to whom she can entrust her beloved country home, Howards End, after her death. The repercussions of this friendship will dramatically change the lives not only of their respective families, but also that of Leonard Bast (Sam West), a romantic young clerk whose fate, through a chance encounter with the younger Schlegel sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter), becomes tragically entangled with them. It's a humanistic and subtly mystical story which posits the deep inter-connectedness of all human beings, and sharply critiques the English class system which fatally fractures those connections.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has written a masterful screenplay, maintaining the essence of Forster but in the main adding an extra degree of warmth to many of the characters so that they seem less frosty than they sometimes do in the novel. Characterization is further enhanced by perfect casting. Some of Britain's finest actors excel themselves here. Never has a Best Actress Oscar been more well-deserved than Emma Thompson's. She is vibrant and beautiful in this film and brings the spirited, pragmatic Margaret of Forster's story to brilliant life. One feels that she and her fellow cast members have understood their material absolutely, and all inhabit their characters so naturally and completely that one forgets one is watching an acting masterclass. Indeed everything, down to the locations that are used and the 'casting' of the beautiful house that 'plays' Howards End itself, is perfectly judged.

James Ivory deserves immense credit for drawing such universally strong yet unshowy performances from his cast, and for allowing the story to breath by never allowing his camera to dwell unnecessarily on the admittedly impeccable period trappings, and also by including several delicately photographed 'natural' interludes in which the gentle springtime beauty of the English countryside comes to the fore. Never the most fashionable of directors, Ivory is nevertheless a supreme craftsman when it comes to literary period pieces and "Howard's End" is arguably his greatest masterpiece.

Finally I should mention the musical soundtrack. To accompany some atmospheric piano pieces by Percy Grainger, the excellent Richard Robbins has conjured another mesmerising score which provides a compelling pulse to a quite exquisite movie.