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It's been too long since I last saw Howards End to join the discussion of it's "dryness", but when I see anyone write off Merchant/Ivory as dry overall, I can only wonder if that person has seen The Remains of the Day, and if they have, how cold their heart must be to not have been moved by it. Such great sadness, channeled through two tremendous performances by Hopkins and Thompson. Just thinking about it makes me want to run out and see it again right away.

CSM126 wrote:It's been too long since I last saw Howards End to join the discussion of it's "dryness", but when I see anyone write off Merchant/Ivory as dry overall, I can only wonder if that person has seen The Remains of the Day, and if they have, how cold must their heart be not to have been moved by it. Such great sadness, channeled through two trmendous performances by Hopkins and Thompson. Just thinking about it makes me want to run out and see it again right away.

You took the words right out of my mouth. Ishiguro's novel is a favourite of mine, and the film is a model of adaptation: wholly sensitive to the qualities of the source material, but also a great work in its own right, altering the structure and the focus of the story in all the right ways to make it work dramatically. One of the best films of the '90s (despite only being an also-also-ran in the recent forum list), and almost certainly Hopkins' best performance. And Emma Thompson's, whom I often can't stand. And Hugh Grant's, for that matter... And Richard Robbins' music is wonderful... It's just all good.

I too have only vague memories of Howards End, but they're pretty good memories. I'll try and re-watch it some time and see if it holds up. The only other M/I film I've seen is A Room With a View, which I thought was very good, though Julian Sands is typically awful; if only Day-Lewis (who is brilliant as the obnoxious but pitiful Cecil) had been cast in that role...

Obviously I don't know Merchant Ivory's output well enough to defend them much here, but my impression is that their depiction and exploration of uptight snobbery and repression is all too often mistaken for actual uptight snobbery and repression. Maybe they were asking for that with their avowedly literary approach to film-making, but if you ignore the brand-name while watching the films, and you avoid watching them on rainy Sunday afternoons with your grandmother, they'll probably start to look a lot better. As far as I know, they also - at least the three I've mentioned in this post, and one or two others - got heaps of praise from the critics, and they certainly 'count' as Criterion-worthy, important films.

Perhaps they could lessen the accusations of snobbishness by including the touching 1994 short adaption Howard Stern's End?

Jeff wrote:

Tribe wrote:I wonder if CC is just gonna add the existing HVE release to the collection or just add new paper to the existing HVE (i.e., label, cover, essay), as you mention everything is pretty much the same as the existing HVE release.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Criterion make a cardboard slipcover that has the spine number on it and matches the Blu-ray art and shove it over the Merchant Ivory release.

The website now states that the Ismail Merchant appreciation feature is available only on the Blu-ray edition. As a result I really wonder whether the Merchant Ivory Collection will receive a spine number...it's pretty clear they aren't gonna do anything different with that edition.

I just received an e-mail from their PR guy that there are no plans for the DVD edition being released under the Criterion brand.

I can understand a Blu-ray only release of this. I might be boring as hell, but it's full of eye candy that will translate into a very nice release.

I'm actually quite excited about this release. It's not my favorite Merchant/Ivory film, but I adore Thompson and Hopkins so much.

And I agree that The Remains of the Day is one of the best films of the 90s. Possibly the most heartbreaking movie I've ever seen, and it contains Hopkins' best work as an actor. I don't know anything about the licensing, but what I wouldn't give to see a Criterion BluRay release of that title!

I believe Remains of the Day is still a Sony title with a basic DVD (Howards End was as well at one point but somewhere it went back to Merchant Ivory.) Since Sony licences films to Criterion now I guess it's always possible.

What's sad is I don't even remember that film except I didn't have an adverse reaction to it.

I've never liked Howards End but I adore Remains of the Day... quite possibly Hopkins best performance to date and Merchant/Ivory's best work altogether. And to echo Sloper, I think Remains is indeed indebted to its source material. It's a fantastic book and an easy read. I'm still surprised that Ishiguro's Pale View Of Hills has yet to be adapted.

I would welcome a CC release of Remains of the Day.

cdnchris wrote:I just received an e-mail from their PR guy that there are no plans for the DVD edition being released under the Criterion brand.

So...if one isn't on the BluRay thing...it means the death knell of the hegemony of the spine number system!

That's really too bad. I've not gone Blu yet, and I'd absolutely buy a new Howard's End SD-DVD. Ah, well.

I'm sure that'll change, though. They have to realize sales for a DVD title will improve if they slap a new cover on it with a spine number.

How come no-one ever talks about Merchant Ivory's early stuff that they made in India like The Househoulder and Shakespeare Wallah? That was some pure filmmaking with basic equipment under difficult circumstances. Their best work in my opinion, all things considered. And with significant input from Satyajit Ray. Be nice if CC brought these two over as well.

Matango wrote:How come no-one ever talks about Merchant Ivory's early stuff that they made in India like The Househoulder and Shakespeare Wallah? That was some pure filmmaking with basic equipment under difficult circumstances. Their best work in my opinion, all things considered. And with significant input from Satyajit Ray. Be nice if CC brought these two over as well.

Because just about everyone on this board hates it. I am very much a fan of that early stuff, but I'm terrible at articulating why I enjoy it so much. I brought it up a few years ago on here, and then I ran for cover after nobody else seemed to be on the same page.

I think atmosphere has a lot to with why these two are so appealing, at least to me. There's a very immediate feel to the goings-on in both films, and anyone who has been to India would feel a connection. I imagine that fans of Ray would probably like both, as well. Plus they're historically relevant as no other western fillmakers (as far as I know) were working in India in the early to mid 1960s, and Shakespeare Wallah is a rare document of the 'staying on' generation. The DVDs themselves are also great, with some terrific extras and decent visuals considering their source.

There is also Felicity Kendal's first film Shakespeare Wallah which is a fictionalised story but with slightly autobiographical elements of growing up in a colonial situation to which the presence of Kendal and her father adds verisimilitude. A more recent film that this reminded me of would be Richard E. Grant's Wah-Wah.

I'll say it... I really like Savages. I don't who thought to pair up Merchant-Ivory with Michael O'Donoghue, but it for the most part works, and is completely different from anything else they've done. And its recommended to anyone who's a fan of O'Donoghue's National Lampoon and SNL work (and somewhat of a rarity, considering how many of his (purportedly great) film scripts we're never filmed).

I thought I'd point out that Amazon just pushed the release date back two weeks to November 3rd.

DVDBeaver on the blu-ray.

Judging by the screens on dvdbeaver and criterion rewiev colors looks different to me..is it just me or dvdbeaver using different method when taking screens from bluray.

kemalettin wrote:Judging by the screens on dvdbeaver and criterion rewiev colors looks different to me..is it just me or dvdbeaver using different method when taking screens from bluray.

There have been a number of complaints about their screen-grabs for other Blu-ray releases (Audition was the most recent, I believe). I frankly wouldn't trust their shots for Blu-rays at all until they get that sorted out.

brendanjc wrote:

kemalettin wrote:Judging by the screens on dvdbeaver and criterion rewiev colors looks different to me..is it just me or dvdbeaver using different method when taking screens from bluray.

There have been a number of complaints about their screen-grabs for other Blu-ray releases (Audition was the most recent, I believe). I frankly wouldn't trust their shots for Blu-rays at all until they get that sorted out.

yes i have seen that on contact bd review too huge difference with real bd shots

This spineless film finally gets a spine on SD, Feb 23.

For those who cares, based on the sell sheet I received, it looks as though the new DVD will include everything on the Blu-ray including the new interview by James Ivory (unless it's a misprint.)